1. Development of measurement system for environmental monitoringRyoske SUGANOIn the realm of agriculture, it is important to easily be able to monitor the natural environment and the growth of crops. Stable measurement over a long period of time and wide area is also important. Agri-Server is one approach to this. Agri-Server is a piece of equipment equipped with sensors to measure the natural environment such as meteorological data and soil data. It also has server and wireless communication functions and network camera connectability for image acquisition. In this paper we report on the construction of field monitoring systems using Agri-Server in the Shonai region as well as a miniaturized prototype. . Key Words : field monitoring, Agri-Server, hybrid power generation, ArduinoINTRODUCTION Server has been installed Recently, a great deal of research into the utilization of Information and CommunicationTechnology (hereinafter, ICT)in agriculture from the in such places as fields, rice paddies, and livestockperspective of scientific transmission of agricultural barns, and is equipped with a Web server to performtechnology is being carried out. In the realm of environmental measurement, monitoringofagriculture, it is important to easily be able to monitoranimal/plant growth using images, crime prevention,the natural environment and the growth of crops. and remote control of hothouses/farm machinery in Stable measurement over a long period of time and real time via a wireless LAN and the Internet. Thiswide area is also important. system is used in agricultural ICT consulting projectsHowever, field monitoring is difficult to performby the Area-wide e-Laboratory for Food, Agriculturebecause installation sites mostly lack infrastructure for and Environment (hereinafter, ALFAE).providing power or networking capabilities andThe Agri-Server (hereinafter, AS) has beenprecision instruments must endure exposure to heat,developed as an environmental monitoring systemcold, snow, moisture, rain, and dust [1-4]. based on the Field Server concept. Although the AS Moreover, condition settings differ depending on inherits its design principle from the Field Server, itthe installation location and the crops being studied,was developed on the basis of investigations byand thus the measuring equipment needs to be flexible ALFAE with the aim of developing a product forand capable of responding to changes. So far,widespread use that reflects advances in informationimportant research has been carried out on Fieldtechnology. Specifically, the AS is a piece ofServers. equipment equipped with numerous sensors toThe Field Server was proposed by Hirafuji et al. ofmeasure the natural environment, such as to collectthe National Agriculture Research Center of themeteorological and soil data, and it has server andNationalAgricultureand FoodResearch wireless communication functions and networkOrganization, and validation of the Field Server is camera connectability for image acquisition. Inprogressing in many countries and regions. The Fieldaddition to having the same functions as the Field

2. Server, the AS has the following features in order to 48.6[mm] pipes. The external housing is heat-fulfill the required specifications of a field monitoringresistant, waterproof and dustproofsystem. The above-mentioned features were added to2. Sensors: Assmann psychometer, anemoscope,the AS design with the intention of providinganemometer, rain gauge, solar radiation sensors,improved resistance to the environment, increasedpressure sensors, soil temperature, soil moisture,system stability, and better accuracy of sensor data tosoil conductivity, soil pH, temperature inside theallow widespread practical use on cultivated land. In enclosure, GPS receiverthis paper we report on the construction of field 3.Image data: Network camera, 32 megapixelmonitoring systems using AS in the Shonai region as CCD, pan tilt, zoom that can be operated well as a miniaturized prototype.remotely, audio input, still/video image capture4. Wireless communication: Communicable for 500[m] - 1[km] depending on the externalII. MONITORING SYSTEMantenna and environment5. Wireless LAN access point: Communicable with2.1 Agri-Server data input terminals in the field within 10[m] - The body of the AS is mainly composed of a main 100[m] depending on the external antenna and CPU board, LCD panel, sensor boards and wireless surroundingsLAN equipment. Its main software configuration is a6. System integrity: Monitoring of the temperaturesensor