• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2009

This study was to verify and calibrate seven kinds of soil water sensors for volumetric soil water content(VSWC) measurement under field. Types of sensors were TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) and FDR(Frequency Domain Reflectometry). Two kinds of TDR were TRIME(profile type), and Mini-TRASE(rod type). Five kinds of FDR were EasyAG, EnviroSCAN, PR-1(profile type), and WET-1(rod type). VSWC by TRIME and Mini-TRASE compared with VSWC by soil core showed the standard error of about 2.4%, and 1.4% which is the smallest value among all the sensors used in the experiment, respectively. The errors of EasyAG and EnviroSCAN analyzed with scaled frequency(SF) were about 2.6%, and 2.8% and those by 1 versus 1 correspondence were about 2.6%, and 2.6%, respectively. WET-1 showed about 2.0% of error, which is the smallest value among errors by FDR sensors. PR-1 with the error of about 4.7% should be hard for application in field. Therefore, users on soil water sensors have to take into consideration the errors of sensors revealed after the calibration for the correct measurement of VSWC in field. The rest except for PR-1 among the sensors could be used for VSWC measurement with 1.4~2.6% error.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.157-164
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• 2021

Smart agriculture requires sensing systems which are fundamental for precision agriculture. Adequate and appropriate water and nutrient supply not only improves crop productivity but also benefit to environment. However, there is no available soil sensor to continuously monitor nutrient status in soil. Electrical conductivity (EC) of soil is affected by ion contents in soil and can be used to evaluate nutrient contents in soil. Comparison of various commercial EC sensors showed similar water content and EC values at water content less than 20%. Soil EC values measured by sensors decreased with decreasing soil water content and linearly correlated with soil water content. EC values measured by soil sensor were highly correlated with water soluble nutrient contents such as Ca, K, Mg and N in soil indicating that the soil EC sensor can be used for monitoring changes in plant available nutrients in soil.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.426-439
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• 2018

Purpose: To continuously monitor soil and climatic properties, a data acquisition system (DAQ) was developed and tested in plum farms (Gyewol-ri and Haechang-ri, Suncheon, Korea). Methods: The DAQ consisted of a Raspberry-Pi processor, a modem, and an ADC board with multiple sensors (soil moisture content (SEN0193), soil temperature (DS18B20), climatic temperature and humidity (DHT22), and rainfall gauge (TR-525M)). In the laboratory, various tests were conducted to calibrate SEN0193 at different soil moistures, soil temperatures, depths, and bulk densities. For performance comparison of the SEN0193 sensor, two commercial moisture sensors (SMS-BTA and WT-1000B) were tested in the field. The collected field data in Raspberry-Pi were transmitted and stored on a web server database through a commercial communications wireless network. Results: In laboratory tests, it was found that the SEN0193 sensor voltage reading increased significantly with an increase in soil bulk density. A linear calibration equation was developed between voltage and soil moisture content depending on the farm soil bulk density. In field tests, the SEN0193 sensor showed linearity (R = 0.76 and 0.73) between output voltage and moisture content; however, the other two sensors showed no linearity, indicating that site-specific calibration is important for accurate sensing. In the long-term monitoring results, it was observed that the measured climate temperature was almost the same as website information. Soil temperature information was higher than the values measured by DS18B20 during spring and summer. However, the local rainfall measured using TR 525M was significantly different from the values on the website. Conclusion: Based on the test results obtained using the developed monitoring system, it is thought that the measurement of various parameters using one device would be helpful in monitoring plum growth. Field data from the local farm monitoring system can be coupled with website information from the weather station and used more efficiently.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.237-251
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• 2006

Piezoelectric sensors have many applications in geotechnical engineering, especially in characterizing soils through measurement of wave velocities. Since mechanical properties of a material are closely associated with wave velocities, piezoelectric sensors provide a reliable and non-destructive method for the determination of soil properties. This paper presents results of recent research on measuring stiffness of a wide range of soils such as clay, sand, and gravel, characterizing anisotropic properties of soil induced by external loading, measuring stiffness of base and subgrade materials in the pavement, determining soil properties in a centrifuge model during the flight of a centrifuge, and understanding wave propagation in granular materials under micro-gravity environment using this technique.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2006

Understanding characteristics of claypan soils has long been an issue for researchers and farmers because the high-clay subsoil has a pronounced effect on grain crop productivity. The claypan restricts water infiltration and storage within the crop root zone, but these effects are not uniform within fields. Conventional techniques of identifying claypan soil characteristics require manual probing and analysis which can be quite expensive; an expense most farmers are unwilling to pay. On the other hand, farmers would be very interested if this information could be obtained with easy-to-use field sensors. Two examples of sensors that show promise for helping in claypan soil characterization are soil profile strength sensing and bulk soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa). Little has been reported on claypan soils relating the combined information from these two sensors with grain crop yield. The objective of this research was to identify the relationships of sensed profile soil strength and soil EC with nine years of crop yield (maize and soybean) from a claypan soil field in central Missouri. A multiple-probe (five probes on 19-cm spacing) cone penetrometer was used to measure soil strength and an electromagnetic induction sensor was used to measure soil EC at 55 grid site locations within a 4-ha research field. Crop yields were obtained using a combine equipped with a yield monitoring system. Soil strength at the 15 to 45 cm soil depth were significantly correlated to crop yield and ECa. Estimated crop yields from apparent electrical conductivity and soil strength were validated with an independent data set. Using measurements from these two sensors, standard error rates for estimating yield ranged from 9 to 16%. In conclusion, these results showed that the sensed profile soil strength and soil EC could be used as a measure of the soil productivity for grain crop production.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2005.08a
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• pp.75-87
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• 2005

