RSMN Implementation and Calibration
It’s been taken into account the evaluation of the temperature sensors and soil moisture on the market, choosing a type of sensor that meets the needs of the project, and their acquiring the related equipment for testing and calibration laboratory engaged prior installation and integration with existing weather stations, installation, testing and calibration in-situ. It was established the structure (schema - block) for mobile stations, following hardware design, software design, assembly, laboratory testing and in-situ field installation.
RSMN Design - the fixed component
In order to select the most suitable locations, the following criteria and information had been taken into consideration:
- Existing weather stations locations;
- Site elevation <300-500 m;
- Minimal forest, water and localities coverage;
- Small amount of argil soil;
- Reduced RFI interference;
All of the 20 proposed station are operational
| Coordinates | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Lon | Lat |
| 15479 | Adamclisi | 27.96591288 | 44.08828906 |
| 15489 | Alexandria | 25.35286364 | 43.97780601 |
| 15197 | Barlad | 27.64438367 | 46.2331338 |
| 15460 | Calarasi | 27.3385146 | 44.20572207 |
| 15136 | Chisineu Cris | 21.54177115 | 46.51867633 |
| 15408 | Corugea | 28.34225398 | 44.73444284 |
| 15056 | Cotnari | 26.92545711 | 47.35829844 |
| 15000 | Darabani | 26.5732519 | 48.19477108 |
| 15083 | Dej | 23.8989254 | 47.12795904 |
| 15189 | Dumbraveni | 24.59160604 | 46.22786185 |
| 15080 | Oradea | 21.89611975 | 47.03580162 |
| 15470 | Rosiorii de Vede | 24.97871777 | 44.10711102 |
| 15199 | Sannicolau Mare | 20.60158621 | 46.07155688 |
| 15010 | Satu Mare | 22.88736848 | 47.72144328 |
| 15425 | Slobozia | 27.38372843 | 44.55277587 |
| 15265 | Tecuci | 27.4090074 | 45.84164072 |
| 15090 | Iasi | 27.62545609 | 47.16314699 |
| 15434 | Slatina | 24.35445532 | 44.44211128 |
| 15289 | Banloc | 21.1362639 | 45.3829027 |
| 15412 | Bacles | 23.11289872 | 44.4761669 |
At the existing weather stations location the 5TM probes will be interfaced with the existing automatic weather station data loggers (Vaisala/Logotronic).
Fixed Station Scheme
GIS databases used for mapping
Mobile Station Scheme
The mobile stations are built around the Arduino Uno board fitted with a GSM shield, for communication and powered by a solar panel and battery. One 5TM Decagon sensor is used at a depth of 0-5 cm.
RSMN Design - the mobile component
Is meant to allow for easy reconfiguration of the soil moisture network depending upon the satellite product to be validated. 30 autonomous mobile stations will be deployed in different areas according to the scheme below.
Data-logger for humidity and soil temperature
Within the ASSIMO project, for the automatic measuring of the volumetric soil moisture the Decagon 5TM sensor is used, created by Decagon Devices, which corresponds the criteria.
The 5TM Decagon transducer is a precise instrument for monitoring the volumetric content of water and that of soil temperature. It determines the volumetric soil moisture through measuring the dielectric constant using the capacitive method (Frequency Domain Reflectometry).
The advantages of using the 5TM transducer:
- It offers two measured dimensions (the volumetric content of water and the soil temperature);
- Low power consumption, which makes possible its use in battery power systems;
- The SDI-12 serial interface allows connection with systems built by other companies.
Composition and characteristics:
- The Olimexino development platform with the 8 bit ATmega328 microprocessor: 32kB flash memory, 2kB RAM memory, 1kb EEPROM memory, MHz clock, 6 analog entries, 16 digital inputs/outputs;
- The 5TM Decagon intelligent sensor for for soil moisture and temperature, the SDI-12 serial communication;
- The TMP102 intelligent sensor for temperature, 12C serial communication; • microSD mode cu SPI serial communication;
- The Arduino GSM mode which uses the Quectel M10 modern radio.
At the existing weather stations location the 5TM probes will be interfaced with the existing automatic weather station data loggers (Vaisala/Logotronic).
The Olimexino328 development platform
The electric scheme of the Data logger for soil moisture and temperature
In the scheme are shown all of the connections between modules and between the transducer and the development platform.