VSI - Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Probe
Agriculture and pristine ecosystsms worldwide are already experiencing more frequent hot spells with low precipitation. As a result of impending climate change, droughts are expected to intensify in Austria, Europe and globally.
As a result, soil moisture monitoring and irrigation of crops, urban and natural ecosystems will become increasingly important. Vienna Scientific distributes soil moisture sensors from Sentek Technologies - an Australian irrigation specialist with 25 years years of experience. The latest generation of Drill and Drop Soil Moisture Sensors integrates advanced telemetry, intelligent software, and easy installation to support irrigation scheduling and soil moisture measurement in an easy-to-understand way.
The Sentek Drill & Drop probes, which are inserted into the soil, are available in
- wireless (bluetooth) and
- wired configurations,
and there are several lengths to choose from to suit different crops. Length are single point (10cm, SDI-12 only), 30, 60, 90, 120 cm and 150 cm (SDI-12 slimline only). "Standard" Drill & Drop probes measure soil moisture and temperature, TriSCAN probes measure in addition salinity (electrical conductivity, EC).
Drill & Drop means particularly easy installation in the soil. The hole for the probe is prepared with a special tapered drill, without mud/slurry, as slurry can lead to inaccurate measurements. The probe can be installed in minutes in all types of soil using any electric drill and base plate for guidance. As a result, they are able to provide accurate readings right from the start. Each individual probe carries sensors at 10 cm intervals, and thus simultaneously records a profile of the soil moisture and temperature, and salinity (TriScan version) at each soil depth.
- Wireless probe types connect to a smartphone app via Bluetooth - taking away complex and expensive cellular and satellite modem telemetry. The Sentek app is available in the Android / iOS stores. The data is then uploaded from this app to the associated analysis software Sentek IrriMAX Live. Graphics clearly show the depths from which the roots take up their water. This evaluation enables irrigation closely oriented to demand to increase yield and save water. See Table 1 (below) for Drill & Drop "Bluetooth types".
- The wired probes are available for three logger protocols: RS232 (Plus, Compact, Solo & Modbus), RS485 (MULTI & Modbus) and SDI-12 Probes. Cables (5/6 m) are either connected to the top (i.e. removable cable) or the side of probes. See Table 2a-c (removable cable) and Table 3a-c (side exit cables) for details