Development and Evaluation of Photo-Activated Sensors for Monitoring Soil Nutrients

土壤养分监测传感器网络的出现在管理土壤质量、诊断问题区域、匹配肥料供需以及降低成本和提高产量方面可能被证明是非常宝贵的。然而，目前监测土壤养分的技术在广泛应用以解决这一重要的全球问题方面存在重大限制。为了满足这一需求，我们将设计、开发、制造和评估一种廉价的微型传感器，用于监测最基本的土壤养分--氮素。我们的方法将应用几项新兴的技术创新，包括纳米材料制造、紫外线发光二极管(UV-LED)和人工智能(AI)。具体地说，我们将通过创建基于半导体的传感节点阵列来推动传感器开发的新方向，这些节点由UV-LED激活，并对空气中与土壤平衡的各种含氮气体混合物做出反应。然后，我们将应用人工智能来教导传感器不仅要检测这些气体的存在，而且还要识别它们的组成和数量，以获得对土壤氮素含量的准确监测。开发的传感器还可以通过监测土壤中最具问题的环境污染物气体的释放，来识别它们的来源，如N2O、NH3和其他有害的含N气体。我们在各级政府(加拿大农业和农业食品公司-AAFC)、学术界(UBC农场生活实验室)和行业(Agrobotic&Terra Optima)都有强有力的合作。首席研究员在开发光敏传感器方面有丰富的经验。我们的合作伙伴组织Agrobotic一直致力于传感器制造及其与人工智能的集成，为农民提供数据驱动的方法来监控他们的土壤健康。拟议的研究将为HQP提供一个有竞争力的培训环境，从而进一步提高加拿大在农业科学方面的专业知识和竞争力。我们的合作伙伴处于有利地位，可以利用这项技术的进步并从中受益。然而，该项目的成果确实将超越伙伴组织，并对社会产生影响。

The advent of the soil nutrient monitoring sensor network could prove to be invaluable in managing soil quality, diagnosing problem areas, and matching fertilizer supply with demand, as well as reducing cost and increasing yields. However, current technologies to monitor soil nutrients have significant limitations for widespread applications to tackle this important global issue. To address this need, we will design, develop, fabricate, and evaluate an inexpensive, miniature sensor for monitoring the most essential soil nutrient, nitrogen. Our approach will apply several emerging technological innovations, including nanomaterial fabrication, the ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV-LED), and artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, we will take sensor development in a new direction by creating arrays of semiconductor-based sensing nodes that are activated by UV-LEDs and are responsive to a variety of nitrogen-containing gas mixtures in the air in equilibrium with the soil. We will then apply AI to teach the sensors to not only detect the presence of these gases, but to also identify their composition and quantities, to obtain accurate monitoring of the soil nitrogen content. The developed sensor can also be applied to identify sources of the most problematic environmentally pollutant gases in soil such as N2O, NH3 and other harmful N-containing gases, by monitoring their release. We have a strong collaboration at all level of government (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada- AAFC), academia (UBC Farm living laboratory), and industry (Agrobotic & Terra Optima). The principal investigator has substantial experience in developing photo-activated sensors. Our partner organization Agrobotic has been working on sensors fabrication and its integration with AI to provide farmers with a data-driven approach to monitor their soil health. The proposed research will further Canada's expertise and competitiveness in agricultural sciences by providing a competitive training environment for HQP. Our partners are in an excellent position to exploit and benefit from advances to this technology. The outcomes of this project, however, will indeed reach beyond the partner organizations and impact society.