Saturday, 15 July 2006
160-24

Spatial and Continuous Soil Information Monitoring by Field Server.

Masaru Mizoguchi1, Masayuki Hirafuji2, Tokihiro Fukatsu2, Takuji Kiura2, Kazuya Fujisawa3, Mitsuru Wada3, and Seishi Ninomiya2. (1) The Univ of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ward, Tokyo, Japan, (2) National Agricultural Research Center, 3-1-1 Kannondai, Tsukuba, 305-8666, Japan, (3) Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd, 1048 Monma, Osaka, 571 -8686, Japan

Spatial and continuous l soil monitoring is required for assessing impacts of land use and management on soil quality over large area. Although remote-sensing technique by orbiting satellite is normally used for such soil monitoring, it gives us information on only the surface but the inside of soil. To get information on the inside of the soil, on the other hand, soil scientists survey soil profiles and monitor soil physical properties, i.e. soil water moisture, temperature, EC, with some sensors connected to a data logger in a pit selected from large area However, since the selected point is not guaranteed to be representative, we need to set a lot of data logger to get more reliable soil information in a large area In addition, since data logger system including soil sensors is expensive, spatial and continuous soil monitoring has been a privilege given to only big project teams. In order to break this situation, we have developed economical soil information monitoring system by Field Server. Field Server (FS) is an automatic monitoring system, which consists of CPU (Web server), AD converter, DA converter, Ethernet controller, high intensity LED lighting and sensors such as air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation (PPFD), soil moisture, soil temperature, electrical conductivity, leaf wetness, infra-red sensor, CMOS/CCD camera. FSs are interconnected by Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi, IEEE802.11b). Digital cameras and Web cameras can be connected, and high-resolution pictures of fields are transferred through Wi-Fi broadband networks, and stored on Web servers. The cameras can be remotely controlled by web browser. FSs can be used also as a platform to use network devices and electro-equipments in open fields. All devices are connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi, that is, inside of Field Server is also sensor-network, which can realize layout-free architecture, plug & play, robustness and various designs for Field Servers. Now we are testing FS to monitor land use and management in Tsumagoi erosion site for a ground-truth check against remote measurements taken from orbiting satellites. Soil information monitoring by Field Server is quite promising for assessing impacts of land use and management on soil quality over large area as a powerful tool related to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) 10-Year Implementation Plan.


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