The latest in TDR technology

April 6, 2011

Last time around we gave you a sneak preview of our new TDR sensors, probes, meters and telemetry. Well the good news is – it’s here!  We have recently updated our website with the latest equipment to arrive from our award winning German supplier Imko and it’s safe to say this is the very latest in soil moisture measurement technology – technology that delivers very accurate determination of soil moisture content.

We have systems for taking soil moisture readings from top layers using a TDR probe combined with a HD2 handheld display unit. The probe rods are inserted into the soil and within a few seconds the moisture measurement and soil EC values and temperature are displayed.  If you were looking for a long term, onsite system the Pico 32 or 64 probe can be buried in the ground and networked via a new datalogger (GlobeLog).

For a manual soil moisture content profiling system the IPH sensor, the first ever TDR tube access probe to be developed, will take measurements in 160mm increments to a depth of 3 meters. It can be connected to a HD2 readout device or a wireless BT Bluetooth system.

An automatic system consists of the brand new modular Pico Profile probe connected to the GlobeLog. This new generation of probe gives precise soil moisture data of selected soil horizons to depths of up to 4 metres and when used with the GlobeLog datalogger a long term, fixed installation system with automatic logging and the option to add a telemetry system, is created.

More detailed information is available here, including a link to live data captured onsite with the DART (Detection of Archaeological Residues using remote sensing Techniques)  Project, School of Computing, University of Leeds who are currently using this equipment on site at the Royal Agricultural College, for a major new investigation into what lies beneath our soils.

This is a three year, £815,000 Science and Heritage funded initiative led by the School of Computing at the University of Leeds to examine the complex problem of heritage detection. A consortium consisting of 25 key heritage and industry organisations and academic consultants and researchers from the areas of computer vision, geophysics, remote sensing, knowledge engineering and soil science have been brought together for this project.

Enhanced knowledge of archaeological residues is important for the long-term curation and understanding of a diminishing heritage. There are certain geologies and soils which can complicate the collection and interpretation of heritage remote sensing data. In some of these ‘difficult’ areas traditional detection techniques have been unresponsive. DART will develop a deeper understanding of the contrast factors and detection dynamics within ‘difficult’ areas. This will allow the identification of appropriate sensors and conditions for feature detection. The successful detection of features in ‘difficult’ areas will provide a more complete understanding of the heritage resource which will impact on research, management and development control.

Watch this space for progress…..