SBIR Phase I: A real-time precision nutrient analysis and management system for hydroponic farming operations

SBIR 第一阶段：用于水培农业作业的实时精确养分分析和管理系统

• 批准号: 2210046
• 负责人: Carlos Hayden
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: ENVONICS LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-15 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210046&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; real; time; precision

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to promote the viability and sustainability of small-to-medium indoor, urban, and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farms. As the global population grows to 10 billion by 2050, the agriculture industry will need to produce 70% more food using only 5% more land. Indoor farming can make a significant contribution to meet this demand sustainably. Indoor farmers are also seasonally and geographically independent, which means they can help meet demands for locally produced fresh foods and are protected from extreme weather events. These farms primarily use soilless growing methods, such as hydroponics, that currently suffer from critical needs for efficient and affordable methods to monitor and manage nutrients and water in order to be financially viable and environmentally sustainable. The proposed project provides an innovative solution for nutrient management in hydroponic farming, thereby lowering the costs, increasing the yield potential, and supporting the viability of such farms. By supporting the expansion of the national hydroponics industry, this project will increase the local production of and expand access to fresh produce.This SBIR Phase I project will develop a nutrient management system to provide CEA farmers with real-time information about the nutrients in the growth solution of their crops. The proposed solution will utilize ion-selective electrode (ISE) technology and a decision support system powered by machine learning (ML). This project will focus on the critically needed engineering and data analytics research and development to de-risk major technical challenges in the development of the nutrient management system, providing proof-of-feasibility. The key objectives of this project are to: 1) design a special chamber for the sensors to minimize the interference and increase accuracy, 2) validate the feasibility and accuracy of this new design in a greenhouse setting, 3) develop a predictive algorithm to automatically calibrate the sensors, and 4) measure and predict deficiencies in leafy greens production: collecting empirical evidence of nutrient deficiency to train ML models to identify, and ultimately, predict a deficiency prior to when it is observable.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.

该小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是促进中小型室内、城市和受控环境农业 (CEA) 农场的生存能力和可持续性。到 2050 年，随着全球人口增长到 100 亿，农业将需要仅使用 5% 的土地来生产 70% 的粮食。室内农业可以为可持续地满足这一需求做出重大贡献。室内农民在季节和地理上也是独立的，这意味着他们可以帮助满足对当地生产的新鲜食品的需求，并免受极端天气事件的影响。这些农场主要使用无土种植方法，例如水培法，目前迫切需要高效且负担得起的方法来监测和管理养分和水，以实现经济上可行和环境上可持续。拟议的项目为水培农业的养分管理提供了创新的解决方案，从而降低了成本，增加了产量潜力，并支持了此类农场的生存能力。通过支持国家水培产业的扩张，该项目将增加当地新鲜农产品的产量并扩大获得新鲜农产品的机会。该 SBIR 第一阶段项目将开发一个养分管理系统，为 CEA 农民提供有关其作物生长溶液中养分的实时信息。 拟议的解决方案将利用离子选择电极（ISE）技术和由机器学习（ML）驱动的决策支持系统。该项目将重点关注急需的工程和数据分析研究和开发，以消除营养管理系统开发中的主要技术挑战风险，并提供可行性证明。该项目的主要目标是：1) 为传感器设计一个特殊的室，以最大程度地减少干扰并提高准确性，2) 在温室环境中验证这一新设计的可行性和准确性，3) 开发一种预测算法来自动校准传感器，4) 测量和预测绿叶蔬菜生产中的缺陷：收集营养缺乏的经验证据，以训练 ML 模型进行识别，并最终， 在可观察到的缺陷之前对其进行预测。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。