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Sensors for measuring physical properties of plant: development and application

Lang, Lixin
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1407235118

Abstract Details

2003, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
Knowing plant physical properties such as height or volume at different stages of crop growth could provide valuable information on the health and needs of plants. The variation of plant physical properties can be an indication of variation in yield; therefore, knowing the crop status early in the growing season could give farmers a chance to correct the probable yield-limiting causes. The current method of quantifying plant physical properties is expensive, destructive and time-consuming. The long term goal of this study was to use plant physical property information for site-specific application of plants input such as nitrogen. The specific goals of this study were to develop sensors, tools and techniques for measuring plant properties. Two plant physical properties measuring and monitoring systems were built using a laser scanner system and ultrasonic sensors. The design goal for both systems was for the systems to be robust enough to measure plant physical properties in an outdoor environment, non-destructive and non-invasively. The first system used a laser measurement system (LMS200, SICK Inc. Reute,Germany). A C++ program was written to communicate with the sensor and collect and store all measured data. The sensor was mounted on the top of a frame facing downward. Driven by a step motor, the sensor moves back and forth at a constant speed of 0.5 inch/sec. As the sensor was moving it was able to measure and collect the plant's physical properties such as height, volume, and top leaf area index of the plants that were under the frame. To test the system, the height and leaf area of two-week-old soybeans were measured both by the sensor and manually by hand. In most cases, the sensor was very accurate in measuring height and volume of the plants as well as objects with regular shape. The second system used an array of ultrasonic sensors for measuring and mapping plant height variation under field conditions. Two ultrasonic sensor were used RPS-401A-80P (Migatron Corp., Woodstock, IL ) and Mini-A, (EDP Company, Livonia, MI ) in the second system. Both ultrasonic sensors performed well under field conditions. The RPS-401A-80P was rugged enough for field applications and had a built in temperature compensation; however, the Mini-A was costs less. A GPS receiver was also used with the system to get position information for each height measurement. Indoor tests were conducted to calibrate the Mini-A ultrasonic sensor. Two different filters, a median filter and an averaging filter, were used and compared to reduce the noise from ultrasonic sensors. Tests were conducted to determine the best size of the median to suppress noise without losing useful information. Two crops, soybean and corn, were selected for the field tests. The sensor was able to measure plant height variation in-field and demonstrate the feasibility of measuring plant growth rate variation in-field.
M. Reza Ehsani (Advisor)
Erdal Ozkan (Committee Member)
Randall C. Reeder (Committee Member)
350 p.
Agricultural Engineering

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lang, L. (2003). Sensors for measuring physical properties of plant: development and application [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1407235118

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lang, Lixin. Sensors for measuring physical properties of plant: development and application. 2003. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1407235118.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lang, Lixin. "Sensors for measuring physical properties of plant: development and application." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1407235118

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1407235118
180
© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.