Pessl Instruments iMETOS CropVIEW User Manual

iMETOS CropVIEW

USER MANUAL

Version 1.0, 05-2018

Thank you for choosing Pessl Instruments GmbH iMETOS CropVIEW®
for Remote Crop Image Monitoring. iMETOS CropVIEW® has been de­signed to periodically take high-resolution photos of the farmland.
Photos are automatically uploaded to the FieldClimate platform with­out the need of any user intervention, thus allowing a continuous crop
quality and yield control.

The high-resolution pictures enable checking seeds for germination,
monitoring the effect of fertilizers or pesticides on crop development,
and help decide whether a disease or pest already threatens prota­bility. iMETOS CropVIEW® is the result of the combination of years of
experience and “state of the art” technology.

iMETOS CropVIEW® features:

• 10 Megapixel resolution images.

• Embedded GPS location.

• Easy installation.

• Firmware upgrade “over the air”.

• Cloud Data Storage.

• Time series of pictures stored for further analysis.

• Personalized web interface.

Pessl Instruments GmbH

Werksweg 107, 8160 Weiz, Austria

of[e-mail]

[phone]

YOUR iMETOS CropVIEW®

The iMETOS CropVIEW® device consists of two parts: main unit and
control unit.

Main unit:

• Stainless steel holder with pitch angle selector (0°, 11°, 22°, 33°, 44°)

• Plastic waterproof housing with the motherboard (PCB) containing
the processor, modem, SIM card holder, USB port and cameras with
its optics

• UMTS/GPS antenna mounted on the holder

• Eyehole pointer

Device can be equipped with up to two 10-megapixel cameras (one for
wide angle pictures and another one for narrow-zoom angle).

Control unit:

• Stainless steel holder

• Plastic waterproof box with the motherboard (PCB) which controls
the main unit (start/stop)

• Power supply (battery and solar panel) is mounted and connected to
the control unit

Other parts:

• A pair of clamps to mount it on the pole

• Unique serial number

• Sticker with keys that enable the
access to the FieldClimate platform

3

4

6

5

2

1

On picture:
iMETOS CropVIEW® Dual

1. Control unit; 2. Power supply (solar panel and battery); 3. Dual antenna (GPS/

communication); 4. Logger and modem; 5. Zoom lens; 6. Wide angle lens.

iMETOS CropVIEW Variations

• iMETOS CropVIEW® Panorama: One 10 MP Wide Angle Lens.

• iMETOS CropVIEW® Zoom: One 10 MP Zoom Lens.

• iMETOS CropVIEW® Dual: Two 10 MP Lenses – Wide Angle and Zoom.

START-UP THE iMETOS CropVIEW®

iMETOS CropVIEW® is operational in all areas covered at least by UMTS
(3G) network (it will not work on 2G/GPRS services).

In GPRS, UTMS and LTE networks a SIM card from a provider is needed.
In CDMA network, you do not need a SIM card.

To insert a SIM card:

Unlock

1. Slide the metal

part of the SIM card
holder to unlock it.

Note: Check that the PIN request for the SIM is disabled and that you
have data transfer service enabled.

Every picture le has 10±2MB (depending in the complexity of the im­age) so the data plan in your SIM should be calculated according the
following formula:

Monthly data plan = 12 (MB per picture) * number of cameras * shootings
per day * 30 (days per month) = 12*2*2*30 = 1,5 GB/month

Your device is now up and running. In case you need further support,
please visit

metos.at.

2. Place the SIM card into the
holder so the gold contacts on
the SIM face down on the board.

4. Connect the red cable to the
positive battery terminal.

metos.at/home/imetos-cropview-series/

or contact support@

Lock

3. Lock the hold­er by sliding the
metal lock.

INSTALLING YOUR iMETOS CropVIEW®

The iMETOS CropVIEW® has to be mounted on the pole. Make sure
that the pole is as vertical as possible. The main and control unit are
positioned as depicted in the iMETOS CropVIEW® gure on the previ­ous page.

Camera location: Look for the scene you want to take pictures of. Identify
the best location for the camera – take into consideration the sun posi­tion. We recommend the use of a sun position application for your mobile
phone (Sun Surveyor or similar), to be sure that your iMETOS CropVIEW®
unit will not face the sunlight at the time that photos are taken.

Control unit location: Control unit with battery and solar panel should

be installed in order to receive sufcient sunlight to charge the battery.

Do not install it into the canopy, it should always be mounted above

the canopy, so the solar panel will receive sufcient sunlight to charge

the battery.

