Sensors for Precision Agriculture and Crop Management Decisions

Wearable plant sensors are expected to revolutionize agricultural data collection, according to the World Economic Forum, Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023. Wearable plant monitors, and the resulting analytical decision tools, promise to improve plant health and increase agricultural productivity. To develop wearable plant monitors that provide actionable data on plant health for optimized growth and production of agricultural crops, sensors capable of the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of critical plant signaling molecules are needed. The sensors developed in this effort will acquire relevant data that are easy to interpret. The sensors will be inexpensive, light weight, low power, long lasting, and capable of easily providing data to a centralized data storage and analysis tools. TDA Research’s sensors will provide plant health data which will be critical to the implementation of precision agriculture, were each plant is optimized for agricultural production. On-plant studies during this research effort will help establish the form factor of the wearable monitor and establish sensor data correlation for optimum and stress growth conditions. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, from 2014 to 2021, the U.S. has lost 13.6 million acres of farmland. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that world food production will need to increase by 70% by 2050. NDE plant sensors that can be incorporated into a wearable plant monitor to enable precision agriculture to optimize production of food crops through individual plant management decisions will be necessary. As increases in agricultural productivity are required in higher density grow locations, both farmers on earth and space exploration will require wearable plant monitors to optimize agricultural productivity.

Plants are essential for NASA’s space exploration campaigns because they provide fresh and nutritious food for the crew and decrease dependence on Earth as missions become more complex. Furthermore, plants are expected be an important component of future bioregenerative-based, environmental control, and ecological life support systems (ECLSS) because they generate oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, purify water, and recycle waste. Last but not the least, plants provide psychological benefits to the crew as mission duration and isolation from Earth increases. This proposed effort will develop sensors and technologies to enable a mechanistic understanding of their crop biology under various spaceflight stressors, while also providing a tool for successful crop cultivation in microgravity and controlled environment agriculture systems, greenhouses, and farmer’s fields on Earth. The wearable plant sensors developed through this proposed effort are complementary to NASA Earth Science’s efforts in airborne remote sensing technologies of vegetation for SMART agriculture and ecosystem management. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that world food production will need to increase by 70% to feed the world’s population by 2050. To address this dramatically increased production, technical innovations in agriculture will be critical. The development of an external, topical plant sensor to monitor stress response holds immense potential for revolutionizing agricultural practices. This non-invasive technology could continuously track various physiological parameters indicative of stress, providing crucial insights into plant health. Early detection of stress, triggered by factors like drought, nutrient deficiency, or pest infestation, would empower farmers to intervene promptly with targeted irrigation, fertilization, or pest control measures. This proactive approach could significantly improve crop yield, resource use efficiency, and overall farm productivity. The potential economic impact of the development of wearable plant sensors and the subsequent analytical grower management is enormous. Wearable plant sensors are expected to revolutionize agricultural data collection, according to the World Economic Forum, Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023. Wearable plant sensors, and the resulting analytical decision tools, promise to improve plant health and increase agricultural productivity. The wearable plant sensor technology being developed in this research effort will develop inexpensive, easy to install and maintain sensors, that provide straight forward data for easy interpretation which will provide growers actionable analytical metrics to improve crop management. Successful implementation of these wearable plant sensors will revolutionize crop production and help growers optimized agricultural productivity.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 2) — 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.

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