Experimental evaluation of the performance of a wireless sensor network in agricultural environments

The aim of this study was to perform an experimental study to evaluate the proper operation distance between the nodes of a wireless sensor network available on the market for different agricultural crops (maize, physic nut, eucalyptus). The experimental data of the network performance offers to farmers and researchers information that might be useful to the sizing and project of the wireless sensor networks in similar situations to those studied. The evaluation showed that the separation of the nodes depends on the type of culture and it is a critical factor to ensure the feasibility of using WSN. In the configuration used, sending packets every 2 seconds, the battery life was about four days. Therefore, the autonomy may be increased with a longer interval of time between sending packets.

Seasonality of net radiation in two sub-basins of Paracatu by the use of modis sensor products

The net radiation (Rn) represents the main source of energy for physical and chemical processes that occur in the surface-atmosphere interface, and it is used for air and soil heating, water transfer, in the form of vapor from the surface to the atmosphere, and for the metabolism of plants, especially photosynthesis. If there is no record of net radiation in certain areas, the use of information is important to help determine it. Among them we can highlight those provided by remote sensing. In this context, this work aims to estimate the net radiation, with the use of products of MODIS sensor, in the sub-basins of Entre Ribeiros creek and Preto River, located between the Brazilian states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. The SEBAL (Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land) was used to obtain the Rn in four different days in the period of July to October, 2007. The Rn results obtained were consistent with others cited in the literature and are important because the orbital information can help determine the Rn in areas where there are not automatic weather stations to record the net radiation.

Uso de imagens do sensor orbital modis na estimação de datas do ciclo de desenvolvimento da cultura da soja para o estado do Paraná – Brasil

RESUMO O Estado do Paraná caracteriza-se por uma grande variabilidade de épocas de semeadura (DS) e, consequentemente, pelo desenvolvimento máximo vegetativo (DMDV), colheita (DC) e ciclo (CI) para a cultura da soja. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar essas datas para o período de primavera-verão do ano-safra de 2011/2012, por meio de séries temporais de imagens do Índice de Vegetação Realçado (do inglês Enhanced Vegetation Index - EVI) do sensor Modis (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). Gerou-se um perfil espectrotemporal médio de EVI, considerando todos os pixels mapeados como soja dentro de cada município. Estes dados serviram de entrada no software Timesat para estimar os decêndios do ciclo da cultura (DS, DMDV, DC e CI) por municípios. Os resultados mostraram que existe grande variabilidade de datas de plantio em diferentes mesorregiões do Estado. Verificaram-se também divergências entre os resultados encontrados e os dados oficiais de DS e DC. A maior parte da semeadura (65,16%) esteve entre o terceiro decêndio de outubro e o primeiro decêndio de novembro. A maior parte da área de soja do Estado do Paraná (65,46%) teve seu DMDV em janeiro e colheita em março (53,92%).