Smart agricultural sensor types

There are many types of smart agriculture sensors, each with a different role and value. Below are a few common smart agriculture sensors and their main roles and values:

1. Temperature Sensor: Temperature sensors use elements such as RTDs, thermistors or thermocouples to obtain ambient temperature information by measuring the resistance or temperature difference of the element.

Primary role: monitoring environmental temperature

Value: Helps farmers have real-time and historical temperature data to better manage temperature conditions in greenhouses, greenhouses and growing areas. This is important for plant growth and development, pest and disease management, and irrigation regulation.

2. Humidity Sensors: Commonly used principles for humidity sensors include the capacitance method and the impedance method. The capacitance method uses the effect of humidity on electrical capacitance to measure humidity, and the impedance method measures the effect of humidity on the impedance between electrodes.

Primary role: Monitoring air humidity

Value: Providing accurate information on air humidity can help farmers understand the humidity level of the environment in which their plants are located. This is essential for controlling humidity in greenhouses, greenhouses and growing areas, as well as preventing disease and optimising irrigation and fertiliser schedules.

3. Light sensors: Light sensors typically use components such as photoresistors, photodiodes or photocapacitors to determine light intensity by measuring the resistance, current or capacitance of the component.

Primary function: Measurement of light intensity

Value: Helps farmers understand the impact of light on plant growth by monitoring light levels in real time. This can be used for optimisation of photosynthesis, light control and outdoor growing options.

4. Soil Moisture Sensors: Soil moisture sensors mainly use the resistive, capacitive or frequency methods. The resistance method determines soil moisture by measuring the change in resistance between electrodes, the capacitance method measures the effect of moisture in the soil on the electrical capacity, and the frequency method indirectly obtains soil moisture information by measuring the change in signal frequency between electrodes.

Primary function: monitor soil moisture

Value: Provides soil moisture data to help farmers rationalise irrigation schedules to prevent over- or under-irrigation. This is important for improving water utilisation, reducing the risk of pests and diseases and promoting healthy plant growth.

5. Soil temperature sensors: Soil temperature sensors typically use elements such as thermistors or thermocouples to obtain soil temperature data by measuring the resistance or temperature difference of the element.

Primary function: to measure soil temperature

Value: Monitoring changes in soil temperature can help farmers optimise planting times, manage plant development processes and prevent disease. In addition, soil temperature data can be used to control heating and ventilation systems in greenhouses and greenhouses.

6. Wind speed sensors: Commonly used principles for wind speed sensors include the hot wire method, the ultrasonic method and the rotating rod plug method. The hot wire method uses the cooling effect of the heating wire to measure the wind speed, the ultrasonic method calculates the wind speed by measuring the time and speed of ultrasonic wave propagation in the air, and the rotating rod plug method is to rotate the rotating rod plug through the force of the wind and measure the angle or speed of the rotation to get the wind speed information.

Primary function: to measure wind speed

Value: By monitoring wind speed in real time, it helps farmers to predict meteorological conditions and take appropriate measures, such as taking risk management measures before a storm, or optimising wind energy utilisation systems.

7. CO2 sensors: CO2 sensors mainly use infrared absorption or chemical absorption. The infrared absorption method measures CO2 concentration by measuring the degree of absorption between an infrared light source and CO2 gas, while the chemical absorption method reacts CO2 gas with a specific chemical reagent, and then measures the change in the reaction to determine the CO2 concentration.

Primary role: measuring carbon dioxide concentration

Value: monitoring carbon dioxide concentration helps to understand air quality and plant respiration processes. By controlling CO2 levels, farmers can optimise greenhouse and greenhouse environments for plant growth.

These sensors enable real-time monitoring and analysis of data by collecting environmental data and converting it into electrical signals, which are then connected to smart agriculture systems through an interface. These are just a few examples of smart farming sensors; there are other types of sensors available to monitor water quality, soil pH, nitrogen levels, and more. By using these sensors, farmers can get real-time access to critical agricultural data that can improve farm management and increase yield, quality and resource efficiency.