Intelligent system for white grub monitoring through wsn with labview solution/interface support

Author: 
Yusuf Saleh and Rashid Hussain

The use of pesticide and insecticide pollutes the environment (soil, plants and beneficial living organisms in and above the soil). Therefore, to reduce effect of insecticide to human and the environment, biological control has been employed. White grub is larvae beneath the ground feeding on roots of crops and damaging it. The biggest challenge in either the use of pesticide or bio-agent is to know the exact location and time of early infestation for effective use of resources (bio-agent, pesticides, time and labor) and to reduce damage to crop. White grubs release burst of CO2 and this serves as an attractant for Entomophatogenic nematodes (EPNs) as a natural enemy. Other volatiles are emitted by roots of plants on attack by insects to serve as a specific signal to support the CO2 attractant. These challenges prompt the use of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to detect the burst of CO2 (GMM 221 CO2 sensor), get exact location by Global Positioning System (GPS), and send a message of the location and time. CO2 is not reliable to quantify due to soil respiration. Acoustic technique (sound and vibration measurement suite via microphone) is utilized to support the detection of white grubs and exact location. Their behavior and lifecycle are monitored by environmental conditions (temperature, moisture, humidity and others) that influence their activities and behavior. The scope will provide a solution through Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) to display the parameters and monitored on real time with proper calibration and quantification of CO2 and volatile compound through visual/graphical programming in their engineering units and frequency pattern of sound with analysis and fully equipped WSN tools and kit from National Instrument-NI Texas, but no control action.

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DOI: 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2017.3801.0370
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