data collection program, FTP server, SSH within the enclosure in two places and theserver, CRON, data transfer and time synchronization,condition of the force draft fan tube.etc. It is loaded with many sensors for information7.Transmission speed: Approx 1[Mbps]. Thegathering in the natural environment and agriculturalspeed depends on the data communicationfield and is called one of the sensor networks for fieldterminals, so it is location sensitive.monitoring. The main features of the AS units8.Power supply: Hybrid power generation systeminstalled in this study are as follows: from wind and solar power1. Structure: An external housing and various9.Size: Radius 1[m], height 2[m]sensors are mounted on a framed structure with10. Control unit: Display capability with touch panel, real time sensor data display AS is a piece of equipment equipped with sensorsto measure the natural environment such asmeteorological data and soil data. It also has server and wireless communication functions and network camera connectability for image acquisition. Aphotograph of the AS exterior is displayed in Fig. 1.2.2 System Constructions The network configuration diagram and equipment configuration are displayed in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.Fig. 1 Photograph of AS AS: 4 units are each equipped with wireless LAN and, with a directional antenna, are connected wirelessly with the omnidirectional antenna placed on the roof of the store that directly sells local produce Agri(hereinafter, AGRI) from two fieldsites. In AGRI it is connected from the antenna to the wireless LAN repeater via a coaxial cable. The wireless LAN repeater is connected to the router /2Fig. 2 System configuration of monitoring 3. wireless LAN access point with a 1000Base-T LAN III. EXPERIMENTcable and connected to the internet through a data Four AS units were installed in a paddy, cherrycommunication terminal. Through the above route,orchard, nashi (Japanese pear) orchard and vineyardthe UECS standard XML format file data sent from within the vicinity of AGRI in Tsuruoka City. EachAS is stored in a data folder in a web server placed infield was located within a 1km radius of AGRI. Eachthe Tsuruoka National College of Technology. Thelot of two AS units each with a 20[W] powerweb server functions as a database server andconsumption are powered by one hybrid powerapplication server and converts sensor and image datageneration system, however due to the lack ofto an SQLite database with Ruby and makes viewingsunshine duration the produced and stored electricityfrom outside possible through a web browser withwas not sufficient so the units were operated in thePHP script. The web page shows Fig. 4.limited hours of 8am-4pm.Two AS units are placed in each field - the master Sensor and image data sent every 15 [minutes]station and slave station. Furthermore, the radiusfrom each AS unit was processed on the web server,within 50-100[m] of the slave station becomes amade viewable, and partially disclosed to the relevantwireless LAN access point and field information canagencies. We could confirm the functional stability inbe entered wirelessly with a DSiLL input terminalthe sensordata acquisition, accuracy and(made by Nintendo). As for the AS power supply, duetransmission/reception of each AS unit.to the difficulties in the use of commercial power,natural energy is utilized and power is supplied by a IV. DEVELOPMENT OF COMPACT ASwindand solarpower hybrid power Because the four AS units were actually installedand stable data could be acquired even for snow falland strong winds, we were able to confirmenvironmental resistance. However, we realized thatthe following improvements were required forpractical use and popularization while preserving the current stability:1. Low power consumption: Able to be powered with a few watts by battery or small solar cell2. Miniaturization: Smaller than a radius of about 20[cm] and height of 2[m] as not to interfere with regular ride-on machine workFig. 