Evaluation of a Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems Spectral Sensor for Soil Properties Estimation

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Soil properties estimation with the use of reflectance spectroscopy has met major advances over the last decades. Their non-destructive nature and their high accuracy capacity enabled a breakthrough in the efficiency of performing soil analysis against conventional laboratory techniques. As the need for rapid, low cost, and accurate soil properties’ estimations increases, micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) have been introduced and are becoming applicable for informed decision making in various domains. This work presents the assessment of a MEMS sensor (1750–2150 nm) in estimating clay and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents. The sensor was first tested under various experimental setups (different working distances and light intensities) through its similarity assessment (Spectral Angle Mapper) to the measurements of a spectroradiometer of the full 350–2500 nm range that was used as reference. MEMS performance was evaluated over spectra measured from 102 samples in laboratory conditions. Models’ calibrations were performed using random forest (RF) and partial least squares regression (PLSR). The results provide insights that MEMS could be employed for soil properties estimation, since the RF model demonstrated solid performance over both clay (R2 = 0.85) and SOC (R2 = 0.80). These findings pave the way for supporting daily agriculture applications and land related policies through the exploration of a wider set of soil properties.