Analysis of the Feasibility of a low-cost DAQ for EM-38 Detection and Mapping

Electrical Magnetic Induction (EMI) devices have gained popularity for non-invasive soil salinity measurements, bulk soil properties and soil nutrient status. The major hindrance to the diffusion of these sensors is their expensive Data AcQuisition (DAQ) system that can reach around 4000 euros for the data logger and the GPS. To address these issues, we developed an easy-to-use, adaptable, and inexpensive open-source data acquisition (DAQ) system which costs around 200 euros for the raspberry and the GPS. This low cost DAQ has more flexible software processes and is considered as cost effective, it is based on Raspberry Pi that allows collecting speed and position of the EM-38 (Geonics Inc.) by carrying it on a specifically designed sledge system, evaluated and tested in an open-filed.These preliminary results provide evidence of the possibility of extracting the analogical signal from the device, which is strongly responsive to the soil’s physical properties variation. Additionally, the proposed DAQ system has proved to accurately estimate the spatial patterns of the investigated soil physical properties.