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Home > Symposium 2007

The Second International Symposium
On Soil Water Measurement Using Capacitance, Impedance and Time Domain Transmission

 

Organized by:

PALTIN International Inc., in cooperation with the USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

Will be held at Beltsville, Maryland, USA,

October 28 - November 02, 2007


Organizing Committee:

Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu – PALTIN International Inc., Laurel, Maryland, USA, icpaltin@msn.com

Dr. James L. Starr (Retired) – USDA, ARS, ANRI, HRSL, Beltsville, Maryland, USA, jstarr@hydrolab.arsusda.gov

Dr. Vaclav Kuraz – Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic, kuraz@fsv.cvut.cz

Dr. James E. Ayars – USDA, ARS, Water Management Research, Parlier, California, USA, jayars@fresno.ars.usda.gov

Dr. Jeffrey E. Campbell – Campbell Consulting LLC, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, USA, campbell@hsb-idaho.com

Dr. Ali Sadeghi – USDA, ARS, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, USA, sadeghia@ba.ars.usda.gov

Dr. Michael D. Dukes – Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA, mddukes@ufl.edu

 

 

Symposium - 2007 Planning                            
October 07, 2005

PALTIN's Proposal for the Second International Symposium on Soil Water Measurement using Capacitance, Impedance and Time Domain Transmission, 2007 

PALTIN International Inc., an independent research and technology transfer company dealing with real-time water monitoring systems for irrigation, drainage, hydrology and environmental impact studies, is proposing to organize the “Second International Symposium on Soil Water Measurement using Capacitance, Impedance and TDT” , in cooperation with the USDA-ARS Agricultural Research Center, to be held at Beltsville, Maryland, USA, on October 28 through November 02, 2007. Research, academia, independent consultants, current and future customers, manufacturers and distributors are cordially invited to support and participate for the success of this symposium. It will be our choice to follow with other symposiums every 5 -10 years.

Rationale:

Due to the new developments in research and technology for the last five years, as well as future opportunities in developing multi-parameter sensors (soil water, temperature and conductivity), a reevaluation of the real-time capacitance, impedance and TDT sensors frequency variation with soil temperature  and  soil electrical conductivity, at the same location of measurement, is necessary.

In the near future, the industry should be ready to supply new robust, accurate real-time multi-parameter soil profile monitoring (1- 2m depth) probes to equip the current and future agro-meteorological stations, or perform as independent probes, or being an integral part of the international network for global evaluation of the “active root zone-plant community-atmosphere interface” related to water, energy and nutrient dynamics at global and regional scales, using satellite telemetry and fast internet data accessibility.

World wide increased demand for irrigation water and fertilizer consumption in the urban developments (private homes, commercial landscapes, parks, and sport fields) determine the rapid pace of introduction of reliable, soil specific calibrated, soil moisture/temperature/EC sensors, to be connected to the current time based irrigation controllers, in order to increase water and fertilizer application efficiencies, as well as reducing pollution of soil, and excess nutrients into underground and surface waters.

Extreme flooding events (by oceans, lakes and rivers) impose technological solutions for real-time monitoring of water dynamics inside of the bodies of earth or concrete constructed dams, dikes, embankments and efficient alarm systems in order to prevent large losses of human and animal life, infrastructure and properties.

More international research and technological effort should be focused on the importance of determining the soil water/temperature/EC signature of the landmine environment, in order to improve the landmine (or improvised devises) detection and neutralization.

Robust, low power consumption, resistant under extreme environmental conditions, future data acquisition and telemetry systems (radio, satellite) must perform flawlessly, and at the same time being capable of serving a multitude of sensors, and software packages. Frequent updating of software, as is customarily practice, on the expense of customers should be avoided.

Independent consultants role in site specific calibration of probes and their direct work with the end users (of any educational background and experience) for proper installation and use of capacitance, impedance and TDT probes and related data acquisition, telemetry, software packages, is still of utmost importance. Industry should not consider the use of these technologies as part of the general marketing (over the counter) procedure. We are not, and should not be overzealously, there yet.

Finally, it is to be noted that the capacitance based soil water measuring sensor was chosen to be used in exploration of possible traces of water on Mars, and possible on our natural satellite, Moon.

Let us wish our scientists, engineers and inventors, God Speed, to explore the most precious element to sustain life in the universe, WATER.

SYMPOSIUM TENTATIVE AGENDA: Four forms of participation are envisaged:

1) Paper presentations to be reviewed by members of the organizing committee and a panel of voluntary reviewers, and finally published in proceedings of the symposium and possible in a book with the state of the art and challenges facing capacitance, impedance and TDT probes in the first decades of the 21st century;

2) Poster presentation. Reviewed Abstracts (one page text) will be published in the Proceedings of the Symposium;

3) Technical exhibition for manufacturers to demonstrate their sensors, probes, data acquisition, telemetry systems, and software packages;

4) Laboratory and field visits to the US federal research institutions, academia and private customers using capacitance, impedance and TDT probes and real-time monitoring systems in the Washington D.C. – Baltimore Corridor. Participation at visits to federal research centers and laboratories require advanced approval from the local US Consulates (follow the US State Department regulations). No special invitations will be issued by the organizing committee.

CONTACT: All correspondence related to Symposium – 2007 will be addressed or redirected to Dr. Ioan Caton Paltineanu at icpaltin@msn.com

BROCHURE: A brochure containing details on the Symposium will be published at www.paltin.com -> Symposium 2007, in order to be downloaded by the interested colleagues.

