MONITORING SYSTEM FOR WHEAT METEOROLOGICAL DISASTERS USING WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract. Both the monitoring of wheat growth and the diagnosis of disasters are critical aspects of agricultural production management. To improve wheat production management and reduce risks posed by disaster, a monitoring system for wheat meteorological disasters (MS-WMD) based on wireless sensor network (WSN) technology was established. The objective was to provide both real-time and long-term monitoring for both on-farm and regional-scale monitoring applications through the improved efficiency and efficacy of the targeted practices. This paper describes the hardware and software components of the technologies developed for the proposed system and the practical implementation of the system. The proposed system consists of two components: Field stations with wireless sensor network (FS-WSNs) deployed in wheat farmlands and a central monitoring platform (CMP) built in a laboratory. In each FS-WSN, real-time data concerning on-farm environmental factors during the growth of wheat were collected, processed, and remotely transmitted to the CMP. The CMP was used for the following applications: monitoring and displaying of multi-regional data, diagnosis of and decision making concerning wheat meteorological disasters (drought, dry hot winds, frost and freeze), and web services that can be accessed by users through multi-platform and multi-terminal devices (e.g., PCs, smartphones). In the demonstration system of this study, a total of 114 FS-WSNs were deployed in representative wheat belt regions across 16 provinces of China. The results of the six-year (from August 2010 to the present) field application period demonstrated that the system provides various advantages for both the on-farm and regional-scale monitoring of wheat meteorological status in terms of distributed monitoring and centralized management, which could benefit wheat growers. Moreover, the system could be considered as a targeted application of crop monitoring in precision agriculture.