Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Kurum, Mehmet

Committee Member

Ball, John

Committee Member

Gurbuz, Ali

Date of Degree

12-10-2021

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract

With an increased interest in precision agriculture, it is important to identify efficient ways to monitor soil moisture. Soil moisture can be monitored using handheld sensors, but this method is laborious and time consuming. Remote methods, such as radar systems can be used as well, but these methods require ground truth data to verify their accuracy. It becomes clear that to collect this data regularly and reliably, a mobile robotic device is necessary. This thesis proposes to implement mobile robot take soil moisture measurements with less human effort than existing methods while maintaining the same accuracy. This soil moisture data collection system uses an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to take measurements with position data. This system uses an actuator inserted soil moisture probe, and a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensing system that uses buried moisture sensing tags. Field testing of both measurement systems showed that the actuator-based system worked reliably.

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