We supply a lot of equipment for environmental research in the UK and overseas and the one constant – whether you have a water level logger or sophisticated telemetry system – equipment can go wrong. We constantly remind our customers that no equipment is infallible but it is how you deal with equipment failure that sets you apart from other suppliers.  We don’t under-promise and over-deliver, we try and work with you to ensure you get the right equipment for a job – it is fit for purpose, you understand how it works and we are on-hand to help should things go wrong.

Why we’re keen to talk about this is to make it easier for you when you’re onsite, up against a deadline and desperate to get accurate results – please expect to take some time to get to know your equipment. We know we are all used to and expect our mobile phone to work wherever we are in the UK.  We can download our emails and read them from our smartphones, even do the weekly shop with the Tesco App; we can type in a postcode into a sat-nav and find our way, door-to-door, to the remotest of locations but we have probably invested time and energy to use our phone to this level. When you are on site with your new environmental equipment which you may never have seen/used before you may also be battling the elements rather than be operating it from the comfort of your office. Your colleagues may never have used this equipment before so, all things considered, far from ideal conditions!

So it is worth remembering if your site is in a remote location and your mobile phone won’t work then neither will a telemetry system.  Your sophisticated water quality meter will need to be kept clean, warm, dry and regularly calibrated to ensure accuracy each time, every time. Your level logger, inserted 50m down a well, will need regular checks to ensure your data is being recorded. Rodents may find your cabling extremely tasty and beware vandals can be bovine as well as the usual hooded variety!

What we are trying to say is when you begin a project we recommend you assess the risk of equipment failure as: very severe, severe, moderate, low at the outset of project planning, through to full blown crisis management or data redundancy plans, an example of which is the duplication and sometimes triplication of computers in aircraft.

At Van Walt we like to have this discussion with you at the earliest opportunity in the order process, whether for rental or purchase, so we can work together to find a cost effective solution. Our message is: if we know the severity of the potential negative impact to you we can cost a potential solution.

Of course you may suggest that each project is critical but we want to come to an understanding on the severity a malfunction might create… death threatening, loss of future business, risks to humans or ecological risks, financial penalties…. only by scaling like this is it possible to assess the extent of mitigation that should be offered and costed out. For example we can:

- duplicate equipment at preferential rates

- supply equipment earlier to avoid start delays

- provide telemetry as an early warning of data retrieval

- send rental equipment early at reduced rental rates

- visit you on site for training or installation advice to ensure you are up and running instantly

- help you pre-install software or prepare equipment in the office prior to deployment.

All or a combination of these is possible if we know, in advance, the details of your project. So if we interrogate you during initial discussions our motive is purely to assess your exact requirements.

For more detail on this subject download our Information Sheet – Project Critical Procedures.

In Europe we are installing more wind power capacity than any other form of energy and this source will help us achieve 100% renewable energy production by 2050.

Currently only five percent of Europe’s electricity comes from wind but in the past two years 40% of all new electricity generating capacity in Europe has come from wind turbines so by 2020 the figure will be 15% of all electricity will be from wind power.

A combination of government policies, entrepreneurial vision, and public support has enabled wind to become Europe’s leading form of green energy. Solar and other forms of green energy have also benefitted from the renewables drive.

The economic benefits of this move towards wind power can also be seen in the employment figures, nearly 200,000 people work in the European wind power sector and by 2020 it is estimated that 450,000 Europeans will have jobs in this industry. What is important though is that  Europe retains its high quality manufacturing edge and continues to develop and deploy new wind energy technology which it can then export to the rest of the world.

Interestingly more than 75% of the wind power installations last few years were in five countries: Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and the UK. The other members of the EU have the potential to install wind power but so far have not contributed to the EU total. This will have to change because in the next 10 to 15 years we will need to install new capacity equal to about 50 percent of currently installed capacity – ambitious targets and at what cost to the environment in terms of visual impact, soil moisture content of wind farm sites and the energy consumed to manufacture and
transport the materials used to build a wind turbine. These are all outweighed by the perceived benefits.

