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Article

Penetration Depth of a Soil Moisture Profile Probe Working in Time-Domain Transmission Mode

1
Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290 Lublin, Poland
2
Department of Electrical Engineering and Electrotechnologies, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 38A, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
3
Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland
4
Institut für Ökologie, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
This paper is an extended version of ‘Estimation of electromagnetic sensor measurement volume using combined 3D EM simulation and electronic design software’.
Sensors 2019, 19(24), 5485; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19245485
Received: 19 November 2019 / Revised: 6 December 2019 / Accepted: 10 December 2019 / Published: 12 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ISEMA 2018)
Soil moisture is one of the most important soil parameters. Knowledge of volumetric water content (VWC) of the root zone as well as the VWC dynamics in the soil profile is especially important for agriculture. Monitoring VWC at several depths in the soil profile can be performed using several soil moisture sensors placed at various depths. However, the use of a profile probe is more convenient, because the installation of a single probe is less disturbing to the soil, as well as less laborious and more cost-effective. The objective of the paper is to present the design and performance of a novel profile probe working in the time-domain transmission mode (P-TDT probe) with emphasis put on the penetration depth and sensitivity zone. The performance of the probe was assessed with the use of finite element method (FEM) simulations in the frequency domain, transient simulations in the time domain and laboratory experiments with the use of a vector network analyzer (VNA) working in the 10 MHz–10 GHz frequency range. It was concluded that the effective soil volume measured by the profile probe of a given geometry is equivalent to a soil thickness of about 20 mm around the tested probe. The internal part of the probe body had a negligible effect on the measurement results, as it does not change with soil moisture. Moreover, the transmitted signal amplitude was related to the soil electrical conductivity. View Full-Text
Keywords: soil moisture; profile probe; TDT probe; electromagnetic simulations soil moisture; profile probe; TDT probe; electromagnetic simulations
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MDPI and ACS Style

Kafarski, M.; Majcher, J.; Wilczek, A.; Szyplowska, A.; Lewandowski, A.; Zackiewicz, A.; Skierucha, W. Penetration Depth of a Soil Moisture Profile Probe Working in Time-Domain Transmission Mode. Sensors 2019, 19, 5485. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19245485

AMA Style

Kafarski M, Majcher J, Wilczek A, Szyplowska A, Lewandowski A, Zackiewicz A, Skierucha W. Penetration Depth of a Soil Moisture Profile Probe Working in Time-Domain Transmission Mode. Sensors. 2019; 19(24):5485. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19245485

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kafarski, Marcin, Jacek Majcher, Andrzej Wilczek, Agnieszka Szyplowska, Arkadiusz Lewandowski, Alicja Zackiewicz, and Wojciech Skierucha. 2019. "Penetration Depth of a Soil Moisture Profile Probe Working in Time-Domain Transmission Mode" Sensors 19, no. 24: 5485. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19245485

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