Compared to the backward reality of production applications, soil moisture research in scientific studies has a long history and the main detection techniques have often been invented by scientists from a research perspective. They have always focused obsessively on the influence of soil microscopic properties on water content with the main goal of improving accuracy. Real-life requirements for soil moisture content, however, are quite different: 

1. Moisture data are as independent of soil characteristics as possible

In this way, the empirical knowledge generated is easy to compare, disseminate and generalize. All current techniques calculate volumetric or weight water content, and the lack of technology to obtain field-held water in real time in the field makes it difficult to obtain truly accurate relative water content data, resulting in soil water content measurements that cannot be used directly to guide agricultural production.

2. Large data volume and long-term acquisition of historical data

Scientific experimental research is obsessed with the single-point accuracy of the test data, but it is not very meaningful in terms of guidance for practical production because the scale of the target soil volume is much larger compared to the test point, and the moisture is by no means highly uniform in the soil. Only data with stable output, comparable historical data, and large enough volume averaging are available.

3. Easy installation, simple operation, and easy field deployment

In terms of installing and calibrating instrumentation, the accuracy and operating procedures required for scientific research are not guaranteed during actual production operations, resulting in the application of the relevant equipment to production with no guarantee of usable and reliable data. Providing simple and convenient field-free calibration equipment is a must-have feature for such field installation equipment.

4. Effectively eliminate the influence of the environment in the actual application process

During the operation of the sensing equipment, many factors have a great impact on the measurement accuracy and reliability, such as: the impact of outdoor temperature changes on the battery energy conversion efficiency, which ultimately affects the equipment output reliability; the impact of soil temperature and salt changes on the moisture measurement accuracy; the impact of soil vibration caused by factors such as field agricultural equipment operation on the measurement reliability; the impact of soil disturbance caused by the installation method on the measurement accuracy The impact of soil disturbance caused by the installation method on the measurement accuracy; the error caused by the difference between the target measured soil and the actual measured soil because the target soil has changed (tillage, etc.) but the sensor has not moved and the surrounding soil has not changed; the impact of the interaction between the sensor parts and the soil for a long time on the accuracy.

5. Soil moisture information needs to be related to other information

In production practice, the use of soil moisture sensors is often associated with other external systems or parameters, for example, a sudden increase in soil moisture may be caused by irrigation systems, rainfall, or groundwater movement to the surface, so it is often necessary to increase the number of moisture sensors at different locations and depths, correlate with ground weather stations or weather bureau data, and connect to irrigation control systems to determine the significance of the data. This is a requirement for larger-scale soil moisture data applications and processing, but few products on the market today are responding to this need.