SBIR Phase I: Novel handheld spectroscopy for the early detection of crop afflictions

SBIR 第一阶段：用于早期检测作物病害的新型手持式光谱仪

• 批准号: 2213137
• 负责人: Robert Pellegrino
• 金额: $ 25.58万
• 依托单位: ADVANCED GROWING RESOURCES INC.
• 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: 2023-02-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213137&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; handheld; spectroscopy

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on development of a handheld optical scanner that integrates precise imaging with optical spectroscopy. Although this technology has broad applications ranging from industrial quality control to education, the beachhead sector to be addressed is precision agriculture. To feed a growing population of 10 billion in 2050, agricultural production will need to increase by 70% over the next 30 years. Critical to this mission is the development of innovative tools and strategies for crop protection and health management to preserve the world’s food supply. The potential customers in this segment are crop growers, consultants, and field scouts aiming to act early while reducing the use of harmful and costly chemicals. The global crop monitoring market was estimated at $2 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to reach $6 billion by 2027, growing at 15.3% annually. The sensing and imaging segment accounted for 49.3% of the market in 2019. This technology has the potential to support the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices as well as the economic viability of small- to medium-scale farm operations in the U.S. by providing an accessible and affordable tool for disease detection and crop health management.The intellectual merit of this project is the commercial development of novel and affordable imaging spectroscopy technology in addition to application-specific analytics for the early detection of crop afflictions. Optical components of the scanning device that will be designed-for-manufacturing in this project bridge the current gap created by systems that trade the detection capabilities of spectral resolution for spatial resolution. The scanner will be deployed to collect data on grapes, a key, high-value crop that is susceptible to a number of afflictions that destroy yields before the human eye can detect them. Machine learning algorithms will be developed from this data to detect stressed and diseased states in the plant before they become apparent to visual inspection. These models will then be validated in the field with user feedback from horticultural experts and customers. Successful implementation of this technology will facilitate the detection of crop diseases before they spread. This detection capability can increase yields while reducing the use of costly and environmentally-harmful pesticides and fertilizers.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.

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将专注于开发一种将精确成像与光学光谱相结合的手持式光学扫描仪。尽管这项技术的应用范围从工业质量控制到教育，但需要解决的滩头阵地部门是精准农业。要在2050年养活不断增长的100亿人口，农业生产需要在未来30年增加70%。开发作物保护和健康管理的创新工具和战略，以保护世界粮食供应，对这一使命至关重要。这一领域的潜在客户是农作物种植者、顾问和实地侦察员，他们旨在及早采取行动，同时减少有害和昂贵化学品的使用。据估计，2019年全球作物监测市场规模为20亿美元，预计到2027年将达到60亿美元，每年增长15.3%。2019年，传感和成像细分市场占有率为49.3%。这项技术具有支持采用更可持续的农业实践以及支持美国中小型农场经营的经济可行性的潜力，因为它为疾病检测和作物健康管理提供了一种可获得和负担得起的工具。该项目的智力优势是除了用于早期检测作物病害的特定应用分析外，还对新型和负担得起的成像光谱技术进行商业开发。扫描设备的光学部件将在该项目中专为制造而设计，它弥补了以光谱分辨率的检测能力换取空间分辨率的系统造成的当前差距。扫描仪将用于收集葡萄的数据，葡萄是一种关键的高价值作物，容易受到多种疾病的影响，在人眼发现之前就会破坏产量。将根据这些数据开发机器学习算法，以在肉眼检查明显之前检测植物中的压力和疾病状态。然后，这些模型将根据园艺专家和客户的用户反馈在田间进行验证。这项技术的成功实施将有助于在作物病害蔓延之前对其进行检测。这种检测能力可以增加产量，同时减少昂贵和对环境有害的杀虫剂和化肥的使用。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。