IMS 4.

0 Agro Station

IMS AGRO STATION

solutions for the real world

Automatic measurement of required variables 24 hours a day

Real-time data from reliable sensors
Archiving measured data in SQL database
Measuring agrometeorological elements for
- effective irrigation
- estimating phenological phases
- disease and pest control and prevention
- scheduling agrotechnical actions
Calculation of custom characteristics
- averages, extremes, sums, indices, …
- cumulative growing degree days
- evapotranspiration (FAO Penman-Monteith method)
User-defined warnings (ground freeze, irrigation, disease potential)
Presentation of weather on
- graphs
- intranet / internet
National language support
Connecting web camera for visual presentation (optional)
Configuration of sensors according to customer's requirements
IMS 4.0 Agro Station designed for agrometeorological purposes provides reliable monitoring of weather. Together with
software performing data processing, archiving, presentation and notification serves as a decision support system for
improving management of agrotechnical actions.

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 IMS 4.0 Agro Station
Simple system connection with AMS 111 Data-Logger system structure

IMS AGRO STATION

solutions for the real world

AMS 111 is designed for mobile, temporary and standard meteorological stations, and represents reliable and
cost-effective solution.

Air temperature
(accuracy +/-0.1°C; range -50…+70°C)

Relative humidity
(accuracy +/- 3 % RH; range 0…100 % RH; capacitive polymer)

Precipitation
(sensitivity 0.2 mm; operating temperature 0°C … +60°C, no heating);

Full system connection with AWS 200 Data-Logger

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 IMS 4.0 Agro Station
system structure
AWS 200 allows measuring of tens of variables according to the user's configuration, using multitude of sensors
and communication devices.

IMS AGRO STATION

Air temperature
(accuracy +/-0.03°C for 0°C; +/- 0.1°C for the whole measuring range)

Relative humidity
(accuracy +/- 1 % at room temperature; long-term stability 1% over 1 year or better)

Precipitation
(sensitivity 0.1 mm; operating temperature -30°C … +60°C (heating); max. error < +/- 1% at int. < 100 mm/h)
solutions for the real world

Wind speed
(compact, measuring range 0.5 - 50 m/s; accuracy +/- 3 % of measured value)

Wind direction
(measuring range 0°-360°; accuracy +/- 5°)

Solar radiation
(spectral range 305 - 2800 nm; non-linearity < 1.2 % (< 1000 W/m2))

Sunshine duration
(threshold 120 W/m2 (adjustable); viewing angle at least 160°; built-in heating; built-in over-voltage protection)

Ground and soil temperatures

(accuracy +/-0.06°C for 0°C; +/- 0.2°C for the whole measuring range)

Leaf wetness
(range 0…100 %; capacitive grid; resolution 0.59%; drift < 5% per year)

Soil moisture
(range 0…1 m3m-3 volumetric water content; accuracy 0.05 m3m-3)

Measurements with soil moisture profile probe displayed on hand held terminal

Soil moisture probe contains more sensors installed inside a rod in fixed depths. There are 4 or 6 sensors
allowing measuring soil moisture profile with one equipment. Hand held terminal and drilling toolkit delivered
with profile probe is suitable for expedition measurements in field.
(range 0…1 m3m-3 volumetric water content; accuracy 0.06 m3m-3)

Operating temperature for all sensors -30…+60 (with heating). Sensors with better parameters can be delivered
for special measurements, if necessary.

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www.microstep-mis.com to change without prior notice. EN ISO 9001-2000
 IMS 4.0 Agro Station
IMS 4.0 Agro Station network system structure
The data from sensors placed in various measuring sites are collected by MicroStep-MIS data-loggers and
transferred into IMS 4.0 Agro Station PC.

IMS AGRO STATION

solutions for the real world

IMS 4.0 Agro Station PC

info@microstep-mis.com © 2006, All specifications subject

www.microstep-mis.com to change without prior notice. EN ISO 9001-2000
 IMS 4.0 Agro Station Software
IMS 4.0 Agro Station PC system structure
Minimum system requirements:
Single station Central server

IMS AGRO STATION

Intel Pentium 2 GHz Intel Pentium IV 3GHz
512 MB RAM 2 GB RAM
1 GB free on HDD 100 GB HDD 24/7 operation
Microsoft Windows 2000/XP or Linux
solutions for the real world

Measurement
The IMS 4.0 system can interface numerous types of loggers and sensors. It
is designed to measure, calculate and process different meteorological
quantities as temperature (dry, surface, soil, soil under vegetation), wind
speed and direction, pressure (station, QNH, QFE, QFF), relative humidity,
precipitation (indicator and amount), sunshine duration, solar and gamma
radiation, visibility, evaporation, O3 concentration and is open to adjust for
measuring and processing of other quantities, if needed.

