SiTS NSF-UKRI: Large Area Distributed Real Time Soil (DiRTS) Monitoring

该奖项是通过“土壤信号”征集活动获得的，该征集活动是美国国家科学基金会、美国农业部国家粮食与农业研究所（USDA NIFA）和以下英国研究与创新（UKRI）研究委员会之间的合作伙伴关系：1)自然环境研究委员会（NERC）， 2)生物技术和生物科学研究委员会（BBSRC）， 3)工程和物理科学研究委员会（EPSRC）和科学技术设施委员会（STFC）。该研究项目是美国塔夫茨大学与英国基尔大学和伯明翰大学的机构合作进行的。提高我们对土壤生态系统的认识，特别是对含氮物种（如铵和硝酸盐）的动态认识，对于改善土壤肥力、提高作物生产力、管理温室气体通量以及保护水和环境至关重要。研究人员将开发下一代集成传感系统，用于现场、大面积、高分辨率监测氮种、土壤湿度、钾和盐度。无线分布式实时土壤（DiRTS）监测网络由(1)模拟植物根系吸水的土壤传感器节点，(2)用于土壤铵、硝、钾、水分和盐度水平的强大传感器，(3)用于读出和数字化的超低功耗电路架构，(4)远程无线数据通信，以及(5)用于绘制土壤氮、钾、盐度和湿度水平的先进算法组成。该平台将解决我们对非管理（如森林）和管理（如农业）土壤中氮物种的理解和控制方面的根本弱点。除了技术影响之外，拟议的研究工作将通过新课程为本科生和研究生提供教育和培训机会。农民和其他土壤管理从业者将通过设计和部署无线分布式实时土壤（DiRTS）监测平台的公开培训模块受益。DiRTS平台将在以下几个方面做出显著的科学贡献：(1)通过毛细管驱动对目标土壤养分进行连续采样，模拟根部和植物上部的蒸腾作用对自然水分的吸收；(2)离子敏感电极利用嵌入式海水淡化提高选择性，利用冗余度和贝叶斯校准提高灵敏度；(3)供电低于0.5 V、功耗为纳瓦级的读出和数字化电路；(4)基于可用功率和数据重要性的概率传感器调度的事件驱动采样和无线通信；(5)基于统计机器学习的最新方法，用于从不规则采样数据中生成高分辨率时空化学图。所有技术都将在实验森林中通过现场测量进行验证。具体而言，将进行实验，通过温室气体分析仪和使用DiRTS传感器网络绘制地图来量化一氧化二氮的通量。该研究项目汇集了来自美国和英国的工程、生物地球科学和化学专家，他们在传感、电子、微流体、生物地球化学、信号处理和传感器网络等相关领域具有强大的背景和专业知识。DiRTS平台将促进我们对土壤氮动态的理解，并提供一种方法来帮助管理这些动态，以实现更经济和环境可持续的农业实践。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。

This award was made through the "Signals in the Soil (SitS)" solicitation, a collaborative partnership between the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) and the following United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) research councils: 1) The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), 2) the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), 3) the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The research project is a collaboration between Tufts University in the U.S. and the U.K. institutions of Keele University and the University of Birmingham. Advancing our understanding of the soil ecosystem, especially the dynamics of nitrogen-containing species, such as ammonium and nitrate, is critical to improving soil fertility, increasing crop productivity, managing greenhouse gas fluxes, and protecting the water and environment. The researchers will development a next generation, integrated sensing system for in-field, large area, high resolution monitoring of nitrogen species, soil moisture, potassium, and salinity. The wireless Distributed Real Time Soil (DiRTS) monitoring network is comprised of (1) soil sensor nodes that mimic plant root-like water intake, (2) robust sensors for soil ammonium, nitrate, potassium, moisture, and salinity levels (3) ultra-low power circuit architectures for readout and digitization, (4) long range wireless data communication, and (5) advanced algorithms for mapping of soil nitrogen, potassium, salinity, and moisture levels. The platform will address fundamental weaknesses in our understanding and control of nitrogen species in both unmanaged (e.g. forest) and managed (e.g. agriculture) soils. Beyond the technical impact, the proposed research effort will offer education and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students through new curricula. Farmers and other soil management practitioners will benefit through publicly-available training modules on the design and deployment of the wireless Distributed Real Time Soil (DiRTS) monitoring platform. The DiRTS platform will make several notable scientific contributions: (1) Continuous capillary-driven sampling of the target soil nutrients mimicking the natural water intake by roots and transpiration through aboveground plant parts; (2) Ion-sensitive electrodes utilizing embedded desalination to improve selectivity, and utilizing redundancy and Bayesian calibration to improve sensitivity; (3) Circuits for readout and digitization operating below 0.5 V power supply and nanowatt level power dissipation; (4) Event-driven sampling and wireless communication using probabilistic sensor scheduling based on available power and data importance; and (5) State of the art statistical machine learning-based approaches for generating high resolution spatio-temporal chemical maps from irregularly sampled data. All technology will be validated using in-situ measurements in an experimental forest. Specifically, experiments will be performed to quantify nitrous oxide fluxes via a greenhouse gas analyzer and mapping using the DiRTS sensor network. This research project brings together experts in engineering, biogeosciences, and chemistry from the U.S. and U.K., with strong backgrounds and expertise in relevant areas of sensing, electronics, microfluidics, biogeochemistry, signal processing, and sensor networks. The DiRTS platform will advance our understanding of soil nitrogen dynamics and provide a method to help manage these dynamics for more economic and environmentally-sustainable agriculture practices.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.