Abstract
Digitization of industrial processes using new technologies (IoT—Internet of Things, IoE—Internet of Everything), including the agriculture industry, are globally gaining growing interest. The precise management of production inputs is essential for many agricultural companies because limited or expensive sources of water and nutrients could make sustainable production difficult. For these reasons, precise data from fields, plants, and greenhouses have become more important for decision making and for the proper dosage of water and nutrients. On the market are a variety of sensors for monitoring environmental parameters within a precise agricultural area. However, the high price, data storage/transfer functionality are limiting so cost-effective products capable to transfer data directly to farmers via wireless IoT networks are required. Within a given scope, low-price sensor elements with an appropriate level of sensor response are required. In the presented paper, we have developed fully printed sensor elements and a dedicated measuring/communicating unit for IoT monitoring of soil moisture. Various fabrication printing techniques and a variety of materials were used. From the performed study, it is obvious that fully printed sensor elements based on cheap and environmentally friendly carbon layers printed on the wood substrate can compete with conventionally made sensors based on copper.
Highlights
The rapid progress of sensor technology and data processing in connection with the development of the internet is driving the global development of intelligent products
We developed an additively produced probe for measuring soil moisture leading to inexpensive, material, and energy-efficient production
The probe was equipped with a detachable electronic measuring and communication Internet of Things (IoT) unit
Summary
The rapid progress of sensor technology and data processing in connection with the development of the internet is driving the global development of intelligent products. Great efforts are being made to find new ways of producing interconnected electronic sensor systems on a large scale These systems will enable massive data collection for the subsequent management of industrial and social processes at a new quality level. Great expectations are placed on the concepts of printed hybrid electronics [1], which promises energy and material-efficient additive production of electronics and sensors It is of great interest thanks to the constantly evolving material base, which includes new forms of eco-friendly, biodegradable, biocompatible, and recycled materials [2,3,4,5]. These aspects pave the way for the large-scale manufacturing and widespread use of printed wireless sensor systems with minimal environmental impact [6,7]
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