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Design and construction of scintillometer for evapotranspiration

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adwnis123

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Smart agriculture with Arduino

Hello,

I have a tree and I want to sense the soil moisture from the surface up to 1 meter depth. I found this here:
soil-moisture-sensor

http://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/soil-moisture-sensor-hookup-guide

but it does not go up to 1 meter depth. Any solutions?

Also, how do I measure the Evapotranspiration of the tree? Can you help me?

I am searching on google many hours now, but I got more confused.

This guy here:

http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10284/how-to-monitor-the-foliage-evapotranspiration-with-arduino/2

talks about scintillometer.

Can I use scintillometer for measuring Evapotranspiration of the tree? Because I see articles about scintillometer and gamma cosmic rays...

http://cosmicpi.org/uploads/Cosmic-Pi-Orconf-2015-final.pdf

Thank you..
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Hi,

There is a broad range from "one unit low cost" to "high volume professional" design.

what´s your intention?
Hobby? your own agriculture? selling devices?
What budget?
How many units?
Interfaces?
Power supply?
Indoor? temperature range?

Klaus
 
Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Just hobby, one unit for my tree.
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Can I use scintillometer for measuring Evapotranspiration of the tree? Because I see articles about scintillometer and gamma cosmic rays…
You are confusing scintillometer and scintillator. The latter is a radiation detector.
 
Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

If I use multiple soil moisture sensors the one under the other inside the soil of the tree, I should get the soil moisture to the the range surface (0 meters) to 1 meter depth as I need, right?

Also for evapotranspiration, if I use multiple humidity sensors (ex. DHT11) from surface up to peak of the tree, I believe I could measure something about that right?

- - - Updated - - -

Can LIDAR work in this case?
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Here it says it can be done with LIDAR Raman, but I suppose it is too expensive for hobbyist.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0309170805001314

- - - Updated - - -

Is there a way to construct a Raman LIDAR using non-expensive equipment, laser, phototransistor etc, as happens with most hobbyist construction/DIY? What theory should I follow?
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

This guy here:

https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10284/how-to-monitor-the-foliage-evapotranspiration-with-arduino/2

says:

A scintillometer seems doable as diy. For an area like a tree, I'd start with a laser diode ( i dont know which frequency, but as a complete guess id try infrared, possibly red, and stay away from green and blue), the other end would be either a phototransistor or a photocell. A low noise (probably high gain) amplifier and a quality anolog to digital converter (maybe a 24 bit sound card, probably a pi zero attached not an arduine or esp)

Can this be done with Arduino somehow? I am googling it also...

Thank you...
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Here it says it can be done with LIDAR Raman, but I suppose it is too expensive for hobbyist.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0309170805001314

- - - Updated - - -

Is there a way to construct a Raman LIDAR using non-expensive equipment, laser, phototransistor etc, as happens with most hobbyist construction/DIY? What theory should I follow?

Don't even try it. There are too many variables and "accuracies" and other inputs required for this approach to be doable and with any meaningful results.

Stick with simpler methods like humidity sensors.
 
Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

See if moisture changes the soil in some measurable way, such as:

* electrical conductivity (DC or AC various frequencies)

* acoustic or ultrasonic in the same manner as seismic sensors. Speed of sound, resonance, percentage of absorption.

* ground-penetrating radar of a homebrew kind.

* To install or change sensors one meter down, sink a tube into the soil. (Copper is risky to use because copper sulfate is commonly used as a root killer.)

* The tube itself can be made into a sensor by perforating it. When the soil contains a certain amount of water, it rises in the tube (similar to a well).
 
Hello,

I want to construct a low cost (affordable cost for a hobbyist) scintillometer that could measure the evapotraspiration of a tree. Any help where to start from would be appreciated. Can I use the LIDARs for Arduino, that are sold on internet (ebay etc.), and modify them for doing this job?

Thank you
 
Last edited:

LIDAR is an umbrella term for instruments with quite different purpose and operation details. You have simple laser distance sensors, scanning distance sensors and also instruments with spectrometric detector that can e.g. determine the spatial distribution of gases in the atmosphere.

Monitoring water vapor concentrations is a purpose of the latter kind and surely not achievable with 100$ devices.
 
The Ebay listing is a spectrometer. It's not likely you can aim it at the dirt and read moisture content.

Not that I know anything but on a remote chance you could aim it across the top of the soil (or the top of a tube sunk 1 meter down), and it might read moisture in the air rising upward from the soil (or the tube).

* Or in a reflected beam from the bottom of the tube, might tell you H²0 content of air in the tube.

* Or in a collimated beam known as Schlieren photography which uses focusing mirrors to make warm/cold air currents visible.

Edited to add:

This is interesting. The Youtube video demonstrates the spectrometer's various uses. He aims it at the sky and says he can detect humidity in the air because of the reading at 756 nm wavelength indicating oxygen. At first I'd say 'Of course gaseous O² is in the air' however for all I know the spectrometer really does detect oxygen as found in H²O.

A genuine spectrometer for $97 US dollars seems like a bargain (if you need one). But I can't help wondering if the working principle has been applied to make a humidity gauge, at a lower price, and more compact.
 

Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Just hobby, one unit for my tree.

Have you researched lysimeters? Since your only concern is one tree it might be a practical solution.
 

Does this work for what I want to measure?
No. Water vapor NIR lines have about 10% absorption for 1 km atmospheric path according to literature. You can well detect it with a simple instrument when looking to the sky. To measure the absorption for path length of a few meters, you need tuned mono-mode lasers.
 
They also use a sledge hammer , steel plates and piezo sensors for measuring changes to water table with seismic Wave reflections, diffraction and velocity frequency changes
 
Re: Smart agriculture with Arduino

Can I use scintillometer for measuring Evapotranspiration of the tree? Because I see articles about scintillometer and gamma cosmic rays...

Surely you remember why the stars twinkle? And why the planets don't?

That is due to the fluctuations in the refractive index of the air (atmosphere).

You can sometimes see hot air rising from a hot surface? In reality you are not seeing the air, you are only observing the fluctuations of the background image due to moving hot air.

There is a photographic technique- I cannot pronounce the name- it is called Schlieren photography- and you can see the hot air rising from the human body. It has been widely used in many famous scientific experiments.

(you can find many interesting images in Google).

You can use the same idea with a plant and estimate the overall loss of water from the surface of the plant.

Scintillators and scintillation counters are different beasts all together (they count tiny light flashes produced by ionizing radiation- say produced by a radioactive element).
 
No. Water vapor NIR lines have about 10% absorption for 1 km atmospheric path according to literature. You can well detect it with a simple instrument when looking to the sky. To measure the absorption for path length of a few meters, you need tuned mono-mode lasers.

I think we should encourage OP to make one of these and post his DIY on this forum later. He's determined to do so anyhow.

I'm unsubscribing from this pointless thread.
 
As I have seen so far by googling, I send a laser beam on a specific frequency over the air and I do some analysis on the reflected beam to the phototransistor. I am still searching on it. A second solution as far as I have found is to use thermal FLIR cameras above the tree.
 

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