EAGER SitS: A Multi-Sensor Probe Network for Continuous Monitoring of the Soil Health

EAGER SitS：用于连续监测土壤健康的多传感器探针网络

• 批准号: 1841469
• 负责人: Charles Van Neste
• 金额: $ 17.5万
• 依托单位: Tennessee Technological University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2021-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1841469&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; SitS; Multi; Sensor; Probe

Understanding the micro-organism community within soil is extremely important for managing the growth, health, and productivity of plants in managed and unmanaged fields. Existing sensors used to monitor the soil are not capable of measuring the micro-organism activity in a low-cost, continuous, and spatially dense manner. This project will address this issue by initiating collaborative, exploratory research between three academic institutions (Tennessee Tech University, SUNY at Buffalo, and the University of Tennessee Knoxville) on a network of multi-sensor probes that are placed across fields in multiple locations and wirelessly powered by a novel electromagnetic technology. The project will provide for continuous and uninterrupted monitoring of soil parameters at many places in the field that indicate soil microbial activity and how it changes over time. This research will produce new knowledge and engineering techniques that will enhance farmers' abilities to make better decisions about precision management of crops that could reduce amounts and costs of inputs and apply only what is needed by crops and soil to maintain soil health. This impact alone will reduce waste, improve crop yield, reduce environmental contamination, and ultimately generate greater economic income for the Nation and its farmers. The objective of this project is to conduct research toward developing the next-generation of in situ, networked, multi-sensor measurement systems for continuously and uninterrupted monitoring of soil variables over wide outdoor expanses and time periods. Contemporary low-cost soil monitoring systems are discrete and are incapable of detecting soil chemical variables beyond pH. The first project goal, conducted by the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY at Buffalo), addresses this issue by developing a sensor system that analyzes the volatile organic compounds (VOC) produced by biological processes that characterize soil health. The sensor system utilizes an array of micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) cantilevers as an extremely small and selective spectroscopic transducer for detecting trace gas concentrations in the mid-IR optical region. These chemically specific, extremely sensitive, and highly compact sensors will be integrated with conventional soil sensing systems that detect moisture, temperature, pH, and conductivity to create a multi-sensing probe. The second project goal, conducted by Tennessee Tech University (TTU), addresses the issue of powering the sensor probe's electronics by continuing research on a wireless power transmission technique capable of transferring energy from an electrical power source to a plurality of multi-sensing probes over wide outdoor areas. The aim is to provide the sensor systems with a stable, uninterruptable source of power to achieve a continuous sensor operation that does not require maintenance or is susceptible to interferences. The wireless transmission will be accomplished by the excitation of a non-radiating Transverse Magnetic (TM) propagation mode at radio frequencies that allow the soil/air interface to act as a waveguide. The TTU researchers will explore an original concept where a dual above/below ground excitation method is utilized in order to maximize the waveguide effect. The third project goal, conducted by the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), is to analyze the data from the wirelessly powered, multi-sensor probe network in order to build predictive algorithms needed to characterize soil health and make critical growing decisions. Together, the research goals of this project will be transformative in broadening our understanding of soil health; leading to better environmental practices and enhanced agricultural production. Beyond soil health, the wireless power transmission research will achieve two very important scientific and engineering outcomes: (1) Demonstration of a completely new method of wireless electrical power transmission over a large area. Such an engineering achievement will not only have a transformative impact in soil science and agriculture, but in other fields including renewable energy, power distribution, national security, etc. (2) Advancement of our understanding of electromagnetic (EM) propagation physics by experimentally confirming the existence of the Zenneck Surface Wave over a natural earth surface.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

了解土壤中的微生物社区对于管理托管和不受管理的领域的植物的生长，健康和生产力至关重要。用于监测土壤的现有传感器无法以低成本，连续和空间密集的方式测量微生物活性。该项目将通过在一个多传感器探针网络上启动三个学术机构（田纳西理工大学，布法罗的纽约大学和田纳西·诺克斯维尔大学）之间的合作，探索性研究来解决这个问题，这些网络遍布多个地点的跨场，并通过一种新型电子磁技术为无线提供了动力。该项目将在现场许多地方对土壤参数的连续监测，表明土壤微生物活性以及它随时间变化的变化。这项研究将产生新的知识和工程技术，以增强农民的能力，以对可能减少投入的数量和成本进行精确管理做出更好的决定，并仅应用农作物和土壤所需的东西来维持土壤健康。仅这种影响将减少浪费，提高农作物的产量，减少环境污染，并最终为国家及其农民带来更大的经济收入。该项目的目的是进行研究，以开发原位，网络，多传感器测量系统的下一生成，以连续且不间断地监视土壤变量在广泛的室外扩展和时间段上。当代的低成本土壤监测系统是离散的，无法检测到pH之外的土壤化学变量。由纽约州立大学布法罗（Buffalo）（布法罗纽约州立大学）进行的第一个项目目标是通过开发一种传感器系统来解决这个问题的，该传感器系统分析了由生物学生物过程所产生的挥发性有机化合物（VOC），这些传感器系统由生物学过程来表征土壤健康。传感器系统利用一系列微力机械系统（MEMS）悬臂作为极其小且选择性的光谱传感器来检测MID-IR光学区域中的痕量气体浓度。这些化学特异性，非常敏感且高度紧凑的传感器将与传统的土壤传感系统集成，以检测水分，温度，pH和电导率，以创建多感应探针。田纳西理工大学（TTU）实施的第二个项目目标是通过继续对无线功率传输技术的研究来解决传感器探测器电子设备的问题，该问题能够将能量从电力源传输到多个多感应探针在宽阔的室外区域上。目的是为传感器系统提供稳定，不间断的功率来源，以实现不需要维护或容易受到干扰的连续传感器操作。无线传输将通过在无线电频率下激发非辐射横向磁（TM）传播模式来实现，该频率使土壤/空气界面充当波导。 TTU研究人员将探索一种原始概念，其中使用上方/下方激发方法以最大化波导效应。田纳西大学诺克斯维尔大学（UTK）实施的第三个项目目标是分析来自无线功率，多传感器探针网络的数据，以构建以表征土壤健康并做出重要成长决策所需的预测算法。共同，该项目的研究目标将具有变革性，以扩大我们对土壤健康的理解。导致更好的环境实践并增强农业生产。除了土壤健康之外，无线电力传输研究还将达到两个非常重要的科学和工程成果：（1）在大面积上展示了一种全新的无线电力传输方法。这样的工程成就不仅将对土壤科学和农业产生变革性的影响，而且在其他领域，包括可再生能源，发电，发电，国家安全等等。（2）我们对电磁（EM）的理解的发展，通过实验性地通过自然表面进行评估，通过实验确认了Zenneck表面的存在。基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评论标准。

项目成果

Development of A Wireless Power Transmission System for Agriculture Sensor Devices

农业传感器设备无线电力传输系统的开发

• DOI: 10.1109/bigdata50022.2020.9377855
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data
• 作者: Robinson, Charles A.;Nieman, Brandon T.;Craven, Robert;Bima, Muhammad Enagi;Van Neste, C. W.
• 通讯作者: Van Neste, C. W.