The IMS 4.0 Agro Station supports special agrometeorological sensors such
as leaf wetness or soil moisture. It can collect data from more measuring
sites distributed in the field (crop).

Disease control & prevention

Disease prognosis or signalization of occurrence of plant diseases and pests are based on knowledge of their
biology and of connections between the disease, the plant and the environment. The most important
environmental variables are usually air circulation, solar radiation intensity, leaf wetness duration, soil moisture,
air and soil temperature, precipitation, sun duration. Suitable time for spraying and other agrotechnical actions
(spraying, dusting…) can be thus effectively planned.

Disease danger can be calculated already in data-logger and signalized on its display.

The IMS 4.0 Agro Station calculates statistics from meteorological variables such as:
- sum of daily average temperatures
- sum of effective temperatures*
- sum of days with temperatures above specific threshold (cumulative growing degree days)
- daily, weekly, decadal, monthly precipitation sums
- floating precipitation sums
- precipitation deficit
- daily plasmopara index (function of average temperature, relative humidity, precipitation)

To signalize possible occurrence season of diseases and pests, the software compares:
sums of average or effective temperatures against thresholds (cereals - erysiphe graminis, potatoes -
leptinotarsa decemlineata, apple - cydia pomonella),
maximum daily temperatures or effective soil temperatures against thresholds (cherry - rhagoletis cerasi),
precipitation sums against long-term normals (cereals - pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides, potatoes -
phytophtora infestans),
cumulative precipitation against seasonally-dependent threshold (vine - plasmopara viticola),
floating sum of plasmopara index against threshold,
leaf wetness at given temperature against threshold (apple - ascospore, conidia infections)

The IMS 4.0 Agro Station is open for further integration of algorithms to assess disease risk.

Effective irrigation
The deficit of water content in soil can be easily determined from soil moisture measurements, precipitation and
evapotranspiration. Using FAO Penman-Monteith method for calculating evapotranspiration it is possible to
enumerate the amount of water necessary for optimal irrigation. Calculation of evapotranspiration according to this
method requires wind speed and sun duration sensor. Calculated actual hydrothermic coefficient may also help with
effective irrigation.

* Effective temperature is air temperature diminished by biological zero (minimum). Biological zero is around +5°C, and is defined for every
plant or tree.

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www.microstep-mis.com to change without prior notice. EN ISO 9001-2000
 IMS 4.0 Agro Station Software
Freeze protection
system structure
Various methods were developed up to now to model radiation cooling,
especially for freeze protection and to predict the minimum temperature. IMS
4.0 Agro Station integrates some of these methods, depending on available

IMS AGRO STATION

input meteorological elements. Cooling due to advection still remains the
subject of weather forecast.

Estimating phenological phases

The principle of estimating phenological phases is based on actual
meteorological measurements. For example, the occurrence of flowering
phase (for vine) significantly correlates with 2-monthly average air
solutions for the real world

temperature (March-April). Some formulas estimating phenological phases

were developed from experience and long-term weather data analysis for
various plant species and are integrated in IMS 4.0 Agro Station.
Phenological data and climatological normals are useful for example also to
estimate sugar content of wine (from temperature and sunshine duration).

Data presentation
The data measured by sensors are processed, and various characteristics
are calculated. IMS presents actual data on displays and graphs.

Reporting & Exporting

The IMS 4.0 Agro Station can send and receive data in the form of
meteorological messages via the GTS network. This feature is useful when
the station is not solely for agricultural purposes, but is integrated also in
other meteorological networks. The IMS sends and receives data in the form
of meteorological messages via the GTS network. The system supports
creating of standard WMO codes SYNOP, METAR, SPECI, CLIMAT, BUOY.
The system works also with WAREP, AGROMET, GAMMA and other national
messages, and it is open for new. subject of weather forecast. Moreover, the
data files can be exported as standard .csv files for advanced processing in
any 3rd party statistical software.

Alarms
IMS allows to configure rich set of alarms including:
- Diagnostics of data-logger and sensor errors
- Quality control and verification of measured data (limits, internal consistency)
- Operational alarms (user-defined thresholds and limits)
- Communication errors
- Freezing conditions detection or warning
- Disease warnings

Configuration
The user-friendly interface enables configuring the IMS software to meet the requirements of many different
applications, ranging from simple synoptic stations to a research type of station with dozens of sensors and
communication lines.
Customization based on XML configuration files includes:
- Station metadata
- Data-logger and sensor parameters
- Communication line setup
- Alarms

Remote Maintenance
All IMS systems have full remote maintenance capabilities including download of measured data, maintenance of
the sensors along with data-loggers and software upgrade.

info@microstep-mis.com © 2006, All specifications subject

www.microstep-mis.com to change without prior notice. EN ISO 9001-2000