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可以证明在管理土壤质量，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是无价的。然而，目前监测土壤养分的技术对于广泛应用来解决这一重要的全球问题有很大的局限性。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。我们的方法将应用几种新兴技术创新，包括纳米材料制造、紫外线发光二极管（UV-LED）和人工智能（AI）。具体来说，我们将通过创建由uv - led激活的基于半导体的传感节点阵列，并对空气中与土壤平衡的各种含氮气体混合物做出响应，从而将传感器开发推向一个新的方向。然后，我们将应用人工智能来教传感器不仅检测这些气体的存在，而且还识别它们的成分和数量，以获得对土壤氮含量的准确监测。开发的传感器还可以通过监测土壤中N2O、NH3和其他有害含氮气体的释放情况，来识别土壤中最严重的环境污染气体的来源。我们在各级政府（加拿大农业和农业食品- AAFC），学术界（UBC农场生活实验室）和工业界（Agrobotic & Terra Optima）都有强有力的合作。首席研究员在开发光激活传感器方面有丰富的经验。我们的合作伙伴组织Agrobotic一直致力于传感器的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测他们的土壤健康。拟议的研究将通过为HQP提供有竞争力的培训环境，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，这个项目的成果确实会超越合作伙伴组织，影响社会。

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.