MISTRALE

The MISTRALE project aims at providing soil moisture maps using GNSS Reflectometry to decision makers in water management, like farmers and water boards and nature management. The project develops a prototype sensor embedded on a dedicated RPAS platform. MISTRALE wants to integrate various technologies to reach commercialisation with these GNSS-R based soil moisture maps.

MISTRALE delivers relevant information to farmers as the soil moisture content is an important variable to optimise crop growth. The decision to irrigate is a very sensitive one as irrigation costs are high (fuel and other direct costs) so it must be done only when crop stress would lead to a yield depression exceeding the irrigation costs. In order to optimize irrigation, farmers have to provide the right amount of water at the right time, in the right place. To do so, better insights in the spatial patterns of soil moisture are essential. The aim of the MISTRALE project is to reach a service providing soil moisture maps and flooded (and wetlands) areas monitoring.

During the project the Mistral consortium developed and build several prototypes of the Mistrale GNSS-R sensor. With this prototypes several test have been conducted. The most interesting result formthis project is the technolgoy developed by the consortium. Details about it and its potential applicability in the market is described in two reports: 1) GNSS-R technology: State of the Art and User Requirements and 2) GNSS-R technology: Market analysis