Acoustilytix: An Intelligent Bioacoustics System for Monitoring Plant Health

Cornerstone Research Group (CRG) proposes to develop an intelligent bioacoustics system capable of detecting and classifying the bioacoustics produced by plants when exposed to various stressors, addressing the need to produce crops during NASA’s future space exploration missions. Plants have been shown to emit bioacoustics as a result of different stressors and provide a means for early detection of both gradually induced and sudden stressors that could impact grow yields and plant nutrition quality. CRG will leverage a previously developed technical readiness level 6 software platform that was developed for detecting and classifying rodent ultrasonic vocalizations (DHP SBIR W81XWH-17-C-0032 and NIH STTR 1R41MH121119-01) to create a bioacoustics monitoring system capable of detecting bioacoustics emitted by plants with integrated machine learning to classify different types of stressors. This approach will improve upon the current state-of-the-art by providing more specific and timely information about the nature of the stressors, allowing early intervention and mitigating the potential loss of mission critical crops. The proposed team’s track record of innovation positions CRG for successful development and implementation of this proposal to meet and exceed NASA’s operational needs.

• ISS plant research • Future long duration space mission • Field and greenhouse agriculture • Plant research

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.