Keywords
Description
Team LOL focuses on the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG15) Life on Land of the United Nations. Soil is essential for agricultural productivity, food security, and human welfare, but soil degradation, desertification, agriculture, biodiversity loss, and climate change can exacerbate societal problems. Our final solution, CSOIL (Compact Soil Observing Implementation), presents a more accessible, efficient, and convenient method for soil quality monitoring for the agricultural sector. Here we explain in detail the challenges CSOIL will address, how CSOIL works, and what applications and impacts CSOIL will have. The CSOIL device consists of a metallic composite shell covered in a soft synthetic skin for impact absorption, an internal water channel, and some rugged electronics. The electronic components include a battery to collect and store the solar energy, a custom PCB containing the data logging, battery controller, and mobile network transceiver chips, and the AHEAD units in the central water channel. Power is supplied by the solar panel doubling as a marker flag for locating the device. The flag mast also houses the mobile network antenna. Through the middle of the device runs a vertical water channel, which splits into individual pipes for each AHEAD unit. The AHEAD units can be equipped with many different sensors according to the required measurements, and the AHEAD housing can be printed to fit sensors of different sizes.
