Abstract
Soil electrical resistivity (ER) is an important indicator to indirectly determine soil physical and chemical properties such as moisture, salinity, porosity, organic matter level, bulk density, and soil texture. In this study, real-time ER measurement system has been developed with the help of an autonomous robot. The aim of this study is to provide rapid measurement of the ER in large areas using the Wenner four-probe measurement method for precision farming applications. The ER measurement platform consists of the Wenner probes, a y-axis shifter driven by a DC motor through a gear reducer, all installed on a steel-frame that mount to an autonomous robot. An embedded industrial computer and differential global positioning system (DGPS) were used to assist in real-time measuring, recording, mapping, and displaying the ER and the robot position during the field operation. The data acquisition software was codded in Microsoft Visual Basic.NET. Field experiments were carried out in a 1.2 ha farmland soil. ER and DGPS values were stored in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database, an ordinary Kriging interpolation technique by ArcGIS was used and the average ER values were mapped for the soil depth between 0 and 50 cm. As a result, ER values were observed to be between 30.757 and 70.732 ohm-m. In conclusion, the experimental results showed that the designed system works quite well in the field and the ER measurement platform is a practical tool for providing real-time soil ER measurements.
Highlights
Soil electrical resistivity is an important indicator to indirectly determine the soil properties in the plant production because the suitable soil conditions and water are vital sources for plant root growth and solute transport, including plant nutrients and fertilizers [1]
The experimental results showed that the designed system works quite well in the field and the electrical resistivity (ER) measurement platform is a practical tool for providing real-time soil ER measurements
The purpose of this study is the development and application of a real-time soil ER measurement system based on the four-probe Wenner method by the help of an autonomous robot for precision farming applications
Summary
Soil electrical resistivity is an important indicator to indirectly determine the soil properties in the plant production because the suitable soil conditions and water are vital sources for plant root growth and solute transport, including plant nutrients and fertilizers [1]. Soil investigation studies are commonly performed to determine the properties of the soil that involves topsoil and subsoil exploration such as physical mapping, soil sampling, and laboratory testing. The borehole method has been widely used to determine the soil properties due to its good data accuracy derived from the direct test method. This method has several difficulties and limitations such as high cost, time consuming, and insufficient data for huge farmlands. In this context, geophysical methods offer the chance to overcome some of the problems inherent in more conventional soil investigation techniques for soil structure characterization at larger spatial and temporal scales [8]
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