ICT International

Advancing soil, plant and environmental decision making

SFM1x Sap Flow Meter

The SFM1x Sap Flow Meter is a powerful sensor for measuring tree and plant water use. The Heat Ratio Method provides accurate measurements, and Internet of Things connectivity enables remote monitoring of the data.

The leading method for accurate measurement of tree and plant water use is the ICT International SFM1x Sap Flow Meter. As a result of featuring IoT connectivity, the SFM1x range is ideal to be deployed in research and commercial applications in agriculture, forestry, urban and remediation issues where continuous, real-time plant or tree water use is needed. Meanwhile, these measurements allow decisions on irrigation scheduling and species selection and evapotranspiration measurement using data from the SFM1x Sap Flow Meter.

Providing data at user defined intervals (as little as 10 minutes), the SFM1x provides detailed data on plant water use. Integrated with IoT dashboards, visualisations are available showing daily and hourly plant water use.

Using the Heat Ratio Method, the SFM1x Sap Flow Meter is available with CATM1/NB-IoT, LoRaWAN or Bluetooth only, the SFM1x range is part of the ICT International Internet of Things solutions available as:

  • SFM1x-C: CATM1/NB-IoT
  • SFM1x-L: LoRaWAN Frequency Options:
    • SFM1x-AS923
    • SFM1x-AU915
    • SFM1x-CN470
    • SFM1x-EU868
    • SFM1x-IN865
    • SFM1x-US915
  • SFM1x-UB: Bluetooth and USB only

With these, the product can be integrated into dashboard endpoints available from ICT International.

About the heat ratio method

The two temperature probes and the central heater probe comprise the sap flow sensor. The heat ratio method uses a controlled heat pulse from the central heater probe, which the temperature probes measure as the heat is transported by the sap moving up or down the xlyem. The sensors subsequently measure the sap flow velocity, with calculations performed within the SFM1x to derive the plant water use.

SFM1C Sap Flow Meter Installed in Urban Park