Remote sensing(RS)- and geographic information system(GIS)-based information management to measure and assess agri-environment schemes, and to quantify and map environment indicators for nature and land use, climate change, air, water and energy balance, waste and material flow is in high demand because it is very helpful in assisting decision making activities of farmers, government, researchers, and consumers. The versatility and ability of RS and GIS containing huge soil database to assess agricultural environment spatially and temporally at various spatial scales were investigated. Spectral and microwave observations were carried out to characterize crop variables and soil properties. Multiple sources RS data from ground sensors, airborne sensors, and also satellite sensors were collected and analyzed to extract features and land cover/use for soils, crops, and vegetation for support precision agriculture, soil/land suitability, soil property estimation, crop growth estimation, runoff potential estimation, irrigated and the estimation of flooded areas in paddy rice fields. RS and GIS play essential roles in a management and monitoring information system. Biosphere-atmosphere interection should also be further studied to improve synergistic modeling for environment and sustainability in agri-environment schemes.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2014

Ground-based remote sensing can be used as one of the non-destructive, fast, and real-time diagnostic tools for predicting yield, biomass, and nitrogen stress during growing season. The objectives of this study were: 1) to assess biomass and nitrogen (N) status of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants under N stress using ground-based remote sensors; and 2) to evaluate the feasibility of spectral reflectance indices for estimating an application rate of N and predicting yield of tobacco. Dry weight (DW), N content, and N uptake at the 40th and 50th day after transplanting (DAT) were positively correlated with chlorophyll content and normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVIs) from all sensors (P<0.01). Especially, Green NDVI (GNDVI) by spectroradiometer and Crop Circle-passive sensors were highly correlated with DW, N content and N uptake. The yield of tobacco was positively correlated with canopy reflectance indices measured at each growth stage (P<0.01). The regression of GNDVI by spectroradiometer on yield showed positively quadratic curve and explained about 90% for the variability of measured yield. The sufficiency index (SI) calculated from data/maximum value of GNDVI at the $40^{th}$ DAT ranged from 0.72 to 1.0 and showed the same positively quadratic regression with N application rate explaining 84% for the variability of N rate. These results suggest that use of reflectance indices measured with ground-based remote sensors may assist in determining application rate of fertilizer N at the critical season and estimating yield in mid-season.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.415-419
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• 2021

We developed a highly accurate, yet inexpensive, refractive index (RI)-based soil moisture sensor. To detect the RI, a light guide was set with a light-emitting diode and photodiode. When the air fills the space between the soil particles, most of the incident light is reflected at the interface between the waveguide and the air because of the large RI difference. As the moisture of the soil increases, the macroscopic soil RI increases. This allows incident light to pass through the interface. The intensity of the light reaching the photodiode was simulated according to the change in the soil RI. Using the simulation results, we designed and manufactured a curved glass waveguide. We evaluated the performance of the RI-based soil sensor by comparing it with a commercially available, high-cost and high-performance time-domain reflectometer (TDR). Our sensor was 96% accurate, surpassing the costly TDR sensor.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.393-410
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• 2012

Conventional geotechnical instrumentation techniques available for monitoring of slopes, especially soil-nailed slopes have limitations such as electromagnetic interference, low accuracy, poor longterm reliability and difficulty in mounting a series of strain sensors on a soil nail bar with a small-diameter. This paper presents a slope monitoring system based on fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensing technology. This monitoring system is designed to perform long-term monitoring of slope movements, strains along soil nails, and other slope reinforcement elements. All these FBG sensors are fabricated and calibrated in laboratory and a trial of this monitoring system has been successfully conducted on a roadside slope in Hong Kong. As part of the slope stability improvement works, soil nails and a toe support soldier-pile wall were constructed. During the slope works, more than 100 FBG sensors were installed on a soil nail, a soldier pile, and an in- place inclinometer. The paper presents the layout and arrangement of the instruments as well as the installation procedures adopted. Monitoring data have been collected since March 2008. This trial has demonstrated the great potential of the optical fibre monitoring system for long-term monitoring of slope performance. The advantages of the slope monitoring system and experience gained in the field implementation are also discussed in the paper.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.439-447
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• 2019

In this study, experiments were conducted to establish appropriate measures for slopes with high risk of collapse and to obtain results for minimizing slope collapse damage by detecting the micro-displacement of soil in advance by installing a laser sensor and a vibration sensor in the landslide reduction model experiment. Also, the behavior characteristics of the soil layer due to rainfall and moisture ratio changes such as pore water pressure and moisture were analyzed through a landslide reduction model experiment. The artificial slope was created using granite weathering soil, and the resulting water ratio(water pressure, water) changes were measured at different rainfall conditions of 200mm/hr and 400mm/hr. Laser sensors and vibration sensors were applied to analyze the surface displacement, and the displacement time were compared with each other by video analysis. Experiments have shown that higher rainfall intensity takes shorter time to reach the limit, and increase in the pore water pressure takes shorter time as well. Although the landslide model test does not fully reflect the site conditions, measurements of the time of detection of displacement generation using vibration sensors show that the timing of collapse is faster than the method using laser sensors. If ground displacement measurements using sensors are continuously carried out in preparation for landslides, it is considered highly likely to be utilized as basic data for predicting slope collapse, reducing damage, and activating the measurement industry.