Patent ID: 8035403

Claim:
A wireless soil sensor for transmitting data from below a surface of a land area to a receiver located above the surface of the land area, the wireless soil sensor comprising: a main body having a sensing component, a plurality of integrated sensors for measuring at least soil moisture and soil salinity, a power supply, a microcontroller and a configuration switchable antenna that is tuned based on moisture and salinity readings from the plurality of integrated sensors to increase communication range and conserve the power supply; and a removable sleeve positioned over the sensing component, wherein the removable sleeve has a hibernation state and an active state, the hibernation state operable when the removable sleeve is positioned over the sensing component, the active state operable when the removable sleeve is removed from the sensing component; wherein the microcontroller determines whether transmissions from the configuration switchable antenna will be successful based on a network activity history and a soil moisture level and a conductivity level determined from measurements from the plurality of integrated sensors, and the microcontroller will adjust a transmission schedule.