Design of a Soil Cutting Resistance Sensor for Application in Site-Specific Tillage
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Rural Engineering Department, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edif. Leonardo da Vinci, Ctra. Nacional IV- km 396, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
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Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
3
Aerospace Engineering and Fluids Mechanics Department, University of Seville, Ctra. Sevilla-Utrera km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2013, 13(5), 5945-5957; https://doi.org/10.3390/s130505945
Received: 3 April 2013
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Revised: 3 May 2013
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Accepted: 3 May 2013
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Published: 10 May 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensor-Based Technologies and Processes in Agriculture and Forestry)
One objective of precision agriculture is to provide accurate information about soil and crop properties to optimize the management of agricultural inputs to meet site-specific needs. This paper describes the development of a sensor equipped with RTK-GPS technology that continuously and efficiently measures soil cutting resistance at various depths while traversing the field. Laboratory and preliminary field tests verified the accuracy of this prototype soil strength sensor. The data obtained using a hand-operated soil cone penetrometer was used to evaluate this field soil compaction depth profile sensor. To date, this sensor has only been tested in one field under one gravimetric water content condition. This field test revealed that the relationships between the soil strength profile sensor (SSPS) cutting force and soil cone index values are assumed to be quadratic for the various depths considered: 0–10, 10–20 and 20–30 cm (r2 = 0.58, 0.45 and 0.54, respectively). Soil resistance contour maps illustrated its practical value. The developed sensor provides accurate, timely and affordable information on soil properties to optimize resources and improve agricultural economy.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Agüera, J.; Carballido, J.; Gil, J.; Gliever, C.J.; Perez-Ruiz, M. Design of a Soil Cutting Resistance Sensor for Application in Site-Specific Tillage. Sensors 2013, 13, 5945-5957. https://doi.org/10.3390/s130505945
AMA Style
Agüera J, Carballido J, Gil J, Gliever CJ, Perez-Ruiz M. Design of a Soil Cutting Resistance Sensor for Application in Site-Specific Tillage. Sensors. 2013; 13(5):5945-5957. https://doi.org/10.3390/s130505945
Chicago/Turabian StyleAgüera, Juan, Jacob Carballido, Jesús Gil, Chris J. Gliever, and Manuel Perez-Ruiz. 2013. "Design of a Soil Cutting Resistance Sensor for Application in Site-Specific Tillage" Sensors 13, no. 5: 5945-5957. https://doi.org/10.3390/s130505945
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