3 Network systemsuch as mowing and pesticide application, etcgeneration system. A lead-acid battery is used as the 3. Wirelesscommunicationenvironment:electrical storage device. Equipping of data communications terminals on all AS units due to the difficulty in maintaining a wireless environment in the field4. Easy installation/removal: Security must be kept in mind for winter removal and spring reinstallation equipping data communications terminals5. Web server: Utilizing a cloud or grid for the processing and access of a large capacity ofdata web server utilizing a cloud or grid6. Other: Low price, easy usability, maintenance3 Fig. 4 A Web page view on Web browser 4. and inspection, data file format, compact sensors, etc. Low price So we tried toTable.1 Specifications of the compact AS develop a compact AS using the Arduino.FunctionsSpecificationsMicrocontrolle Arduino UNOA photograph of a compact AS exterior is r displayed in Fig. 5.SensorsTemperature The Arduino is an embedded system that can be(LM61)Humidity (HIH-developed in the environment with open source 4030)hardware and software [5-7]. Hardware can easily be Anemoscopemounted on the basal plate XBee (Manufactured Anemometer Rain gageby DigiInternational) was used for the wirelessPower supply Solar modulemoduleand has extremely low power(5[W])consumption. The Specifications of compact AS Battery (12[V],9[Ah]) Fig. 5 Photograph of the compact AS prototypeare shown in Table.1. The block diagram ofCommunicatio XBee Pro Series2compact AS is shown in Fig. 6.n The network configuration diagram are displayedin Fig. 7.The compact AS measures climate data withsensors and the data is wirelessly transmitted to themain unit using XBee. The master unit transmits thedata to the server in the laboratory through a basalplate that is connected to the network (Ethernetshield). Fig. 7 Network system of Compact AS prototypeFig. 6 Block diagram of compact ASSensors connected to the compact AS monitoranemoscope, anemometer, rain gage, air temperature,and humidity.With PHP script, the server saves the sent data as atext file. These processing is done by CRON every 15minutes. The server data can be accessed and viewedfrom an internet browser. There is also the capabilityof graph display, not only text data. The graphdisplay was able to increase convenience with the useof Google services.Actual measurements of air temperature weretaken outside a laboratory. The measurement resultsare shown in Fig.8. By entering the date of the datato be browsed, graphical display is possible. Also, ifthe terminal has a Web browser function, data can bebrowsed without relying on the terminal.Display of a twitter website is shown in Fig.9.Detais posted every 15 minutes. Display of a pachube4 5. website is shown in Fig.10. pachube is the service two years. Data acquisition rate per year and datawhich can upload and peruse the measurement data ofacquisition period are shown in Table 3.The datareal time. acquisition rate per day is shown in Fig.11 and We have succeeded in constructing the aimed-forsmall, low-cost and low-power electrical systemcapable of implementing the required basic functions.The Comparison of AS and Compact AS are shown inTable.2. Hereafter, we will investigate increasing thetypes of sensor. V.EVALUATION COMPACT ASWe evaluated the compact AS. The most importantthing in the monitoring system is stability of thesystem. We have carried out to verify the stability ofoperation. Compact AS is installed outdoors, dataacquisition was performed every 15 minutes for aboutFig. 10 Display of a pachube website Table.2 Comparison of AS and Compact ASitems AS CompactReduction ASRates[%]Price $10000$300-97[%] volume3[m3] 0.4[m3]-86[%]power 20[W] 1[W] less -95[%] Fig. 8 A graph view at Web page on Google Fig.12.We found that the acquisition rate is low during the winter. Not considered to be caused by a network failure, it is considered to be caused by alack of sunshine hours. VI. CONCLUSION Field monitoring systems using AS were first installed in the cold Shonai region where there is alot of snowfall and ran on 100[%] natural energy using a hybrid power generation system was for the power supply. They were equipped in October 2010 after almost 5Fig. 9 Display of a twitter website 6. all the agricultural produce had been harvested in all VII.REFERENCESthe fields. After November, there was an extreme[1] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,decrease in sunlight hours and there were difficultiesField Monitoring Using Senser-Node with a Webin running for even a limited time. Furthermore, theyServerJournal ofRoboticsandwere completely covered in snow during winter.Mechatronics,Vol.17,No.2,pp.164-172,2005.Although we limited our testing to AS installation,[2] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,Andata Agent System for Operating Web-Table.3 Data acquisition rate per year and data acquisitionperiod based Sensor Nodes via the Year20112012 InternerJournal of Robotics andStart date 15.Apr.2011 5.May.2012 