Site specific Nitrogen fertilization is one of the main objectives in precision agriculture.
The Nitrogen sensor consists of a dual channel AvaSpec spectrometer, fiber-optics and processing electronics mounted in a blue cap on top of a tractor. The sensor can determine the crop Nitrogen status, by measuring the light reflecting properties.
The crops show typical light reflectance properties, that are indirectly influenced by the nitrogen nutrition status of the crop. In the visible spectral range (380- 740nm) the reflection is an indicator of the leaf chlorophyll content, in the NIR range (700-1000nm) reflectance is mainly affected by crop biomass.
A special viewing geometry and integrated irradiance correction guarantees accurate measurements, the system logs crop and GPS data on a chip card.
