SBIR Phase II: Visual Information eNvironment for Effective agricultural management and Sustainability

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是为保护水资源和农业作物生产者的经济可持续性开发软件和监测系统。农业生产要消耗大量的水。仅在加利福尼亚州，80%的用水都用于农业。随着社区的扩大和干旱状况的发展，对稀缺而昂贵的水资源的竞争变得激烈起来。种植者需要通过提高灌溉效率来最大限度地减少成本和用水需求。虽然新的灌溉应用技术减少了因风漂移、渗漏和蒸发造成的损失，但大量的水在冲刷通过作物根部的土壤时仍然被浪费。该项目开发的技术将使生产者能够跟踪土壤剖面和田间的土壤水分运动。这将使生产商能够根据其土壤类型和地形的独特条件制定灌溉策略，并减少水浪费。这将为生产商节省资金，使他们能够继续经营，并满足政府关于灌溉的新规定。水管理效率的提高和更好的作物管理实践可以提高作物产量和一致性，降低食品成本，并有助于保护环境。这个SBIR第二阶段项目解决了种植者、生产者和农业科学家目前在有效利用水进行作物(食品)生产方面面临的优先挑战。土壤和作物科学家一直在研究在整个根区和整个景观中获取更高分辨率的水分和温度数据的必要性。需要一种以科学为基础的方法来最佳地确定传感器的数量、位置和深度，以便准确地测量土壤属性，然后对土壤属性进行建模，以便用于精确、有效和高效的水和作物管理。此外，对于酿酒葡萄等多年生作物，还需要开发模型和预测，将这些环境条件和历史数据与作物质量和产量以及树木/藤本植物的长期健康联系起来。拟议的技术使用新的视觉分析来组织产生的海量数据流和新的预测模型，以允许利益相关者根据土壤水分条件和其他迄今不可能实现的田间条件对作物进行精确管理。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of software and monitoring system for the conservation of water resources and the economic sustainability of agricultural crop producers. Agricultural production uses a great deal of water. In California alone, 80% percent of all water usage goes to agriculture. As communities expand and drought conditions develop, the competition for scarce and expensive water resources has become intense. Growers need to minimize costs and water needs by making their irrigation practices more efficient. While new irrigation application technologies have reduced losses from wind drift, leakages and evaporation, large amounts of water are still be wasted as it washes through the soil past crop roots. The technology developed in this project will allow producers to track soil moisture movement through the soil profile and across fields. This will allow producers to develop irrigation strategies based on the unique conditions of their soil types and topography and reduce water waste. It will save producers money and enable them to stay in business and meet new governmental regulations regarding irrigation. Improvements in water management efficiencies and better crop management practices can increase crop production and uniformity, reduce food costs, and help preserve the environment.This SBIR Phase II project addresses priority challenges currently facing growers, producers, and agricultural scientists in effectively using water for crop (food) production. Soil and crop scientists have been examining the need for acquiring higher resolution moisture and temperature data throughout the root zone and across the landscape. A science-based approach is needed to optimally determine the number, location, and depths of sensors to accurately measure, and then model, soil properties for use in precise, effective and efficient water and crop management. Moreover, for perennial crops such as wine grapes, there also is a need to develop models and predictions relating these environmental conditions and historical data to crop quality and volume as well as long-term tree/vine health. The proposed technology uses novel visual analytics to organize the resulting massive data flows and novel predictive models to allow stakeholders to perform precision management of crops based on soil moisture conditions and other field conditions that have not been possible to date.