Attachment 01 - Minimum Specifications.pdf

Minimum Specifications Project: Soil Sensor Equipped to Measure Apparent Electrical

Conductivity

GENERAL INFORMATION

1.0 Background and Purpose:

This equipment is necessary to perform work proposed in multiple Objectives of the Project Plans of the Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research Unit of the Cropping Systems Research laboratory in Lubbock, TX. Our research will focus on using detailed soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) maps to overlay onto remote sensing data collected via drones and/or satellite imagery. Potential studies that the device will be used for include: a study to use ECa maps as a substitute or to augment experimental field designs, use in prediction models for yield and other traits of interest, estimates of water holding capacity and other characteristics of soil, and more.

This equipment will be useful for future Project Plans as soil ECa is underutilized by the remote sensing community, currently. The purchase of this Geonics sensor will allow our unit and the WEWC unit to collect spatial soil data and leverage them to perform phenotyping studies in sorghum, cotton, and other key crop species.

2.0 Definitions:

ECa: Apparent Electrical Conductivity

3.0 Technical Requirements/Tasks:

The Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research Unit has the following requirements for a soil sensor in order to meet the needs of its objectives.

1. Ability to give readings of ECa in fields where crops are grown

2. Ability to log ECa readings on the fly while recording GPS coordinates to geolocate them

3. Ability to change dipole orientation to penetrate different levels of the soil

4. Easily carried by hand or via a sled pulled behind a vehicle

4.0 Deliverable / Schedule:

Delivery shall occur 90 days after award

5.0 Government Furnished:

None

6.0 Travel:

None

7.0 Key Personnel:

None

8.0 Security Requirements:

None

9.0 Data Rights:

None

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards:

None

11.0 Performance Requirement Measures:

This device is required to perform the research that we are interested in. The availability of soil electrical conductivity is critical to perform the spatial variability and modeling studies and is considered standard in the literature. Without these data, the only means that we have to address spatial variability of the soil is to use experimental designs or to conduct costly soil sampling. Thus, to perform studies on abiotic stress or to investigate differing agricultural management practices or to account for spatial variability it is imperative that we have access to these ECa data.