SBIR Phase I: Field Mobile Soil Nitrate Sensor for Precision Fertilizer Management

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的广泛影响/商业潜力源于大幅提高作物生产中氮(N)的使用效率，从而提高农民的盈利能力，同时减少农业对环境的不利影响。目前，施用于农田的氮肥只有不到一半被施用的作物所利用。剩余的氮要么从土壤中滤出，要么以一氧化二氮的形式流失到大气中——一种强效的温室气体。农作物对氮肥的低效利用给农民带来了经济负担，造成了严重的水和空气质量问题，并贡献了美国温室气体排放总量的2.5%。此外，这些氮损失代表了巨大的能源效率低下，因为合成氮肥的生产是生产农业中最大的能源投入。在作物生产中提高氮素利用效率的关键是在正确的时间、正确的地点施用适量的氮肥。拟议的传感器技术将颠覆现有的农业技术和实践，其中氮肥在农业领域以统一的速率施用，并提高农民的盈利能力。该SBIR一期项目旨在展示一种强大的田间移动土壤硝酸盐（NO3-）传感器的可行性，该传感器利用中红外技术促进精确的氮肥施用。中红外光谱仪历来是大型、昂贵和脆弱的实验室仪器，需要大量的样品制备，因此阻碍了它们作为移动光学土壤NO3传感器的使用。第一阶段的研究范围将集中在三个目标上：1)设计和开发一个强大且低成本的中红外光谱仪，该光谱仪使用金刚石衰减全内反射率（D-ATR）探针来测量NO3-水平；2)安装光谱仪和D-ATR探针的凿柄-工具棒系统的设计、建造和测试；3)开发控制和数据处理分析软件对系统进行管理。第一阶段的预期技术成果将提供一个原型，可以测量土壤上部30厘米的NO3，而不仅仅是表面，当系统被拉过一个领域时，通过调节刀柄和探针的深度，以及当土壤在拖拉机的向前运动下连续移动穿过钻石的光学表面时，系统的自清洁。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project stems from the need to substantially improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency in crop production and thereby improve profitability for farmers, while simultaneously reducing the adverse effects of agriculture on the environment. Currently, less than half of the N fertilizer applied to agricultural fields is used by the crops to which it is applied. The remaining N is either leached from the soil or lost to the atmosphere as nitrous oxide - potent greenhouse gas. This inefficient use of N fertilizer by crops is an economic burden for farmers, cause serious water and air quality problems, and contribute about 2.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, these N losses represent a tremendous energy inefficiency, because the production of synthetic N fertilizer is the largest energy input in production agriculture. The key to improving N use efficiency in crop production is applying the right amount of N fertilizer in the right place at the right time. The proposed sensor technology would be disruptive to existing agricultural technology and practices, wherein N fertilizer is applied at a uniform rate across agricultural fields, and improve profitability for farmers.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a robust field-mobile soil nitrate (NO3-) sensor utilizing mid-infrared technology to facilitate precision N fertilizer applications. Mid-infrared spectrometers have historically been large, expensive, and fragile laboratory instruments that require substantial sample preparation, thus preventing their use as mobile optical soil NO3- sensors. The scope of the Phase I research will focus on three objectives: 1) The design and development of a robust and low-cost mid-infrared spectrometer that uses a diamond attenuated total internal reflectance (D-ATR) probe to measure NO3- levels; 2) The design, construction, and testing of a chisel shank-tool bar system that houses the spectrometer and D-ATR probe; and 3) the development of control and data processing and analysis software to manage the system. Anticipated technical results of Phase I will provide a prototype that can measure NO3- in the upper 30 cm of soil, not just at the surface, by enabling modulation of the depth of the shank and the probe as the system is pulled through a field, and self-cleaning of the system as soil is continuously moved across the optical surface of the diamond by the forward motion of the tractor.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.