Sensors for Agriculture and the Food Industry

Abstract

The Electrochemical Society Interface • Winter 2010 41 M odern agricultural management relies strongly on many different sensing methodologies to provide accurate information on crop, soil, climate, and environmental conditions. Almost every sensing technique may find an application in agriculture and the food industry. This paper briefly reviews some of the applications of sensors in agriculture and the food industry. Remote Spectral SensingRemote spectral sensing of crops has been intensively investigated and proven to be an important tool in modern agricultural management. Agricultural remote spectral sensing typically refers to imagery taken from above a field where the incident electromagnetic radiation is generally sunlight.1 When sunlight hits the surface of the crop or soil, the light will be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted, depending on the wavelength of the light and the characteristics of the contacted body. The differences in the physical and chemical properties of the contacted body, such as leaf color, texture, and shape, determine the amount of the reflected, absorbed, and transmitted energy of a specific wavelength. The most common remote sensing technique used in agriculture is spectral reflectance measurements, in which the spectral reflectance (the ratio of reflected energy to incident energy) is measured as a function of wavelength. 2,3 The images of the wavelength-dependent reflectance Sensors for Agriculture and the Food Industryby Suiqiong Li, Aleksandr Simonian, and Bryan A. Chin curves, which are known as a spectral signature, are unique to plant species and conditions. The wavelengths measured in most agricultural applications cover the visible (400-700 nm) to near infrared (700-2500 nm) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. 1 Research has shown that spectral signatures in this region offer a wealth of information regarding physiological and biological properties of crops and soil.1,4,5 Special vegetation and crop indices have been derived from the measured spectral reflectance values for studying different agricultural properties. 1,6 Spectrometers, radiometers, or digital cameras can be mounted on a variety of platforms either ground (truck, tractor), aerial (aircraft), or space (satellite) to gather data. Sequential measurements of small areas are made as the sensor platform moves and subsequent processing assembles measurement results into an image. 3 The remote sensing is characterized by spatial resolution, spectral resolution, and temporal resolution.1,3 Spatial resolution refers to the smallest area that can be distinguished in the image. Spatial resolution is directly related to the image pixel size. Spectral resolution refers to the number and width of the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum measured by the sensor. Temporal resolution refers to how often a remote sensing platform can provide measurements of an area. Agriculture and farm management applications typically require a spatial resolution of 2-5 m with a 1 to 3-day temporal resolution, a 1 pixel geolocati...

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