Method and Apparatus to Improve Crop Yields and Increase Irrigation Efficiency in Agriculture

摘要

An irrigation control system is described for optimizing water used for growing crops. The irrigation control system uses a moisture sensor to measure soil moisture by measuring directly the relative phase velocities of different modes of propagation along a metallic structure mounted to a dielectric substrate. The average phase velocity is a function of the water content of the soil. The water content measurement is then transmitted to a central controller which then, through a set of heuristic algorithms, regulates the water distributed to the soil in a spatial and temporal manner.

主权项

1. A moisture sensor, comprising:
a dielectric substrate; an embedded coupled metallic line structure mounted to the dielectric substrate; a power source; a processor that is programmed to determine even and odd mode of phase velocities by measuring the transit time along the metallic line; and wherein the phase velocity is a function of the water content in the soil.