A remote monitoring system of automatic soil sampler based on ZigBee WSN

Abstract. In order to measure, process and upload soil sample data real-timely, wireless automatic soil sample remote monitoring system was developed. The system was mainly made up of soil sample information monitoring network node and remote server, sensor node based on ZigBee network protocols made up of wireless sensor network on a small scale, and then communicates with internet using 3G at large scales. The whole system finishes automatically collecting soil samples, wireless communications and rightly orienting. The management software on remote server is developed based on Access and Microsoft visual C++. The software contains four parts, soil sample information real-time displaying, and historical data inquiry and displaying, soil moisture distribution map, fertilization & irrigation guidance. Several physical tests were done, it included the communication test between RFID and Zigbee, Zigbee and 3G, also some tests of sensor node. After RFID reader reading data from labels, user check if all information is got on remote server to test if wireless and 3G communications work well. Sensor node tests were done to make sure that the communication between Zigbee network and 3G network works well. All Test result shows that the communication of the system is stable. The whole system can support soil sampling based on GPS and fertilization information collecting, saving and management, which greatly increased quality and efficiency of soil sampling and fertilization. And also GIS and wireless communication can integrated with the system, so the system can realize filed work guidance based on GIS, data remote isochronous transfer, displaying and analyzing.