Novel TDR Probe for Monitoring Moisture Distribution in Soil Profile - Electromagnetic Simulations

Knowledge about distribution of soil moisture in top soil layer is very important. Measurements of soil moisture are usually performed using several TDR probes placed in a soil profile with a certain distance between probes. In this solution, each probe requires to be connected either to a separate channel of a multi-channel TDR meter or a separate one-channel TDR-meter. We investigated an eight-rod TDR probe to measure the distribution of moisture in a soil profile. The probe can be connected to a single channel of the meter and the TDR signal is switched between the rods which enable accurate measurement of moisture distribution in the top layer of a soil profile.