Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, Sensor Development Corporation (SDC) reached out to a number of commercial entities in the pest control services industry and commercial entities involved in storage, handling and processing of food ingredients and food products. SDC's objective was to inform these commercial firms of the advantages of SDC's electronic sensor product compared to the present techniques used to monitor insect and larva activity in their stored products. SDC's final objective was to gain acceptance of its concept by these commercial entities and achieve their written support for its efforts. SDC also reached out to its representatives in the U.S. government to educate them about this technology arising from a constituent in their districts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Participation in field trials at the USDA ARS facility in Parlier, CA exposed SDC technical and management personnel to the practicalities of growing tree nuts and ensuring those products are fit for human consumption. SDC's work there was focused on raw shelled almonds. While in the area, SDC personnel also visited producers of other food products and were exposed to walnut, pistachio, and rice operations. This exposure enables SDC personnel to expand the vision of application of SDC technology to areas from the orchard, to the warehouse and to the processing facility. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SDC has taken advantage of trade shows and conferences to communicate its technology and accomplishment to growers, processors and potential customers. The last conference attended was the Almond Conference in Sacramento, CA, December 10-12, 2019. SDC has also reached out directly to prospective customers and investors. SDC has shared slide decks describing the its technology and accomplishments along with audio-video materials to aid in understanding. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement The outcomes and accomplishments of this project are changes in knowledge and actions emerging from Phase I research and follow-on research and development in this Phase II. This work culminated in testing and evaluating SDC's innovating technology and reducing that technology to practice. This reduction to practice involved building the necessary electronics boards and enclosures and writing computer code for firmware to run the device. This electronics hardware and microprocessor firmware work was contracted to an electronics design company with known reputation in this area. A prototype device was built and evaluated in SDC's laboratories in a bench-testing environment using containerized target adult insect and larva signaling chemicals. The sensitivities of SDC's sensor chips were established. The ability of SDC's device with multiple chips to sense and discriminate these signaling chemicals when injected in a mixture was demonstrated. SDC's device was used in a field trial at the USDA ARS's San Joaquin Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA to demonstrate its effectiveness in detecting live adult insects and larvae in large quantities (700 pounds) of raw shelled almonds. The Alpha Unit design and testing results were the basis of manufacturing documentation created by SDC's contract electronic design company. SDC provided these manufacturing documents to a contract electronics board company and to a contract assembler to build seven (7) Beta Units, the final step in this Phase II project. These Beta Units are being tested and qualified for sale to SDC customers, the first step in SDC's commercialization effort...Phase III. These outcomes and accomplishments provide novel and more efficient method for stakeholders, the growers of grains, tree nuts, ground nuts and other agricultural products to inspect those products for possible pest infestations. This prevents passing those infestations along into the product line to other stakeholders, the millers and producers of finished food products. These other stakeholders can also use SDC's device to inspect their incoming raw materials and ensure purity of their ingredients. The benefits to society at-large are very significant. Insect infestations are known to damage the grains and nuts and other food products, decreasing the value and resulting in increased prices of food items on the grocery shelves. There have also been reports of health impacts in consumers who eat food which is adulterated with insect castings or body parts. The changes in action enabled by the findings of this project can be extended to other insects beyond the Indianmeal moth. Other insect pests, e.g. the warehouse beetle, have been reported to cause gastric distress when formula or high-protein children's cereal contaminated with the sharp hairs on warehouse beetle larvae are consumed by infants and young children. Thus, the benefits to society at-large are both of an economic and of a health nature.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: PowerPoint at Almond Conference, Sacramento, CA, December 10-12, 2019

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, SDC reached out to a number of commercial entities in the pest control services industry and commercial entities involved in storage, handling and processing of food ingredients and food products. SDC;s objective was to inform these commercial firms of the advantages of SDC's electronic sensor product compared to the present techniques used to monitor insect and larva activity in their stored products. SDC's fnal objective was to gain acceptance of its concept by these commercial entities and achieve their written support for its efforts. SDC also reached out to its representatives in the U.S. government to educate them about this technology arising from a constituent in their districts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Participation in field trials at the USDA ARS facility in Parlier, CA exposed SDC technical and management personnel to the practicalities of growing tree nuts and ensuring those products are fit for human consumption. SDC's work there is planned on raw shelled almonds. While in the area, SDC personnel also visited producers of other food products and were exposed to walnut, pistachio, and rice operations. This exposure enables SDC personnel to expand the vision of application of SDC technology to areas from the orchard, to the warehouse and to the processing facility. