Design of an Electronic Digital System to Automate the Soil Test of Infiltration Capacity in Field

Abstract

In this project it was performed the prototype of an electronic digital system that automates the method of infiltrometer rings which is used to obtain the soil infiltration capacity. It uses an ultrasonic distance sensor which has the function of observer of the water blade infiltrated during the development of the test. In the same way, it was used a solenoid with a supplier tank, them charge of make the recharging process of the water blade to the level remains constant, like it's ideal. The management of these peripherals is done through a control card that has as central element a dsPIC microcontroller. For the collection, analysis and interpretation of test is developed a software called InfilSuelos V. 1.0, designed in the programming environment of Visual Basic 6.0 which creates a friendly graphical interface and easy to handle. To test the effectiveness of the prototype automated three tests were conducted at various sites, looking for variety in the type of soil. By comparing the tables of data collected from the automated process and manual process yielded a maximum error of 12%.