SitS NSF-UKRI: Wireless In-Situ Soil Sensing Network for Future Sustainable Agriculture

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This project was awarded through the "Signals in the Soil (SitS)" opportunity, a collaborative solicitation that involves 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). This project is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Utah in the U.S. and researchers at the Imperial College London and the University of Aberdeen in the UK. With the world's population expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050, increasing food production threatens soil security, presenting one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. Sustaining high levels of food production depends on irrigated agriculture, which consumes over 70% of freshwater reserves in many regions of the world. Due to the diminishing freshwater sources, alternative water sources have been considered and used for agriculture. However, their impact on soil health and related contaminant effects on the soil ecosystem and productivity remain largely unknown. This research focuses on developing low-cost wireless soil sensing network that can effectively indicate the health condition of soils being irrigated by using different alternative water sources. The research outcomes will not only be critical for developing better soil maintenance, protection, and management practice, but also for enabling a wide range of research on soil health and associated links to sustainable agriculture.The goal of this research program is to develop a low-power and low-cost underground wireless sensing network by employing commercially available sensing probes, but designing low-power electronics and integrating them with the proposed wireless powering and data telemetry system, followed by packaging and validating the sensing network in the field. The prototype system will be further demonstrated in a pilot study to investigate the effect of irrigation on soil condition with different water sources. The proposed system can substantially reduce the cost of the buried sensors as there would be no large power source such as a solar panel or a battery. Much of the expensive electronics would be moved to the external powering system implemented on an autonomous vehicle (ground or aerial). The lower-cost and lower-power configuration can potentially enable a much higher sensor density for large farmland or intense research plot monitoring. The wireless interface for the soil sensing network implemented on autonomous vehicles can greatly reduce the current lab-intensive human interface. The proposed network will be developed in collaboration with stakeholders in the agricultural industry from the outset of the project. With this vision in mind, this US-UK SitS research team plans to achieve the proposed objectives through the following tasks. (1) Develop low-power, low-cost, underground, in-situ soil sensor modules and achieve a reduction in power and cost by one to two orders of magnitude compared to commercial products. Low-power electronics in both discrete and ASIC forms will be designed and fitted to existing sensor probe technology. (2) Develop wireless power transfer and data telemetry systems that can transfer power from a source above the ground to an underground sensor module, charging a rechargeable battery or enabling a battery-less underground sensing operation. This approach can greatly simplify the system installation and maintenance. (3) Demonstrate the proposed system operation from a controlled laboratory environment and open field testing. Sensor modules' calibration and stability will be investigated to ensure long-term reliable operation. (4) Deploy the wireless sensor technology to investigate irrigation effect on soil health by using alternative water sources. Soil moisture, temperature, and salinity will be measured in-situ and collected wirelessly. Soil pH, ammonia, organic carbon and nitrogen will be measured from collected soil samples. These parameters can indicate soil intrinsic conditions due to different irrigation practices. The proposed sensing network and study could enable far more efficient use of fresh water sources in irrigated agriculture. The proposed sensing paradigm could be applied to a wide range of soil health studies with direct societal impact by helping improve soil conditions and agricultural productivity. Furthermore, the research team will broaden the impact of this research through establishing an interdisciplinary education and training program, and engaging with agricultural producers and stakeholders to disseminate research results.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.