A FIELD IMAGE MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON EMBEDDED LINUX

Abstract

Demands for real-time field monitoring systems are increasing in order to pass good agricultural cultivation practices down to future generations. In this study, a low cost and robust field image monitoring system was developed for acquiring real-time conditions from remote sites. The system consists of inexpensive commercial USB devices and an embedded Linux based broadband router equipped with some USB ports. A 3G USB modem dongle and data communication were used to access the Internet. The total cost of the system was almost 300 US dollars. Field experiments showed that this system met most of the requirements for field image monitoring in agriculture. In our research, the field image monitoring system was built using a WL-500gP v1 with a USB port as a CPU board, using embedded Linux and various USB devices. As a result of field experiments in which this system was installed outdoors, it was possible to demonstrate that it can withstand even high- temperature conditions, in which the interior of the system enclosure reaches 50 °C, as was the case during the 6-month installation period which included the summer. In addition, this system can connect to the network using cellular phone communication even in an area as a field where a wired network connection cannot be used. That is a gateway of the network in the field.