Paddy Moisture Measurement System in Hopper Silo by using Near-field Transmission Technique

This paper presents a sensor system for moisture content measurement of paddy in hopper silo. The sensor utilizes a near-field transmission measurement technique operating at 400-500 MHz implemented by using double dipole antenna fabricated on FR-4 substrate. The proposed system is installed at the bottom of the hopper silo for real time and in-process measurement. The moisture contents of paddy in hopper silo from 12% -30% are measured and characterized. The extracted moisture contents from the sensor system show an agreement of higher than 93% with the commercial instrument using manual sampling normally employed in rice production.