ABSTRACT
Today, farmers are increasingly reliant on sensors in their farming operations. All the equipment used in crop production – tractors, planters, combines and so forth – have a multitude of sensors to help optimize machine operation. Sensors are also becoming increasingly useful in monitoring crop and soil conditions. This chapter addresses the use of proximal sensors to evaluate a crop during the growing season. The term ‘proximal’ indicates the sensor is in close proximity to the crop. Thus, its use is differentiated from other sensor applications such as remote sensing (using aerial or satellite sensor platforms)
Proximal crop sensing Proximal crop sensing
or soil sensing (using proximal or in situ sensors to evaluate soil properties, rather than crop properties). The term ‘proximal’ is fuzzy, as developments in unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have brought into the proximal realm what had been historically classified as remote sensing technologies. In this chapter, proximal crop sensing will refer to any sensor used to evaluate the properties of a crop, ranging from physical contact with the crop canopy to a few metres above the canopy.