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SDC has taken advantage of trade shows and conferences to communicate its technology and accomplishment to growers, processors and potential customers. The last conference attended was the Almond Conference in Sacramento, CA, December 4-6, 2018. SDC has also reached out directly to prospective customers and investors. SDC has shared slide decks describing the its technology and accomplishments to aid in understanding. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?SDC has contracted with local companies with excellent reputations in design and fabrication of electronics boards, writing firmware to run the sensor device with an on-board microprocessor, and an industrial designer to design and build the enclosure for the sensor device. An "Alpha Unit" will be built, tested, and used to show that a portable, lightweight, battery-operated unit can replace the benchtop pre-prototype unit and can be the basis for follow-on fabrication of "Beta Units" suitable for use by SDC's customers as the first step in commercialization of SDC's product.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement The outcomes and accomplishments of this project will changes in knowledge and actions emerging from Phase I research and follow-on research and development in this Phase II. This work will culminate in testing and evaluating SDC's innovating technology and reducing that technology to practice. This reduction to practice involve will involve building the necessary electronics boards and enclosures and writing computer code for firmware to run the device. This electronics hardware and microprocessor firmware work is being contracted to an electronics design company with known reputation in this area. A prototype device is being built and will be evaluated in SDC's laboratories in a bench-testing environment using containerized target adult insect and larva signaling chemicals. The sensitivity's of SDC's sensor chips were established. The ability of SDC's device with multiple chips to sense and discriminate these sighnaling chemicals when injected in a mixture is planned for demonstration. SDC's device was used in a field trial at the USDA ARS's San Joaquin Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA to demonstrate its effectiveness in detecting live adult insects and larvae in large quantities (700 pounds) of raw shelled almonds. Work at Parlier has been successfully completed using an earlier prototype device with live adults, larvae, pupae and eggs positioned in pails of white wheat flour. These outcomes and accomplishments will provide a novel and more efficient method for stakeholders, the growers of grains, tree nuts, ground nuts and other agricultural products to inspect those products for possible pest infestations. This prevents passing those infestations along into the product line to other stakeholders, the millers and producers of finished food products. These other stakeholders can also use SDC's device to inspect their incoming raw materials and ensure purity of their ingredients. The benefits to society at-large will be very significant. Insect infestations are known to damage the grains and nuts and other food products, decreasing the value and resulting in increased prices of food items on the grocery shelves. There have also been reports of health impacts in consumers who eat food which is adulterated with insect castings or body parts. The changes in action enabled by the findings of this project can be extended to other insects beyond the Indianmeal moth. Other insect pests, e.g. the warehouse beetle, have been reported to cause gastric distress when formula or high-protein children's cereal contaminated with the sharp hairs on warehouse beetle larvae are consumed by infants and young children. Thus, the benefits to society at-large are both of an economic and of a health nature.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Presentation at 2018 Almond Conference, Sacramento, CA, December 4-6, 2018

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, SDC reached out to a number of commercial entities in the pest control services industry and commercial entities involved in storage, handling and processing of food ingredients and food products. SDC's objective was to inform these commercial firms of the advantages of SDC's electronic sensor product compared to the present techniques used to monitor insect and larva activity in their stored products. SDC's fnal objective was to gain acceptance of its concept by these commercial entities and achieve their written support for its efforts. SDC also reached out to its representatives in the U.S. government to educate them about this technology arising from a constituent in their districts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Exposure to the agricultural environment in California's Central Valley comprises an opportunity for SDC's technical personnel to understand the details of growing, processing and transporting the raw materials and finished products of the valuable commodities. of this region. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SDC has taken advantage of trade shows and conferences to communicate its technology and accomplishment to growers, processors and potential customers. The last conference attended was the Almond Conference in Sacramento, CA, December 4-6, 2018. SDC has also reached out directly to prospective customers and investors. SDC has shared slide decks describing the its technology and accomplishments to aid in understanding. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?SDC will proceed with contracted experts to design and build electronics boards, write microprocessor firmware and fabricate device housings to assemble a prototype "Alpha Device". This will be the vehicle to show that the sensor chip characterization and testing previously done with a benchtop fixed pre-prototype can be done in a lightweight, portable, battery-operated device.This prototype will be the basis for subsequent "Beta Units" suitable for use by SDC's customers. .