Mechatronics,Vol.18,No.2,pp.186- End date15.Dec.2011 8.Nov.2012 Days 224 186194,2006.Data count15673 15081[3] Masayuki Hirafuji, Tokihiro Data acquisition72.984.5FUKATSU, HuHAOMING,rate[%] TakujiKIURA, TonamiWATANABE,and Seishi NINOMIYA,A wireless sensor network with Field-Monitoring Servers and MetBroker in paddy fieldsRiceis life:scientificperspectives for the21st century,pp.568-570 [4] Tokihiro FUKATSU, Takuho Fig. 11 Data acquisition rate of 2011 KIURA A.IMADA, and Seishi NINOMIYA,Long-Term Monitering System using Field Monitoring ServerAFITA/WCCAJoint Congress on ITin Agriculture,pp.685-691,2004 [5]Takehito YAMADA,Experimentsystem Fig .12 Data acquisition rate of 2012 for a magnetic levitation control using Arduino microcontroller Bulletin of Tokuyama Nationalcollege of Technology, 34, pp.1-6, 2010acquisition and web server setup; the confirmation of[6] Akira ITO, Hirohito MINOURA, Kiyoshistability was a great result.ISE,Study of wireless temperature measurementHowever several problems were identified for full system using Arduino and XBee modulesBulletin ofscalecommercialization and popularization. Suzuka National college of Technology, 44, pp.51-Therefore, from spring 2011, we will seriously collect55, 2011data and begin examination aimed at utilization. In [7] Atsushi ENTA, Kousuke KIKUCHI, Juncooperation with Agri we will attain the visualizationNAKAGAWA,Fundamental research onof agriculture. architectural monitoring system collaborate with Arduino, Pachube and SketchupJournal of Asian Furthermore, we are going to push forward the Architecture and Building Engineering, 16(33),development of compact AS that is low cost and low pp.791-794, 2010consumption electricity. 6 7. all the agricultural produce had been harvested in all VII.REFERENCESthe fields. After November, there was an extreme[1] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,decrease in sunlight hours and there were difficultiesField Monitoring Using Senser-Node with a Webin running for even a limited time. Furthermore, theyServerJournal ofRoboticsandwere completely covered in snow during winter.Mechatronics,Vol.17,No.2,pp.164-172,2005.Although we limited our testing to AS installation,[2] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,Andata Agent System for Operating Web-Table.3 Data acquisition rate per year and data acquisitionperiod based Sensor Nodes via the Year20112012 InternerJournal of Robotics andStart date 15.Apr.2011 5.May.2012 Mechatronics,Vol.18,No.2,pp.186- End date15.Dec.2011 8.Nov.2012 Days 224 186194,2006.Data count15673 15081[3] Masayuki Hirafuji, Tokihiro Data acquisition72.984.5FUKATSU, HuHAOMING,rate[%] TakujiKIURA, TonamiWATANABE,and Seishi NINOMIYA,A wireless sensor network with Field-Monitoring Servers and MetBroker in paddy fieldsRiceis life:scientificperspectives for the21st century,pp.568-570 [4] Tokihiro FUKATSU, Takuho Fig. 11 Data acquisition rate of 2011 KIURA A.IMADA, and Seishi NINOMIYA,Long-Term Monitering System using Field Monitoring ServerAFITA/WCCAJoint Congress on ITin Agriculture,pp.685-691,2004 [5]Takehito YAMADA,Experimentsystem Fig .12 Data acquisition rate of 2012 for a magnetic levitation control using Arduino microcontroller Bulletin of Tokuyama Nationalcollege of Technology, 34, pp.1-6, 2010acquisition and web server setup; the confirmation of[6] Akira ITO, Hirohito MINOURA, Kiyoshistability was a great result.ISE,Study of wireless temperature measurementHowever several problems were identified for full system using Arduino and XBee modulesBulletin ofscalecommercialization and popularization. Suzuka National college of Technology, 44, pp.51-Therefore, from spring 2011, we will seriously collect55, 2011data and begin examination aimed at utilization. In [7] Atsushi ENTA, Kousuke KIKUCHI, Juncooperation with Agri we will attain the visualizationNAKAGAWA,Fundamental research onof agriculture. architectural monitoring system collaborate with Arduino, Pachube and SketchupJournal of Asian Furthermore, we are going to push forward the Architecture and Building Engineering, 16(33),development of compact AS that is low cost and low pp.791-794, 2010consumption electricity. 