CORPORATE SPONSORS:
International, national and regional corporations and institutions are cordially invited to sponsor the Second Symposium Transactions and of a book on the state of the art and challenges for the capacitance, impedance and TDT real-time monitoring probes and telemetry systems, with final purpose of improving and preserving our planet’s global water resources.

AGENDA:
September 07, 2007, First Announcement with international call for the intention of participation
November 07, 2006, Deadline for intention of participation.
December 22, 2006, Call for registration (only papers and poster titles and authors) "The Second International Symposium on Soil Water Measurement using Capacitance, Impedance and Time Domain Transmission (TDT)", 2007

MAIN TOPICS FOR PAPERS, POSTERS AND DISCCUSSIONS (other topics can be added with the approval of the Organizing Committee): Presentations of original research, technical and synthesis papers (oral, multimedia and posters) regarding:
The STATE OF THE ART, and the FIELD SCALE APPLICATIONS, including future directions, will cover the following topics:

I) THE STATE OF THE ART:

1.1. Theory: dielectric properties of porous media; effects of operating frequency sensors performance; relationship between water content, temperature, salinity and reading frequencies; permittivity vs. water content, etc.;

1.2. New developments: sensors, systems, logging facilities, telemetry systems and accessories;

1.3. Software:

1.4. Calibration: Methodology (laboratory and field); Mineralogy; Shrinking and Swelling media; High organic content media; Saline conditions; Layered soils; Zone of influence (axial and radial); statistics for intrinsic soil characteristics etc;

1.5. Development of new real-time soil water/temperature/EC profile dynamics monitoring data based computer models for large areas;

1.6. Spatial monitoring and remote monitoring:

1.6.1. Soil water content (surface and profile) monitoring over large research/application areas (ground truth);

1.6.2. Telemetry of data: Radio frequencies, cellular phones, aircraft, satellites;

1.7. Global, continental, regional distribution of capacitance, impedance and TDT probes, monitoring and telemetry systems over large areas for research, practical applications and educational programs (High Schools, Colleges, Public at large);

1.8. Future directions: Global network for real-time soil water profile dynamics vs. remote sensing monitoring; etc.

II) APPLICATIONS CASE STUDIES:

2.1. Research oriented studies over large areas using GPS and GIS data (climate change, drought, flood, agriculture, forestry, hydrology, and environmental impact studies);

2.2. Aircraft and orbital platforms remote sensing calibration data versus "ground truth" real-time soil moisture/temperature/EC profile dynamics monitoring and telemetry systems data, using GPS and GIS data;

2.3. Irrigation and drainage in agricultural settings such as field and vegetable crops, fruit trees, vineyards;

2.4. Real-time soil moisture based irrigation controllers for private homes, sports fields (soccer, football, baseball, golf courses, etc..), public parks, and commercial landscape architectural projects;

2.5. Land reclamation, rural development, civil engineering, construction (dams, dicks, embankments, highways, bridges, airports, concrete structures) and real-time monitoring, mining works;

2.6. Waste disposal sites for nuclear and non-nuclear materials;
2.7. Landmine location signature, environmental soil water, atmosphere characterization for better landmine (or improvised devices) detection and neutralization.

2.8. Future directions.


III) TENTATIVE AGENDA:
1) Preregistration . Participants name, address, Title of Paper, Poster presentation, Exhibition: Send email to Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu at icpaltin@msn.com , before November 07, 2006;
2) Paper and poster presentations Abstracts: (authors, addresses, and text maximum one page 8.5" X 11", MS Word, double spaced, 1" margin top/base, 1" margin left/right, use 12 point font Times New Roman type for Title, all other text use 10 point font Times New Roman type. Send to Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu at icpaltin@msn.com before February 07, 2007;

3) Organizing Committee response with acceptance of the Abstracts: March 07, 2007;

4) Registration (including fees for participation with papers, posters, exhibits, sponsorship). Send to Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu before April 07, 2007;.

5) Full text paper (maximum 10 pages including title, authors, addresses, introduction, methods and materials, results, discussions, recommendations, conclusions, tables and figures and references, MS Word, double spaced). Send to Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu at icpaltin@msn.com before May 07, 2007.

6) Return paper to authors, with peer review observations by July 07, 2007.

7) Final draft, ready for publication, will be send back to Dr. Ioan C. Paltineanu, at icpaltin@msn.com by August 07, 2002.

8) Participants will receive at the opening of Symposium: a spiral hard copy booklet with all abstracts of papers and poster presentations, names and addresses of participants and sponsors; a book with full text of the reviewed and approved for publication papers, max. 10 pages/paper); a CD ROM with all full length of peer reviewed papers.

9) At the recommendation of the Organizing Committee, the Sponsors will provide funds for editing and publishing a book on "Capacitance, Impedance and Time Domain Transmission probes for real-time soil water/temperature/salinity profile monitoring: Theory and Practical Applications"

11) Visits to US federal laboratories and large field scale studies and practical applications, and demonstrations, will be included in the program.


IV) SPONSORS AND COLLABORATORS:
National and international nongovernmental societies, state and federal agencies, universities, private companies and foundations interested in promoting non nuclear real-time soil water/temperature/salinity measurement probes, monitoring and telemetry systems based on Capacitance, Impedance and Time Domain Transmission, are welcomed and will be recognized by the Symposium's Transactions.


V) PARTICIPATION FEES:
Individual and corporate fees for participation at Symposium will be announced after the pre registration period, when the total number of participants and companies will be known.

 

 

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