Key benefits

1. Accurate Measurement Across Entire Length

   Our patented design weaves the antenna through the circuit board 20 times per centimetre, and much like a coiled spring the effective length of the antenna is 5 times the physical length it consumes. It’s like having a 75cm long antenna in a single 15cm soil moisture sensor. A larger antenna increases the resolution and sample area of each sample, allowing more noise to be filtered out. This gives highly accurate tracking of moisture changes with no “dead spots”.

2. Reduced manufacturing cost

   Unlike other soil moisture sensors, GroPoint soil sensors do not have separate components for electronics and bulky metal antennas. By integrating the antenna and all electronics into the same circuit board (possible thanks to the patented antenna design), manufacturing costs are dramatically reduced.

3. Repeatable accuracy

   Each time a measurement is taken, GroPoint sends 400,000 pulses through the sensing element to generate data for the measurement, then employs advanced filtering to eliminate outlying readings (noise) before averaging the data and sending the measurement as SDI-12 output. This ensures that the same accuracy (±1%) is obtained each and every time moisture is measured.

4. Low power consumption

   Even with 400,000 pulses for each measurement, the total time to take the measurement is less than 100 ms. This means that power consumption is minimal, and that permits GroPoint soil sensors to be operated for many months with small 9V battery-powered data loggers.

5. Maximum durability

   Unlike typical sensors, the antenna is not exposed to the soil, so there’s nothing to bend or break. The entire sensor circuit board is sealed in epoxy then encased in a polycarbonate housing.