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement The outcomes and accomplishments of this project are changes in knowledge and actions emerging from Phase I research and follow-on research and development in this Phase II. This work involved planning the to test and evaluate SDC's innovating technology and reducing that technology to practice. This reduction to practice involved building the necessary electronics boards and enclosures and writing computer code for firmware to run the device. This electronics hardware and microprocessor firmware work was contracted to an electronics design company with known reputation in this area. A prototype device is being built and for evaluation in SDC's laboratories in a bench-testing environment using containerized target adult insect and larva signaling chemicals. The sensitivity's of SDC's sensor chips were established. The ability of SDC's device with multiple chips to sense and discriminate these sighnaling chemicals when injected in a mixture was demonstrated. SDC's device will be used in a field trials at the USDA ARS's San Joaquin Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA to demonstrate its effectiveness in detecting live adult insects and larvae in large quantities (700 pounds) of raw shelled almonds. Before this, SDC's pre-prototype device was used in the Parlier facility in tests with live adults, larvae, pupae, and eggs embedded in pails of white wheat flour. These outcomes and accomplishments are to the path to provide a novel and more efficient method for stakeholders, the growers of grains, tree nuts, ground nuts and other agricultural products to inspect those products for possible pest infestations. This prevents passing those infestations along into the product line to other stakeholders, the millers and producers of finished food products. These other stakeholders can also use SDC's device to inspect their incoming raw materials and ensure purity of their ingredients. The benefits to society at-large will be very significant. Insect infestations are known to damage the grains and nuts and other food products, decreasing the value and resulting in increased prices of food items on the grocery shelves. There have also been reports of health impacts in consumers who eat food which is adulterated with insect castings or body parts. The changes in action enabled by the findings of this project can be extended to other insects beyond the Indianmeal moth. Other insect pests, e.g. the warehouse beetle, have been reported to cause gastric distress when formula or high-protein children's cereal contaminated with the sharp hairs on warehouse beetle larvae are consumed by infants and young children. Thus, the benefits to society at-large will be both of an economic and of a health nature.

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by SDC's efforts during the reporting period include potential investors, potential collaborators and potential customers. As potential investors, SDC reached out to venture capital firms, companies involved in converting stored cereal grains, tree nuts and fruits into saleable products, companies involved in insect detection and control, and companies involved in storing bulk cereal grain, food ingredients, and finished food products. As potential collaborators, SDC reached out to a major firm involved in insect detection and fumigation and to a firm involved in bulk grain storage as potential collaborators. Those firms expressed serious interest and suggested that they could provide locations for field trials and beta testing of SDC prototype and first samples of commercial devices. SDC has targeted manufacturers of cereals, pet foods, fruit, tree nut and grain-based food ingredients and finished food products and U.S. military quartermaster agents as potential customers for SDC's ultimate product. SDC submitted a proposal through the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute's Open Innovation Reverse Pitch Event targeting the stored product pest detection challenge. This challenge was posed by Ecolab. Ecolab's Vice President Global Pest Elimination, Ronald Jungmann shared with an industry meeting of pest managers: "This is what we're looking for. We want to get a technology that is capable of detecting all life stages and being deployed at a customer location for real-time or near real-time detection on site. Our goal is that this technology can be ideally deployable within three years. So, if you have a solution or some ideas and would love to work with us, let me know, reach out to me." SDC continues to maintain direct contact with a number of commercial entities; the details are: The Almond Board of California, The California Pistachio Research Board, The California Walnut Board, The California Dried Plum Board (CDPB) and The California Raisin Marketing Board provide and support research to benefit the specific segment of the agriculture industry that they represent. SDC is in touch with these research boards through its USDA CRADA with the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA. Quaker U.S., PepsiCo North America Foods Quality & Food Safety division - We have an NDA in place with them and are scheduling a visit to occur soon (July 2019). Hersey's - SDC has been invited to visit and tour their distribution center in Hersey, PA and meet with their commodities team. SDC is currently negotiating an NDA with them. Stafford County Flour Mills. Thousands of bags of flour are produced each day at the mill and are shipped and sold throughout the country. They are one of the last independent flour mills remaining in the U.S. Stafford County Flour Mills has provided SDC with Letters of Support for SDC's SBIR grant applications. Lundberg Family Farms. Lundberg has been an early leader in organic farming of rice. Lundberg Family Farms has provided SDC with Letters of Support for SDC's SBIR grant applications. SDC has visited Lundberg Family Farms, has seen their operation and has Informed and educated their personnel of the benefits of SDC's sensor technology. SDC visited with The Wonderful Company (pistachios, etc.) March 19, 2019 to introduce the company to SDC's technology and strategy. A visit with Blue Diamond (almonds, walnuts) is being scheduled for fall-winter 2019. SDC entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the San Joaquin Agricultural Science Center (USDA/ARS) in Parlier, CA in February, 2018. The agreement has been revised and updated in January, 2019. