Evaluation of wireless communication devices for remote monitoring of protected crop production environment

Wireless technology has enabled farmers monitor and control protected production environment more efficiently. Utilization of USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) devices also brought benefits due to reduced wiring and central data handling requirements. However, wireless communication loses signal under unfavorable conditions (e.g., blocked signal path, low signal intensity). In this paper, performance of commercial wireless communication devices were evaluated for application to protected crop production. Two different models of wireless communication devices were tested. Sensors used in the study were weather units installed outside and top of a greenhouse (wind velocity and direction, precipitation, temperature and humidity), inside ambient condition units (temperature, humidity, CO 2 , and light intensity), and irrigation status units (irrigation flow and pressure, and soil water content). Performance of wireless communication was evaluated with and without crop. For a 2.4 GHz device, communication distance was decreased by about 10% when crops were present between the transmitting and receiving antennas installed on the ground, and the best performance was obtained when the antennas were installed 2 m above the crop canopy. When tested in a greenhouse, center of a greenhouse was chosen as the location of receiving antenna. The results would provide information useful for implementation of wireless environment monitoring system for protected crop production using USN devices.