Wireless Sensor Network Technology for Precision Agriculture

Precision agriculture demands intensive field data acquisition. One of the keys to understanding productivity variability lays in frequent data acquisition and interpretation. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are a relatively new and rapidly developing class of wireless communication networks which can provide processed real time field data from sensors distributed in the field. The sensor nodes deployed on the field measure various atmospheric and soil parameters. These measurements can help in making decision on irrigation (automating, semi automating), fertilizer and pesticide applications, intruder detection, pest detection, yield prediction, plant disease prediction, fire detection, etc. The first part of this brief is devoted to Wireless Sensor Network technology with particular focus on its application in precision agriculture.