6 8. all the agricultural produce had been harvested in all VII.REFERENCESthe fields. After November, there was an extreme[1] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,decrease in sunlight hours and there were difficultiesField Monitoring Using Senser-Node with a Webin running for even a limited time. Furthermore, theyServerJournal ofRoboticsandwere completely covered in snow during winter.Mechatronics,Vol.17,No.2,pp.164-172,2005.Although we limited our testing to AS installation,[2] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,Andata Agent System for Operating Web-Table.3 Data acquisition rate per year and data acquisitionperiod based Sensor Nodes via the Year20112012 InternerJournal of Robotics andStart date 15.Apr.2011 5.May.2012 Mechatronics,Vol.18,No.2,pp.186- End date15.Dec.2011 8.Nov.2012 Days 224 186194,2006.Data count15673 15081[3] Masayuki Hirafuji, Tokihiro Data acquisition72.984.5FUKATSU, HuHAOMING,rate[%] TakujiKIURA, TonamiWATANABE,and Seishi NINOMIYA,A wireless sensor network with Field-Monitoring Servers and MetBroker in paddy fieldsRiceis life:scientificperspectives for the21st century,pp.568-570 [4] Tokihiro FUKATSU, Takuho Fig. 11 Data acquisition rate of 2011 KIURA A.IMADA, and Seishi NINOMIYA,Long-Term Monitering System using Field Monitoring ServerAFITA/WCCAJoint Congress on ITin Agriculture,pp.685-691,2004 [5]Takehito YAMADA,Experimentsystem Fig .12 Data acquisition rate of 2012 for a magnetic levitation control using Arduino microcontroller Bulletin of Tokuyama Nationalcollege of Technology, 34, pp.1-6, 2010acquisition and web server setup; the confirmation of[6] Akira ITO, Hirohito MINOURA, Kiyoshistability was a great result.ISE,Study of wireless temperature measurementHowever several problems were identified for full system using Arduino and XBee modulesBulletin ofscalecommercialization and popularization. Suzuka National college of Technology, 44, pp.51-Therefore, from spring 2011, we will seriously collect55, 2011data and begin examination aimed at utilization. In [7] Atsushi ENTA, Kousuke KIKUCHI, Juncooperation with Agri we will attain the visualizationNAKAGAWA,Fundamental research onof agriculture. architectural monitoring system collaborate with Arduino, Pachube and SketchupJournal of Asian Furthermore, we are going to push forward the Architecture and Building Engineering, 16(33),development of compact AS that is low cost and low pp.791-794, 2010consumption electricity. 6 9. all the agricultural produce had been harvested in all VII.REFERENCESthe fields. After November, there was an extreme[1] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,decrease in sunlight hours and there were difficultiesField Monitoring Using Senser-Node with a Webin running for even a limited time. Furthermore, theyServerJournal ofRoboticsandwere completely covered in snow during winter.Mechatronics,Vol.17,No.2,pp.164-172,2005.Although we limited our testing to AS installation,[2] Tokihiro FUKATSU,Masayuki HIRAFUJI,Andata Agent System for Operating Web-Table.3 Data acquisition rate per year and data acquisitionperiod based Sensor Nodes via the Year20112012 InternerJournal of Robotics andStart date 15.Apr.2011 5.May.2012 Mechatronics,Vol.18,No.2,pp.186- End date15.Dec.2011 8.Nov.2012 Days 224 186194,2006.Data count15673 15081[3] Masayuki Hirafuji, Tokihiro Data acquisition72.984.5FUKATSU, HuHAOMING,rate[%] TakujiKIURA, TonamiWATANABE,and Seishi NINOMIYA,A wireless sensor network with Field-Monitoring Servers and MetBroker in paddy fieldsRiceis life:scientificperspectives for the21st century,pp.568-570 [4] Tokihiro FUKATSU, Takuho Fig. 11 Data acquisition rate of 2011 KIURA A.IMADA, and Seishi NINOMIYA,Long-Term Monitering System using Field Monitoring ServerAFITA/WCCAJoint Congress on ITin Agriculture,pp.685-691,2004 [5]Takehito YAMADA,Experimentsystem Fig .12 Data acquisition rate of 2012 for a magnetic levitation control using Arduino microcontroller Bulletin of Tokuyama Nationalcollege of Technology, 34, pp.1-6, 2010acquisition and web server setup; the confirmation of[6] Akira ITO, Hirohito MINOURA, Kiyoshistability was a great result.ISE,Study of wireless temperature measurementHowever several problems were identified for full system using Arduino and XBee modulesBulletin ofscalecommercialization and popularization. Suzuka National college of Technology, 44, pp.51-Therefore, from spring 2011, we will seriously collect55, 2011data and begin examination aimed at utilization. In [7] Atsushi ENTA, Kousuke KIKUCHI, Juncooperation with Agri we will attain the visualizationNAKAGAWA,Fundamental research onof agriculture. architectural monitoring system collaborate with Arduino, Pachube and SketchupJournal of Asian Furthermore, we are going to push forward the Architecture and Building Engineering, 16(33),development of compact AS that is low cost and low pp.791-794, 2010consumption electricity. 6