Soil Moisture Sensor Q&A

Abstract

Understanding how to obtain and interpret the data coming from the soil moisture sensor (SMS) systems could be one of the most important parts of efficient irrigation management. These systems allow obtaining an efficient and informed irrigation scheduling plan based on soil moisture readings collected at the field. Below we answer some of the common questions when managing SMS systems including what is necessary to visualize SMS data in the computer, what kind of electronics allows data transfer from the field to the computer, and what is the best position to locate the sensors in the field. We also discuss CropMonitor a UF made software to visualize SMS data.