DIELECTRIC USB-MOISTURE METER FOR SEEDS OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS

Abstract

The modern technical development condition is closed due to tough business competitiveness, so the innovative information for teaching students on the best examples of engineering and designing is not available. This is one of the basic reasons that diminish engineering education effectiveness in the field of technical knowledge in modern agricultural production. The scientists of engineering departments work above the solution of this problem and adapt the results into practice-oriented teaching technologies. The example is the development of moisture meter for agricultural crops seeds on the world-famous microcontroller Arduino-based platform, oriented to master the foundations of real-time information technologies shown in this article. The principle of the moisture meter operation is based on the most common method for measuring humidity of seeds – dielectric technique. The classical algorithm of conversion, such as permittivity, capacitance, frequency, table-based transformations and temperature correction is given. In the research process the methods of software structural designing, including functionally-oriented techniques for realizing the functions of real-time information systems were used. The hardware and software for solving such tasks as measuring the humidity of crop seeds, as well as studying microcontroller devices operating on the base of classical measurement methods have been developed. It can be used to solve other engineering and scientific problems in the field of agriculture where capacitive sensors are used.

Keywords: Arduino, capacitance, frequency, measuring converter, microcontroller, temperature sensor

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.034