Gümüser Mehmet Akif, Pichlhöfer Alexander, Korjenic Azra
Research Unit of Ecological Building Technologies, Institute of Material Technology, Building Physics and Building Ecology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria.
Sensors (Basel). 2025 Feb 27;25(5):1461. doi: 10.3390/s25051461.
Smart irrigation systems play a crucial role in water management, particularly in urban greening applications aimed at mitigating urban heat islands and enhancing environmental sustainability. These systems rely on soil moisture sensors to optimize water usage, ensuring that irrigation is precisely tailored to plant needs. This study evaluates the performance of four commercially available capacitive soil moisture sensors-TEROS 10, SMT50, Scanntronik, and DFROBOT-across three different substrates under controlled laboratory conditions. A total of 380 measurements were conducted to assess sensor accuracy, reliability, and the influence of insertion technique on measurement variability. Results indicate that while all sensors adequately cover the moisture ranges critical for plant health, their accuracy varies significantly, highlighting the necessity of substrate-specific calibration. TEROS 10 exhibited the lowest relative deviation and highest measurement consistency, making it the most reliable among the tested sensors. DFROBOT, despite being the least expensive, performed comparably to SMT50 and Scanntronik in certain conditions. The findings provide valuable insights for selecting and calibrating soil moisture sensors in smart irrigation applications, ultimately contributing to improved water efficiency, plant vitality, and sustainable building-integrated greenery.
智能灌溉系统在水资源管理中发挥着关键作用，尤其是在旨在缓解城市热岛效应和提高环境可持续性的城市绿化应用中。这些系统依靠土壤湿度传感器来优化用水，确保灌溉精确地满足植物需求。本研究在受控的实验室条件下，评估了四种市售电容式土壤湿度传感器（TEROS 10、SMT50、Scanntronik和DFROBOT）在三种不同基质上的性能。总共进行了380次测量，以评估传感器的准确性、可靠性以及插入技术对测量变异性的影响。结果表明，虽然所有传感器都能充分覆盖对植物健康至关重要的湿度范围，但其准确性差异显著，这突出了针对特定基质进行校准的必要性。TEROS 10表现出最低的相对偏差和最高的测量一致性，使其成为测试传感器中最可靠的。DFROBOT尽管是最便宜的，但在某些条件下与SMT50和Scanntronik表现相当。这些发现为智能灌溉应用中土壤湿度传感器的选择和校准提供了有价值的见解，最终有助于提高用水效率、植物活力和可持续的建筑一体化绿化。
