SBIR Phase II: Smart Sensor for Precision Agriculture

SBIR第二期项目将把学术界使用的一项创新技术应用于具有成本效益的解决方案，以提高农业实践的精度和效率。设想的产品是普通农民增加产量和减少不必要和不可预测的成本的工具，减少对环境的负面影响，并导致餐桌上更高质量的食物。通过将曾经复杂、缓慢、不准确的昆虫识别方法转化为自动化、高精度和实时的方法，该技术将成为自动化和数据驱动的工业化浪潮的一部分，改变农业部门。对虫害的快速反应将使农民能够更好地有针对性地采取应对措施，最终使农业更加高效和可持续。有效的农业害虫防治对种植者防止重大作物损失至关重要。某些害虫对农作物造成如此严重的损害，这促使种植者采取昂贵而耗时的措施，以尽量减少害虫的影响。种植者对害虫的反应具有时效性；治疗应用的时机将直接决定其效果。提出的技术是一种创新的地面传感器系统，可以实时检测多种空中害虫及其地理位置信息。它具有区分和识别飞行中发现的不同昆虫种类的能力。对害虫位置的即时了解允许有针对性地喷洒，而不是喷洒整个田地。有针对性的喷洒减少了不必要的喷洒，并促进了更可持续的虫害防治做法。这种低成本、足够精确的传感器最终让种植者提前一步解决问题，帮助他们做出更明智的处理决定，比如选择一天中的时间，以避免有害害虫的伤害，并减少漂移。该传感器取代并完全自动化了现有的作物田间昆虫活动监测方法，效率更高。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 SBIR Phase II project will deploy an innovative technology used in academia into a cost-effective solution for better precision and efficiency in agricultural practices. The envisioned product is a tool for ordinary farmers to increase their production and reduce unnecessary and unpredictable costs, reducing negative impacts on the environment and leading to higher quality food on the table. By converting once complicated, slow, inaccurate practices of insect identification to automated and highly accurate and in real time, this technology will be a part of the automation and data driven industrialization wave transforming the agricultural sector. The quick reaction to pest infestation will allow farmers to better target their response, ultimately making farming more efficient and sustainable. Effective pest control in agriculture is imperative for growers to prevent major crop loss. Certain insect pests are responsible for such significant crop damage which provokes growers to invest in expensive and time-consuming measures to minimize pest effects. The reaction of the grower to the pest is time-sensitive; the timing of the treatment application will directly determine its effectiveness. The proposed technology is an innovative ground-based sensor system that detects plurality of airborne pests in real-time along with their geolocation information. It has capabilities for differentiation and identification of different insect species detected in flight. The instantaneous knowledge of the location of the pest allows for a targeted spray rather than spraying an entire field. Targeted sprays reduce unnecessary spraying and promote more sustainable pest treatment practices. The low-cost sensor that is adequately accurate finally places growers a few steps ahead of the problem, leading them to make wiser treatment decisions such as choosing the time of day to avoid harming beneficial pests and for mitigating drift. The sensor replaces and completely automates the current methods for monitoring insect activity in the crop field, with much better efficiency.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.