We propose to research and develop a method and device for continuous monitoring of soil water flux that will enable more accurate delivery and efficient use of water in irrigated farming and landscaping applications, the importance and commercial value of which will continue growing with the increases of large-scale water shortages. Better understanding and monitoring of site, crop, and growth stage specific subsurface moisture dynamics will enable improved sophistication and efficiency of irrigation control systems, minimizing water loss while maintaining plant health. Our approach characterizes, models, and predicts depth-varying water flux in the shallow subsurface, including discrimination of root uptake from leaching and the evolution of both over time. It will serve a wide variety of additional commercial applications in civil, environmental, and infrastructure monitoring. No commercial product has existed which can determine soil moisture flux in vertical profile and can discriminate plant uptake from movement through the soil, partly because no product to date has offered the capability to resolve continuous soil moisture profiles from a single stationary probe. Based on the unique ability of our existing soil moisture sensing technology to measure continuous profiles of soil water content, our Phase I research will establish the technical feasibility of determining relevant hydrologic classification of soils effectively enough to infer flux profiles from continuous (in time and space) moisture profiles. The Phase II effort will develop an integrated probe with on board intelligence to provide users with use in determining optimal scheduling and intensity of watering.
