Fruit dendrometer

Dendrometer for measuring fruit growth

  • Attaches to the plant in seconds
  • Lightweight and does not damage the fruit or trunk
  • Wind- and rain-resistant installation
  • Dimensions to suit different fruit and trunk sizes
  • Stable, adjustment-free operation
  • Real-time measurement of fruit and trunk growth
  • Swiss design and manufacture

Applications

Technical data

Measures

The fruit dendrometer measures the following elements:

  • Diameter
  • Temperature

Data is transferred via a bus interface I2C. Several dendrometers and other sensors can be combined on the same bus and share a single radio transceiver to transfer data for monitoring and analysis. The dendrometer has two categories of registers

  1. Ram registers: values that change frequently and are not saved after a reset.
  2. Flash registers: configuration values saved after a reset.

Writing and reading in registers

Configuration registers are read-only by default. ENABLE_MODE_CONFIG must be set to enable write mode.

Package format

Register mapping

Ram :

Address Name Description Reading/Writing
0x00 EXIT_DIAMETER_L low byte diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R
0x01 EXIT_DIAMETER_H high byte diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R
0x02 TEMPERATURE_OUTPUT_L low byte diameter 0.1℃/LSB R
0x03 TEMPERATURE_OUTPUT_H high byte temperature 0.1℃/LSB R
0x06 START_MEAS write 1 to start measurement. always 0 if reading R/W
0x7F ENABLE_MODE_CONFIG when enabled, all addresses can be written to W

Flash:

Address Name Description Reading/Writing
0x8A CALIBRATION_OFFSET_L 0.01 mm/LSB diameter low byte offset R
0x8B CALIBRATION_OFFSET_H high byte offset on diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R
0x8C TEMPERATURE_OFFSET_L temperature low byte offset 0.1℃/LSB R
0x8D TEMPERATURE_OFFSET_H temperature high byte offset 0.1℃/LSB R
0x8E DIAMETER_LIMIT_LOW_L low byte low saturation of diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R/W
0x8F DIAMETER_LIMIT_LOW_H High saturation of the low byte of the diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R/W
0x90 DIAMETER_LIMIT_HIGH_L low byte high saturation of diameter 0.01 mm/LSB R/W
0x91 DIAMETER_LIMIT_HIGH_H high byte high diameter saturation 0.01 mm/LSB R/W

The fruit dendrometer includes

  • Spring arm with integrated sensors and signal conditioning
  • Shielded cable
  • 4-pole waterproof connector (for connection to our transceiver unit or to a bus extender)

Measures

Temperature Diameter
Measurement units Degrees Celsius mm
Resolution 0.1°C 0.01 mm
Precision +- 0.3°C +-0.05 mm
Measurement range 0°C to 65°C 19mm to 90mm

Sourcing

  • 3.3V
  • 7.4 mA (operating)

Initial configuration

All dendrometers are supplied with a default I2C address. To combine several dendrometers on the same bus, each must be reprogrammed with a unique I2C address; this configuration can be carried out when the order is placed or programmed on site before deployment.

Taking measurements

To make a measurement

  1. Write 1 to the START_MEAS register
  2. Wait 50 ms for the measurement to be taken
  3. Read the measurement (diameter, temperature) from the output register