Remote measurement of sunflower seed moisture content by the use of microwaves.

Background: Modern agriculture demands new methods and equipment that allow operators to conduct the instant control of moisture content over a wide area of agricultural fields with the purpose of providing farmers with the optimal moment of harvesting mature seeds and crops. Here the authors propose a new method and experimentally investigate the possibility to accomplish remote sensing of the moisture content of sunflower seeds using microwave radiation in the millimeter range.

Results: An experimental device for measuring the coefficient of reflection of electromagnetic waves from sunflower inflorescences in the frequency range 25.