So the targets of about 230 gigawatts of wind energy by the end of 2020 are achievable when you consider more than 10 gigawatts was installed in 2009 and if we do what we’ve been doing over the last two years in terms of new wind farms, then 15% of our electricity will come from wind energy by 2020.

If wind power is to make a considerable contribution towards European electricity by 2020 then some fundamental changes to our grids – both onshore and offshore – a ‘supergrid’ is required. In addition there is also a need to replace existing power plants that are getting old, to meet the expected increases in demand projected for the future. And because we need to invest in new power plants this could be a great opportunity
to make a real change in the way we supply our energy towards renewables.

Creating an internal [European] market for electricity should give consumers the most affordable electricity, electricity at the lowest cost but this will only come about with the right infrastructure. The infrastructure is the absolute key to making wind power work. Changing the electricity grid and power plants to accommodate 100% renewable electricity is an investment in our future. If our politicians get behind wind power, and they should bearing in mind onshore wind is the cheapest of the new renewables, then there will be plenty more wind farms throughout the EU to achieve the 2050targets.

The DART Project is a major new investigation into what lies beneath our soils to Detect Archaeological Residues using remote sensing Techniques (DART). It is a three year project with funding from the Science and Heritage initiative led by the School of Computing at the University of Leeds.

The project will examine the complex problem of heritage detection and it has already attracted a consortium consisting of 25 key heritage, industry organisations and academic consultants and researchers from the areas of computer vision, geophysics, remote sensing, knowledge engineering and soil science.

Enhanced knowledge of archaeological residues is important for the long-term curation and understanding of our diminishing heritage. There are certain geologies and soils which can complicate the collection and interpretation of heritage remote sensing data. In some of these ‘difficult’ areas traditional detection techniques have been unresponsive. DART will develop a deeper understanding of the contrast factors and detection dynamics within ‘difficult’ areas. This will allow the identification of appropriate sensors and conditions for feature detection. The successful detection of features in ‘difficult’ areas will provide a more complete understanding of the heritage resource which will impact on research,
management and development control in the future.

For researchers the project will provide an essential baseline for data modeling environmental change plus an improved understanding about contrast processes. For heritage managers they will gain a better understanding of the resource base, improved project management and faster archive assessment. And, in general, the project will help establish a network of experts from remote sensing providers to soil scientists,  computing technologies and heritage professionals. Read more and follow the researchers’ blogs at: http://dartproject.info/WPBlog/.

Van Walt has provided one of our latest TDR soil moisture profile systems – the Pico Profile which has been installed on a site in Cambridgeshire to record soil moisture measurements at set intervals.  The results from this system will be compared to data collected by other equipment and an assessment of its accuracy, durability and efficiency will be made.  In the meantime live data from the project is published live on our website at http://www.vanwalt.com/telemetry-system/.

Previously the only accurate way to measure soil moisture on site was by use of the neutron probe, nowadays it is very easy and safe with TDR technology. We’re so impressed with this latest technology – a new range of soil moisture meters, loggers and telemetry options from IMKO, an award winning German manufacturer that we’ve set up a probe on site at our premises with a live telemetry feed to our website:

http://www.vanwalt.com/telemetry-system/ :soil moisture

In addition we have produced a short video to demonstrate how quick, simple and easy it is to install this highly accurate technology. View it here.TDR Installation

We sell probes for taking soil moisture readings for top layers, manual and automatic soil profiling systems and multiple probe/sensor systems for major environmental, earth sciences, hydrology, forestry and agricultural projects. These bespoke systems can be developed to incorporate modular, flexible, and extendable TRIME® probes and other sensors (which can be buried in the ground for long term onsite deployment) as part of a network.  Network administration is simple using GlobeLog for all control settings, data recovery and analysis.

Call us on 01428 661 660 for more information.

Last time around we gave you a sneak preview of our new TDR sensors, probes, meters and telemetry. Well the good news is – it’s here!  We have recently updated our website with the latest equipment to arrive from our award winning German supplier Imko and it’s safe to say this is the very latest in soil moisture measurement technology – technology that delivers very accurate determination of soil moisture content.

