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Review Article

Inertial sensor applications in agriculture: Sensor types and data utilization techniques for mechanical and wearable applications
Junghwa Park1
,
Seokyung Park1
,
Eunji Jung1
,
Jisu Song1
,
Gunhui Park1
,
Jaehun Lee1
,
Minjoo Kim1
,
Jaesung Park12*
1Department of Bio-Industrial Machinery Engineering, College of Natural Resource and Life Science, Pusan National University, Miryang 50463, Korea
2Life and Industry Convergence Research Institute, Pusan National University, Miryang 50463, Korea
*Corresponding Author
1 December 2025. pp. 447-469
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Abstract

Advances in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology have markedly improved inertial sensors, driving down cost, size, and power consumption while enhancing performance. The resulting growth in supply and demand has created tiered performance classes and price points, enabling broader adoption of inertial sensing in agriculture. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed cases of agricultural application of inertial measurement unit (IMU) or single inertial sensors by classifying them into machine and living objects. In machine targeting research, it has been used as a key element in position estimation and navigation systems for autonomous driving of mobile objects such as agricultural vehicles and robots to detect rapid attitude changes and improve the accuracy of position estimation and path tracking of the mobile object. Cases targeting living objects can be largely divided into livestock and fruit trees. In the case of livestock, wearable IMUs were attached to body parts and combined with various deep learning techniques to detect specific behaviors of livestock or classify behavioral patterns. In the case of fruit trees, a study on vibration harvesting was conducted to analyze the vibration characteristics of fruit trees by attaching acceleration sensors to tree branches or fruits and to optimize vibration parameters. The analysis focused on the types of sensors and data utilization techniques used in each research case, and based on this, we plan to explore ways to utilize IMUs in agriculture in the future.

Keywords
accelerometer
action detection
IMU
position estimation
vibration
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Information
  • Publisher :Institute of Agricultural Science, Chungnam National University
  • Publisher(Ko) :충남대학교 농업과학연구소
  • Journal Title :Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
  • Journal Title(Ko) :농업과학연구
  • Volume : 52
  • No :4
  • Pages :447-469
  • Received Date : 2025-08-08
  • Revised Date : 2025-08-29
  • Accepted Date : 2025-09-01
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7744/kjoas.520405
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