ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,768,813, issued on Oct. 20, was assigned to STMicroelectronics International N.V. (Geneva).
"Soil moisture sensor based on electrostatic sensing" was invented by Marco Maria Branciforte (Catania, Italy) and Fabrizio La Rosa (San Pietro Clarenza, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A soil sensor includes a signal generator, and a transmitter coupled to the signal generator, the transmitter configured to transmit a signal from the signal generator, the signal having a fixed frequency, the transmitter including a transmit electrode embedded within a first dielectric material. The soil sensor includes a receiver, the receiver being configur...