We have systems for taking soil moisture readings from top layers using a TDR probe combined with a HD2 handheld display unit. The probe rods are inserted into the soil and within a few seconds the moisture measurement and soil EC values and temperature are displayed.  If you were looking for a long term, onsite system the Pico 32 or 64 probe can be buried in the ground and networked via a new datalogger (GlobeLog).

For a manual soil moisture content profiling system the IPH sensor, the first ever TDR tube access probe to be developed, will take measurements in 160mm increments to a depth of 3 meters. It can be connected to a HD2 readout device or a wireless BT Bluetooth system.

An automatic system consists of the brand new modular Pico Profile probe connected to the GlobeLog. This new generation of probe gives precise soil moisture data of selected soil horizons to depths of up to 4 metres and when used with the GlobeLog datalogger a long term, fixed installation system with automatic logging and the option to add a telemetry system, is created.

More detailed information is available here, including a link to live data captured onsite with the DART (Detection of Archaeological Residues using remote sensing Techniques)  Project, School of Computing, University of Leeds who are currently using this equipment on site at the Royal Agricultural College, for a major new investigation into what lies beneath our soils.

This is a three year, £815,000 Science and Heritage funded initiative led by the School of Computing at the University of Leeds to examine the complex problem of heritage detection. A consortium consisting of 25 key heritage and industry organisations and academic consultants and researchers from the areas of computer vision, geophysics, remote sensing, knowledge engineering and soil science have been brought together for this project.

Enhanced knowledge of archaeological residues is important for the long-term curation and understanding of a diminishing heritage. There are certain geologies and soils which can complicate the collection and interpretation of heritage remote sensing data. In some of these ‘difficult’ areas traditional detection techniques have been unresponsive. DART will develop a deeper understanding of the contrast factors and detection dynamics within ‘difficult’ areas. This will allow the identification of appropriate sensors and conditions for feature detection. The successful detection of features in ‘difficult’ areas will provide a more complete understanding of the heritage resource which will impact on research, management and development control.

Watch this space for progress…..

For a long time now we have been banging on about TDR technology for the very accurate measurement of soil moisture content delivered by a meter that is available at a price equivalent to a good quality capacitance probe.

Now we can confirm we are about to launch the next generation of TDR technology which incorporates telemetry to network TDR meters/ probes plus the ability to analyse soils for Electrical Conductivity – a very complex subject but for agricultural and horticultural, an immensely important measurement. Electrical Conductivity measures the amount of total dissolved salts (TDS) or total dissolved ions in water but to complicate matters, some ions such as Sodium and Chloride will contribute more to EC than others such as Phosphorus and Potassium.

Plants require nutrients such as Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium in large quantities hence they are called major nutrients and also smaller amounts of elements such as Iron, Manganese , Molybdenum and these are called micro nutrients or sometimes referred to as trace metals. Fertilisers are supplied to plants as compounds for example Ammonium Nitrate which supplies Nitrogen in the form of Nitrate or Ammonium. Micro-organisms will break down these compounds so they are more readily available for uptake by the plants. Levels of some ions such as Chlorides are less desirable and in great quantities can be harmful to plant growth.

The quantity of ions or salts in a soil is of huge importance. Too much or too few nutrients will create a restriction in plant growth.

Measurement of EC in water is relatively straightforward. An EC probe (usually platinum) is inserted in the water and a reading in mS/cm is reported on the meter’s display. This is relatively easy because water is a homogenous medium. Soil on the other hand is not and this has caused great difficulties when trying to measure its conductivity. To work around this, the analysis on agricultural and horticultural soils has been carried out by mixing a volume of soil and a volume of water and measuring the EC on the suspension or filtered extract.

Different countries and different regulatory bodies have specified methodologies and in general results have been good enough to use for fertilisation recommendations and programmes. This analysis was generally carried out by a laboratory and whereas results were and are reliable the method is slow, time consuming and expensive.