Focusing the cameras: Cameras are already focused at 2.5 m distance.
To focus cameras at a different distance, onsite manual focus is need-

ed. You should focus the cameras in the eld, but you can also focus
them in the ofce, if you know the exact distance between the iME-

TOS CropVIEW® and the object of interest. The quality of the images
captured by the camera depends on the precision of focus. Use the
application PI CropView Focus and follow the process described below:

1. Install Pessl Instruments CropVIEW Focus application (download it

here:

docs.metos.at/iMetosDownload

).

2. Connect iMETOS CropVIEW® to

the PC: unplug the control unit con­nector (red circle), connect iMETOS
CropVIEW® to your PC with USB cable
(yellow circle) and place the jumper in
position J1 (blue circle).

3. Run and congure CropVIEW

Focus application.

4. Use Focus tab in CropVIEW Focus application to focus the cameras

to your object.

Detailed description on how to focus cameras can be found on

home/imetos-cropview-series/#focusing-cameras

.

metos.at/

USE YOUR iMETOS

First you need to register on the FieldClimate platform, which gives you
access to the photos taken by the cameras. FieldClimate also provides a
powerful decision support system for growing your crops (plant protec­tion, irrigation, sowing, harvesting, fertilizing).

REGISTER AS A NEW USER ON ng.FieldClimate.com

1. Go to ng.eldclimate.com/

login and click the button

“+”.

2. Insert your personal
data & e-mail.

3. Check your e-mail and
click on the link to activate
the user account you created.

ADD YOUR iMETOS DEVICE TO YOUR ACCOUNT

Now you can login to ng.FieldClimate.com. To add
your iMETOS device, click on the icon in the top
right corner User Menu > Add/Remove station. It
will ask you for the Station Serial number (SN) and the station key. Now the

silver sticker (in the gure) which came with your iMETOS has to be used.

Key 1 gives you full (admin)
access and enables you to
change all the settings and
set up the iMETOS (e.g. data
transfer interval, SMS warn
ing, etc.). With Key 2 the user
is not allowed to change
the station parameters, but
can access all the data.

THE iMETOS CropVIEW®: STATION DATA AND SETTINGS

You can browse through all stations by clicking the icon Station List in
top right corner.

Click on the station name to select it.

Access the iMETOS CropVIEW® page, by clicking the Eye icon on the
left side of the bar.

Hovering over picture with a mouse and use the mouse wheel to zoom
in and out.

To choose which picture you want to see in full-size, use the date selec­tion tool at the bottom of the page. You can also choose between the
two cameras – wide angle lens and zoom lens (see gure).

-

FRUIT DIAMETER MEASURING TOOL

Fruit Diameter Measuring Tool enables you to manually draw circles
around fruits. If you know the distance between the camera and the
crop (the more precise it is, the better), you can get a reliable measure­ment of fruit diameter in mm.

To use this tool, rst select a picture from zoom camera and click on the

“Start Drawing” button on the top left of the high-resolution picture. Click
on the Help button (?) next to “Start Drawing” and follow the instructions.

On STATION SETTINGS page you can set up your iMETOS device.

Station settings > Conguration: ensure that Time zone and location are
properly set (you need to set it up manually, otherwise the station will not
take and send photos at the time in your time zone). Under transfer settings,

you can dene how your iMETOS device sends data. Please note that the

settings for logging interval and transmission times will work with the de­fault values – photo taken at 7am Austrian time - as long it is not changed.

Setup how your iMETOS CropVIEW® sends the data. Note that taking
and sending pictures consumes a lot of data and energy which is why a
limitation of three pictures per day is set.

Under Camera, you can setup camera settings. Note that wrong settings can
result in corrupted images. Change these settings only if you are an expert.

For further inquiries visit

docs.metos.at/FieldClimate

.

MAINTAINING THE iMETOS CropVIEW®

Keep the lenses clean.

When the solar panel of the iMETOS is exposed to the sun and gets
enough sunlight it should constantly recharge the battery of the system.

The lifespan of the battery is expected to be 5 to 6 years with sufcient

recharging from the solar panel. Deep discharge shortens its lifetime.
The iMETOS will prevent this to happen and protect the battery by lim­iting the data transfer to the safe level of charge. In doing so, data is
not lost and battery recovers faster. Please make sure to clean the solar
panel if it is dirty or covered with snow or some other material.

iMETOS CropVIEW® is a durable and exible data logger for all climatic

conditions, but if you want to store it (e.g. during the winter) in a ware­house, disconnect the battery to avoid discharge.

UPDATING YOUR iMETOS CropVIEW®

Every time the iMETOS CropVIEW® connects to FieldClimate, it checks
for the latest rmware version. If it nds a newer version, it automati­cally downloads it and updates itself. iMETOS CropVIEW® can also be
updated manually via the USB connection.

For full user manual please visit:

metos.at/home/imetos-cropview-series

Visit metos.at/home/terms-of-use/ to view
legal information for Pessl Instruments
products and services.