I-Corps: Low-cost biochemical sensors to optimize agricultural inputs

I-Corps：用于优化农业投入的低成本生化传感器

• 批准号: 2311400
• 负责人: Ana Arias
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 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: 2023-04-15 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2311400&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Low; cost; biochemical; sensors

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a wireless biochemical sensor nodes that will provide crop growers with real-time data on the chemical properties of their soil or hydroponic solution. Every year, 12 million hectares of arable land are lost due to soil degradation, erosion, and urban commercialization. At the same time, fertilizer prices have increased by 260% since November 2020. With land becoming more unusable, increasing fertilizer prices, and a changing climate, crop growers are struggling to produce sufficient yields reliably and are searching for potential solutions. The proposed wireless sensor nodes address these issues by providing crop growers, crop consultants, municipalities, regulators, and others with valuable information to improve efficiency, profitability, and resilience. A controlled environment agriculture (CEA) producer adopting the proposed technology may obtain an estimated 15-20% increase in net profit according to a techno-economic analysis. In addition, this technology may be expanded by creating sensors for other signals (such as pH, microbial/enzymatic activity, electrical conductivity, and/or temperature), fluids of interest (river water or groundwater), and by expanding to additional markets outside of industrial agriculture, such as consumer gardening, environmental monitoring, and/or chemical processing.This I-Corps project is based on the development of low-cost, biochemical sensors that measure concentrations of critical factors influencing plant growth, such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK). Currently, high-temperature silicon manufacturing methods are employed to produce biosensors with limited material compatibility. The proposed technology uses nanoparticle-based inks that contain polymer binders printed onto plastic substrates. In addition, scalable printing technologies are used to fabricate the ion-selective sensor array into a single replaceable sensor strip. The replaceable sensor strips are connected to an integrated circuit (IC) unit where a battery and an antenna for wireless data transfer are placed. These sensor nodes are programmed to take sensor measurements at regular intervals and wirelessly upload the data to the cloud. Previous results demonstrate that the sensors may accurately measure chemical concentrations in hydroponic solutions and several soil types. The nature of the sensors enables the collection of soil data at high spatial and temporal densities, which in turn enables an understanding of the relationships between agricultural inputs and soil health.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I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发无线生物化学传感器节点，为作物种植者提供有关其土壤或水培溶液化学特性的实时数据。每年，由于土壤退化、侵蚀和城市商业化，1200万公顷的可耕地消失。 与此同时，化肥价格自2020年11月以来上涨了260%。随着土地变得越来越不可用，化肥价格上涨以及气候变化，作物种植者正在努力可靠地生产足够的产量，并正在寻找潜在的解决方案。所提出的无线传感器节点通过为作物种植者、作物顾问、市政当局、监管机构和其他人提供有价值的信息来解决这些问题，以提高效率、盈利能力和弹性。 根据技术经济分析，采用该技术的受控环境农业（CEA）生产商可获得净利润增加15-20%。此外，这项技术可能会通过为其他信号创建传感器来扩展（例如pH、微生物/酶活性、电导率和/或温度）、感兴趣的流体（河水或地下水），并扩大到工业化农业以外的其他市场，如消费园艺，环境监测和/或化学加工。这个I-Corps项目是基于开发低成本，生物化学传感器，测量影响植物生长的关键因素的浓度，如硝酸盐，亚硝酸盐，铵，磷和钾（NPK）。目前，采用高温硅制造方法来生产具有有限材料相容性的生物传感器。 拟议中的技术使用基于纳米颗粒的油墨，其中包含印刷到塑料基板上的聚合物粘合剂。 此外，可扩展的印刷技术用于将离子选择性传感器阵列制造成单个可更换的传感器条。 可更换的传感器条连接到集成电路（IC）单元，其中放置有用于无线数据传输的电池和天线。 这些传感器节点被编程为定期进行传感器测量，并将数据无线上传到云端。 先前的结果表明，传感器可以准确地测量溶液培养溶液和几种土壤类型中的化学浓度。传感器的特性使得能够在高空间和时间密度下收集土壤数据，从而了解农业投入和土壤健康之间的关系。该奖项反映了NSF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。