Smart Soil Sensors — Datasheet

Overview

Overview

Smart Soil Sensors are multi-depth, in-ground capacitive probes that continuously measure volumetric water content, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, NPK nutrients and soil temperature at up to four root-zone depths — typically 10, 30, 60 and 90 cm — and stream the data over LoRaWAN or NB-IoT to a cloud agronomy dashboard.

Built for row-crop, orchard, vineyard and high-value horticulture operators who want to stop guessing when and how much to irrigate or fertilize. Each probe sits invisibly in the field, runs for 5–7 years on a single Li-SOCl₂ battery, and turns the root zone into a live, visible chart you can act on from a phone.

• Multi-depth profile — see exactly where moisture is, where roots are pulling, and where water is wasted to deep percolation
• Six measurands per probe — moisture, EC, pH, N, P, K plus soil temperature, with optional dielectric permittivity
• Agronomy-grade calibration — factory-calibrated to soil type (sandy, loam, clay, organic), field-recalibration kit included
• Outcome you can quote — typical 20–35% water savings and 10–18% fertilizer reduction in the first season

How It Works

The diagram above shows the four layers of a Smart Soil Sensors deployment. Hover any module to see the live telemetry it produces.

1. In-Ground Probe — a stainless-steel shaft is augered into the field; sensing rings at 10/30/60/90 cm read moisture, EC, pH, NPK and temperature every 15 minutes. A radio head sits above ground with a small solar trickle option.
2. Root-Zone Profile — readings are stacked into a depth-vs-moisture chart and compared against field capacity, refill point and the FAO-56 ET₀/K_c water-balance model to produce irrigation and fertigation advisories.
3. Cloud Dashboard — every probe across every field rolls up into a single map view with traffic-light status, 30-day trends, anomaly flags (e.g. salinity rising in zone S5), CSV/Parquet export and REST/MQTT APIs.
4. Farmer & Advisory — push and SMS alerts to the farm manager, optional agronomist-in-the-loop review, and one-tap actions that can directly trigger an attached irrigation controller.

A continuous feedback loop pushes calibration corrections, updated irrigation setpoints and firmware back to the probes — visible as the purple stream along the bottom of the diagram.

Features

• 4 sensing depths per probe — configurable spacing for shallow vegetable beds or deep-rooted tree crops
• NPK + pH + EC in a single shaft — no separate ion-selective hardware to maintain
• FAO-56 water-balance engine — combines probe data with on-farm or public weather to recommend irrigation depth and timing
• Salinity drift detection — early-warning when EC trends upward across the season
• Soil-type profiles — pre-loaded curves for sandy, loam, clay, peat / organic substrates
• Long battery life — 5–7 years typical on Li-SOCl₂; optional 1 W solar trickle
• Edge buffering — 30 days of local storage if the network is unreachable
• Open integrations — pushes setpoints to John Deere, Valley, Netafim, Galcon, Hunter and SGT controllers

Use Cases

• Row crops — corn, soy, cotton, sugarcane: variable-rate irrigation by management zone
• Orchards & vineyards — track water stress (RDI) for fruit quality and wine grape style
• High-value horticulture — strawberry, tomato, leafy greens: precise fertigation
• Research & trials — agronomy R&D plots with auditable per-plot data export
• Salinity-prone regions — coastal and arid zones where EC management is the key constraint
• Compliance / sustainability — document water-use efficiency for ESG and supply-chain audits

Specifications

• Measurements: volumetric water content (0–60%, ±2%), temperature (−20 to +60 °C, ±0.3 °C), EC (0–10 mS/cm, ±5%), pH (3–10, ±0.1), N/P/K (0–200 ppm, ±10%)
• Depths: 4 sensing rings, standard 10/30/60/90 cm; custom spacing 5–120 cm on request
• Sampling: 15-minute default, configurable 1–60 min, event-based on rain
• Connectivity: LoRaWAN (primary), NB-IoT / LTE-M (cellular variant), Wi-Fi for greenhouses
• Power: 3.6 V Li-SOCl₂ D-cell, 5–7 yr typical; optional 1 W solar + supercap
• Construction: 316L stainless shaft, food-grade epoxy potting, IP68 to 2 m, −30 to +70 °C operating
• Range: LoRa 8–12 km line-of-sight, 1–3 km in tall crop canopy
• Certifications: CE, FCC, RoHS, IP68; field calibration traceable to gravimetric reference

Product information

Customisation options

• Sensing depths — 2-ring (10/30 cm), 3-ring (10/30/60 cm), or 4-ring (10/30/60/90 cm); custom spacing 5–120 cm
• Measurand package — moisture + temp only; add EC; add pH; add full NPK; add dielectric permittivity for research-grade
• Soil calibration profile — factory-calibrated to sandy / loam / clay / peat / organic / custom gravimetric
• Connectivity — LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, LTE-M, 4G LTE, or Wi-Fi; private LoRa gateway or public network
• Power option — 5-year battery, 7-year extended battery, or solar trickle + supercap for permanent install
• Irrigation controller integration — direct push to John Deere Operations Center, Valley 365, Netafim NetBeat, Galcon, Hunter, Rain Bird, or SGT controller
• Advisory tier — self-service dashboard only, AI auto-advisory, or human agronomist-in-the-loop review
• White-label option — your branding on probe, dashboard, and farmer mobile app

Ordering & lead time

Standard lead time depends on current stock. For volume orders, please contact our team for a structured quote including BOQ, freight, installation and warranty terms.

Support

Engineering support, installation guidance and warranty claims are handled by our customer success team. Reach us at support@sgtsystems.com or via the channels listed on our Contact page.