University of Almeria (UAL) researchers have designed a system that estimates transpiration in greenhouses, thus allowing for irrigation control on crops in substrates that do not need soil, that is, hydroponic.
The new tool, described in the magazine Sensors, is the result of 5 years of work during which a virtual sensor was designed from the typical sensors that can be found in greenhouses measuring temperature, humidity and radiation. From these parameters, researchers obtain the best combination which will be reported to the grower in the shape of a computer application, incorporated to the irrigation controllers which are already being used in Almeria.
The goal is to provide a scientific tool to optimise water use in agriculture.
Experts have designed virtual sensors from system identification techniques, very much used in industrial environments, but applied to agriculture. "Sensors are installed in the greenhouse that will pick up data from which we obtain the dynamic variables we wish to measure," explains the agronomist Jorge Antonio Sánchez, researcher from the UAL group.
Source: Elalmeria