Over the years manufacturers have tried to come up with solutions whereby an instrument could be used directly in soils without having to resort to laboratories. The EC reported by these instruments is referred to soil bulk electrical conductivity. Whereas there has been some success, there are so many influential variables such as temperature, soil moisture and granular composition that results have not been adequate for reliable fertilisation studies. Mostly soil bulk conductivity was of academic rather than practical interest.

Now Kurt Koehler of Imko, who produce the TRIME TDR soil moisture instruments has studied the subject in detail and has come up with a breakthrough. By using coated rods and measuring over the length of the probes, TRIME can now accurately report soil EC content. This measurement takes account of soil moisture by volume and temperature and because soil moisture is so important in the calculation of EC, all TRIME devices now incorporate TDR calibration curves for a selection of different soils. Special graphs have been constructed so that the user can convert the EC reading to grams/litre of dissolved salt. So far curves are available for sandy and loam soils and it is intended to produce a handful of curves to cover most situations. At this moment in time, conversion to mg/l TDS is done manually.

This incredible breakthrough whereby a TDR instrument can be used to derive a true soil EC measurement will no doubt become the new standard for soil fertilisation analyses.

Bookmark this page to be one of the first to hear about the availability of this groundbreaking new technology.

At Van Walt we sell soil moisture measurement instruments that use TDR technology.  They are small, portable devices and provide immediate soil moisture readings as a percentage by volume when they are inserted into soil.  They appear very simple and straightforward to use but behind this ‘plug & play’ equipment is some very sophisticated technology.

TDR or time-domain reflectometry is a measurement technique used to determine the characteristics of electrical lines by observing reflected waveforms. Time-domain transmissometry (TDT) is an analogous technique that measures the transmitted (rather than reflected) impulse. Together, they provide a powerful means of analysing electrical or optical transmission media. We could go on but a really good explanation can be found here.

From your point of view it’s nice to know the theory but probably all you want to know is this equipment will give you accurate readings, consistently and simply. Available to hire or buy Van Walt’s Trime Pico Soil Moisture Sensor does just that!

Peat, peat lands and bogs are the world’s largest soil carbon pool, support a unique biological community, and provide important ecological, economic and protective functions, such as groundwater recharge and pollutant removal – we should love them.

If you do and you’re interested in preserving them you’ll like these: http://www.egs.mmu.ac.uk/peatbog/ or http://www.peatbog.org/.

We love them and recently got involved because our equipment – two Trime Pico TDR systems – is on site in Whixall, Shropshire with Dr Simon Caporn and Dr James Rowson, of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of the Environment & Geographical Sciences.

The team are investigating the impact of peat cutting, drainage, and land conversion as well as the threat of ‘unseen’ changes in precipitation, temperature and nutrients on the health of peat lands. The project is funded by the European Research Association BiodivERsA programme and will run from spring 2009 through to the end of 2012.
     

There are many ways to measure soil moisture.  The most accurate is to take a volume of soil, weigh it, (air) dry it and then weigh it again. The impracticality of this method, particularly in the field has led to the development of other techniques.

The best known was the neutron probe which used a radioactive source lowered into the soil by way of an aluminium access tube. Pulse bounces were counted by the device to record soil moisture very accurately. With its demise, on safety issues and the fact that it was incapable of measuring top layers, TDR (Time Domain Reflectrometry) became a safe replacement and, almost as accurate, alternative.

TDR measures the ‘dielectric constant’ of a material to determine the moisture. The dielectric constant is a complex quantity with a real number that characterises the moisture and with an imaginary component as a measure for energy loss and electrical conductivity. Both parts depend mainly on frequency so that the measuring frequency of an electromagnetic technique is a decisive criterion.

TDR systems are the favoured tool for researchers and very recent technology has allowed TDR moisture sensors to be manufactured which are priced to almost match the less accurate capacitance, frequency domain based alternatives.

After 25 years experience of accurately measuring soil moisture we have chosen to distribute the award winning TRIME TDR range of systems including the new PICO-BT Bluetooth Module. This equipment is small, portable and provides immediate soil moisture readings as a percentage by volume. The system can be networked for automated soil moisture measurements from several sensors across a site with just one readout device and one module to read any quantity of sensors.