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Closely working with design and industrial design firms provided experience in how best to operate across the R&D to design interface. The quality of concept drawing needed to initiate design work became clearer. The need to acquire components and to be aware of the impact of component choice on assembly was learned. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of these trials have been captured in formal reports that have been shared with the personnel at the USDA/ARS facility at Parlier, CA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, SDC intends to complete the assembly of the alpha product. When complete, this device will be tested at the lab bench using test gases containing the IMM adult moth pheromone and the IMM larva semiochemical kairomone. After this bench testing is complete, the alpha product will be tested with live moths, live larvae and live larvae in cocoons at the USDA/ARS facility in Parlier, CA. This product will then be replicated in five units which will be taken to pre-established beta test sites, locations of potential partner companies for field testing. These beta tests will begin with a demonstration and training by SDC personnel of the companies' technicians. The product will then be left with the company for a pre-established time frame...weeks...so that feedback about the device's suitability for day-to-day use. This feedback will allow device modifications prior to product launch.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Technical Objective 1. The following design changes were identified to provide added ruggedness and resistance to drop, shock and vibration for the commercial product sample: The overall weight of the unit was greatly reduced which will lower the impact when dropped or shocked. The original pre-prototype weighed about 15 lbs. A non-functional appearance model was designed and 3D FDM printed. It weighed about 3 lbs. Potential customers and users thought that the 3 lb was too heavy for use in their facilities for a full work shift. SDC looked at opportunities for further weight reduction. Smaller lighter components were found allowing the overall device dimensions and weight to be reduced in. The weight is anticipated to be approximately 1 lb. The sensitive, fragile sensor chips are connected to a PC board holder by multiple 1 mil aluminum wire bonds. These sensor chip/holder subassemblies are being isolated in a separate housing, called the "cassette", which will be inserted into the overall device, much like a printer cartridge is installed in a computer printer. This has the following advantages: Shock absorbing means can be positioned inside the cassette between the PC board that holds the chips and the cantilever frame that holds the sensor chip/holder subassemblies. Multiple concepts are being evaluated. Design Proposal A (present concept) uses a commercially available shock absorber (Richco, Inc.) connected to the electronics board and to the cantilever frame holding the board (Fig. 6) Design Proposal B uses custom molded shock absorbers with lower durometer polymer materials. Design Proposal C uses custom shock absorbers 3D printed from CAD files using the carbon clip (continuous liquid interface production) method. Work is proceeding with Design Proposal A as the shock absorbing tactic. The PC board holding the sensor chip/holder subassemblies is not rigidly connected to the cassette housing. Motion in one direction is cushioned by the shock absorbing means mentioned in (a.) above. The board is also connected to a multipin header on the "lead-in" face of the cassette by a flex circuit that allows motion of the PC board in a perpendicular direction. This prevents hard impacts that would result in breaking the delicate 1 mil aluminum wire bonds supporting the sensor chip in its holder. The wire bond connections can be reinforced further by applying an encapsulant. For the high chip operating temperatures, a silicone encapsulant is the recommended choice. This strategy will be tested in the first cassette product sample. The cassette can further be cushioned from shock and drop by using shock absorbing materials or components between the outside surface of the cassette and the inside surface of the compartment into which it is inserted in the overall device case. Aside from shock and drop protection, the cassette approach allows the owner/user to replace the cassette holding the chips without returning the unit to the distributor for service or scheduling a service call. The owner/user will not need to handle small, delicate individual sensor chips, but instead will be dealing with an easy to handle cassette, about 2.5" x 2.1"x2". Concurrent with this design work, trials were conducted with SDC's prototype device to demonstrate the performance of the technology under field conditions: A June, 2019 trial at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (USDA/ARS) in Parlier, CA, demonstrated that SDC's prototype device can sense Indianmeal moth and navel orangeworm larvae positioned deep in two 1000 lb bins of shelled almonds, stacked one atop the other. A strong signal was sensed even when a wire cage containing live larvae was positioned deep in the lower bin of almonds and the headspace gas was sampled above the upper bin, about 5 feet away. A March, 2019 trial at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (USDA/ARS) in Parlier, CA, demonstrated that SDC's prototype device can sense Indianmeal moth and navel orangeworm larvae positioned atop two 1000 lb bins of shelled almonds, stacked one atop the other. A strong signal of larva semiochemical kairomones was sensed from a screen topped jar containing 5 live larvae positioned atop the upper bin even with the strong aroma of almonds present. A December, 2018 trial at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (USDA/ARS) in Parlier, CA, demonstrated that SDC's prototype device can sense navel orangeworm adults, larvae, and larvae in cocoons in 25 bs of white refined wheat flour. A February, 2018 trial at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (USDA/ARS) in Parlier, CA, demonstrated that SDC's prototype device can sense Indianmeal moth adult females, larvae and larvae in cocoons positioned in 25 lbs of white refined wheat flour. The trial showed that the device signal correlated with the number of insects, larvae and cocoons, ant that the correlation was successful in predicting the number of insects, larvae and cocoons in blind samples provide by the USDA entomologist cooperating in the trial.These trials set the table for the work that will be done with the alpha product when it is available. The work with navel orangeworm will play into and integrate with sensing capabilities beyond the Phase II project.

Publications