SBIR Phase I: Water potential probe for real-time, spatially resolved measurements of water potential in precision agriculture

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将为农民提供水资源状况测量，这在空间和时间分辨率、成本和易用性方面是前所未有的。在第一个市场-精准农业-硬件和相关服务将为农艺实践提供宝贵的指导，从选址和种植策略的定义，到灌溉管理，再到收获时间。在国内，用于精准农业的水传感代表着10亿美元的潜在市场。该奖项下开发的技术和方法将通过降低投入（水）成本、最大限度地提高产品产量和质量以及提高可靠性，为客户创造价值。根据该计划开发的技术将准备进行beta测试和初步销售。此外，它还将为开发一套定制服务提供基础，以支持客户在水管理方面的决策。在社会层面上，这项技术将帮助客户提高粮食安全，管理水资源的消耗和污染，最大限度地减少天气和气候变化的影响，并改善其业务和地区的经济状况。该项目的智力价值利用了实验室的突破：能够像植物一样在负压下操纵液态水以形成干旱胁迫传感器。这种仿生方法建立在研究人员在材料科学、微制造以及微纳米流体设计方面的一系列创新之上。该项目将解决突出的设计和制造挑战，以优化传感器在所有农业环境中的使用。关键的进展涉及微机电设计和集成传感平台内的纳米结构材料工程。将处理的其他挑战涉及了解土壤水分转移和吸收的物理学，以确定灌溉管理用水压力评估的最佳做法。这些任务的成功完成将使传感器实现商业化，并为农业和其他市场水管理工具和服务的持续创新奠定基础。该奖项产生的新工具和理解也将支持植物科学，生态生理学，岩土工程以及与食品，先进材料和生物技术相关的工业过程的发展。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will provide farmers with water status measurements that are unprecedented with respect to spatial and temporal resolution, cost, and ease-of-use. In a first market - precision agriculture - the hardware and associated services will provide an invaluable guide to agronomic practice, from site selection and the definition of cropping strategies, to the management of irrigation, and through to the timing of harvest. Domestically, water sensing for precision agriculture represents a potential market of $1 billion. The technology and methods developed under this award will create value for the customer by reducing the cost of inputs (water), by maximizing product yield and quality, and by improving reliability. The technology developed under this program will be ready for beta-testing and initial sales. Further, it will provide a foundation for the development of a suite of services tailored to support the decision-making of the customer with respect to water management. On a societal level, this technology will help customers improve food security, manage water resources with respect to both consumption and pollution, minimize the impacts of weather and climate variability, and improve the economics of their businesses and regions. The intellectual merit of this project leverages a laboratory breakthrough: the ability to manipulate liquid water at negative pressure as plants do to form a sensor of drought stress. This biomimetic approach builds on a series of innovations in material science, microfabrication, and micro and nano-fluidic design by the investigators. This project will address outstanding design and manufacturing challenges to optimize the sensor for use across all agricultural contexts. The key advances relate to microelectromechanical design and the engineering of nano-structured materials within an integrated sensing platform. Additional challenges that will be addressed relate to understanding the physics of water transfer and uptake from soils in order to define best practice in the evaluation of water stress for irrigation management. Successful completion of these tasks will allow for commercialization of the sensor and build a foundation for continued innovation in tools and services for water management in agriculture and other markets. The new tools and understanding generated under this award will also support developments in plant science, ecophysiology, geotechnical engineering, and industrial processes related to food, advanced materials, and biotechnology.