Sustainable agriculture: Széchenyi István University researchers develop meteorological station to support data-based decisions

The research team of the Department of Bioengineering and Precision Technology of the Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty of Széchenyi István University: Dávid Kázmér technician, Koppány Horváth development engineer, Gergő Németh departmental engineer, dr. Associate Professor Gergely Teschner, Departmental Engineer Sándor Karsay, and Development Engineer Péter Kovács, Development Engineer Csaba Németh (Photo: András Adorján)

The Department of Bioengineering and Precision Technology of the Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty of Széchenyi István University has been conducting research with meteorological stations for almost a decade. Initially, they used domestic and foreign devices, and then they built their own experimental systems, which mainly served scientific purposes. However, the experience gained and the frequent errors of commercially available devices encouraged the researchers to create a completely new, self-developed solution.

Dr. Gergely Teschner, Associate Professor of the Department, said that the project was launched with the involvement of the faculty’s model farms, so they got an accurate picture of which parameters are the most important for farmers in everyday decisions. The resulting sensor set measures, among other things, soil moisture and soil temperature, wind direction and speed, solar radiation intensity, air temperature and humidity, and air pressure.

All of this is complemented by a leaf surface moisture sensor

One of the main advantages of the development is that the station is operational all year round, including in winter, when devices available on the market often stop working due to reduced solar energy. The researchers chose NBIoT-based data transmission, which ensures a stable connection even at low energy levels. The station sends data every ten minutes and can operate on battery power alone for up to two weeks, which significantly facilitates field use. The software background was provided by the university’s Digital Development Center, which developed a user interface that meets the needs of both researchers and farmers. The data is available via web and mobile applications: the system manages history, sends error messages, and will be supplemented with crop protection forecasts in the near future.

The developers are developing separate algorithms for field crop growers and horticultural farms

The university’s utilization enterprise, Uni Inno Zrt., will play a key role in the market launch, ensuring the entire life cycle of the device from production to sales and service support. The prototype was presented at several professional events, where it received positive feedback, and several domestic agricultural companies showed openness to cooperation. According to the developers, the station will also have an outstanding price-performance ratio: based on current calculations, it will be available at a price that is about thirty percent more favorable than systems with similar functionality. “The meteorological station can provide direct assistance to farmers in practice. It can help in choosing the optimal time for sowing based on soil temperature and moisture, in timing plant protection treatments by taking into account wind conditions, or in planning the harvest by measuring leaf surface moisture, thanks to which the harvesting of wet crops and costly drying can be avoided. The system will also be available in a subscription structure, which will allow users to access the data of each other’s stations, thus a community meteorological network can be formed,” explained Dr. Gergely Teschner. He added that the device, which will be launched on the market this year, will serve education, research and agriculture, contributing to strengthening the competitiveness of Hungarian agriculture.

SZE