SBIR Phase I: Field Mobile Soil Nitrate Sensor for Precision Fertilizer Management

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力源于需要大幅提高作物生产中的氮（N）利用效率，从而提高农民的盈利能力，同时减少农业对环境的不利影响。 目前，施用到农田的氮肥中只有不到一半被施用的作物使用。 剩余的氮要么从土壤中沥滤出来，要么作为一氧化二氮--强效温室气体--流失到大气中。这种氮肥的低效使用给农民带来了经济负担，导致严重的水和空气质量问题，并占美国温室气体排放总量的2.5%。此外，这些氮损失代表了巨大的能量效率低下，因为合成氮肥的生产是生产农业中最大的能量投入。在作物生产中提高氮肥利用率的关键是在正确的时间和正确的地点施用适量的氮肥。该传感器技术将颠覆现有的农业技术和实践，其中氮肥是在整个农业领域以统一的速度施加，并提高农民的盈利能力。SBIR第一阶段项目建议证明一个强大的现场移动土壤硝酸盐（NO3-）传感器的可行性，利用中红外技术，以促进精确的氮肥施用。中红外光谱仪在历史上一直是需要大量样品制备的大型、昂贵且易碎的实验室仪器，因此阻止其用作移动的光学土壤NO3-传感器。第一阶段研究的范围将集中在三个目标上：1）设计和开发一种坚固耐用、低成本的中红外光谱仪，该光谱仪使用金刚石衰减全内反射（D-ATR）探头来测量NO3-水平; 2）设计、建造和测试一种包含光谱仪和D-ATR探头的凿柄工具杆系统; 3）开发管理系统的控制和数据处理分析软件。第一阶段的预期技术成果将提供一个原型，它可以测量土壤上部30 cm的NO3-，而不仅仅是在表面，当系统被拉过田地时，可以调节柄和探头的深度，和自由于拖拉机的向前运动，污垢不断地在钻石的光学表面移动，因此系统的清洁。该奖项反映了NSF的基金会的使命是履行其法定使命，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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project stems from the need to substantially improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency in crop production and thereby improve profitability for farmers, while simultaneously reducing the adverse effects of agriculture on the environment. Currently, less than half of the N fertilizer applied to agricultural fields is used by the crops to which it is applied. The remaining N is either leached from the soil or lost to the atmosphere as nitrous oxide - potent greenhouse gas. This inefficient use of N fertilizer by crops is an economic burden for farmers, cause serious water and air quality problems, and contribute about 2.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, these N losses represent a tremendous energy inefficiency, because the production of synthetic N fertilizer is the largest energy input in production agriculture. The key to improving N use efficiency in crop production is applying the right amount of N fertilizer in the right place at the right time. The proposed sensor technology would be disruptive to existing agricultural technology and practices, wherein N fertilizer is applied at a uniform rate across agricultural fields, and improve profitability for farmers.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a robust field-mobile soil nitrate (NO3-) sensor utilizing mid-infrared technology to facilitate precision N fertilizer applications. Mid-infrared spectrometers have historically been large, expensive, and fragile laboratory instruments that require substantial sample preparation, thus preventing their use as mobile optical soil NO3- sensors. The scope of the Phase I research will focus on three objectives: 1) The design and development of a robust and low-cost mid-infrared spectrometer that uses a diamond attenuated total internal reflectance (D-ATR) probe to measure NO3- levels; 2) The design, construction, and testing of a chisel shank-tool bar system that houses the spectrometer and D-ATR probe; and 3) the development of control and data processing and analysis software to manage the system. Anticipated technical results of Phase I will provide a prototype that can measure NO3- in the upper 30 cm of soil, not just at the surface, by enabling modulation of the depth of the shank and the probe as the system is pulled through a field, and self-cleaning of the system as soil is continuously moved across the optical surface of the diamond by the forward motion of the tractor.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.