Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Dynamic micro-environmental monitoring has the potential to be a key precision horticultural capability for increasing production and quality of crops in the tightly controlled environments of greenhouses while increasing the overall energy efficiency of production. IFOS proposes a scalable, multi-functional, distributed fiber-optic sensor network - Ag*Sense™ - for precision greenhouse monitoring applications. In IFOS's innovative approach to controlled environment agriculture, a single optical interrogator can be configured to support up to thousands of sensors distributed on tens of optical fibers with tens to hundreds of sensors along each fiber. This project will develop a network for multi-point measurement of air temperature and humidity. In Phase I, IFOS demonstrated the feasibility of performing quasi-distributed temperature sensing with sub-degrees Celsius resolution and humidity measurement using an innovative sensor configuration. In Phase II, IFOS will develop and engineering prototype system including hardware and software for full-scale greenhouse and validation of the system's measurements against conventional temperature and humidity sensors. A key focus of the IFOS program will be establishing the expected increase in productivity as a function of the number of sensor points. The resulting product will increase agricultural efficiency and yield across a variety of horticultural applications, improving the competitiveness of American agriculture and horticulture while reducing energy use. The IFOS technology will also enable next-generation controlled-environment agriculture and horticulture systems, including vertical gardens and fully automated greenhouses.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
50%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
In this SBIR project, IFOS will develop of a scalable, multifunctional fiber-optic sensor network for multi-point air temperature and humidity measurements. In IFOS's innovative approach, a single optical interrogator can be configured to support hundreds of sensors distributed on tens of optical fibers with tens of sensors along each fiber. This project will develop a network for multi-point measurement of air temperature and humidity.An important aspect of the IFOS program will be determining the expected increase in productivity as a function of the number of sensor points. The program will provide initial estimates of the potential for problem diagnosis, labor savings, and increase in productivity as a function of the number of sensor points for a selected high-value specialty crop. The overall program goal is to increase agricultural effiency and yield across a variety of horticultural applications, improving the competitiveness of American agriculture and horticulture while reducing energy use. The proposed IFOS technology will also enable next-generation horticulture systems, including vertical gardens and fully automated greenhouses.Phase I had the following successfully met objectives:1. Application/design analysis (sensing requirements and performance).2. Fabrication of representative FBG-based sensors for temperature and humidity.3. Proof-of-concept demonstration of distributed sensor system with sub-degrees-celsius resolution and humidity measurement using an innovative sensor configuration.Phase II, building on the successful Phase I results, has the following objectives:To develop cost-effective central engineering prototype sensor interrogator with improved signal-to-noise characteristics to increase measurement accuracy, based onenhanced and ruggedized high-sensor-count hardwarean intuitive software suite containing both real-time alerts and trend logging,To develop cost-effective enhanced and ruggedized engineering prototype sensor arrays for measurement of 3D variation of temperature, humidity, and CO2 integrated with sunlight measurements at one or more places in the greenhouse as well as the greenhouse ventilation or heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system.To validate the system in a real-world greenhouse environment.
Project Methods
IFOS has been developing state-of-the-art, multifunctional, FBG-based sensing system platforms that monitor multiple sensors cost-effectively multiplexed on a single optical fiber. FBG sensors can be placed with sub-centimeter accuracy along an optical fiber and be used to measure temperature or parameters related to strain. A significant advantage over electrical sensors is that many sensors can be placed along the same optical fiber without individual wiring. FBG costs are on the order of $30-40 per FBG depending on their specifications, e.g., reflectivity, but for larger volumes can be less than $10 per FBG. With the rise of automated mass production, we envision costs dropping to $1 per FBG within 5-10 years.Another factor is that temperature and humidity monitoring for greenhouses require slower speeds than other applications involving dynamic strain monitoring. This means than the FBG reflectivity can be lower thus helping to reduce the FBG fabrication cost. FBG interrogator costs are on the order of $5-20k depending on the configuration. As the IFOS technology moves towards an "interrogator-on-a-chip" implementation enabled by silicon photonics, IFOS, in collaboration with its commercially focused sister company Opterro, plans to launch a smart-phone-sized interrogator costing <$1-2k within 2-3 years.IFOS's scalable, accurate, robust, and cost-effective fiber-optic multiplexed sensor design is a unique and creative approach to improved fiber-optic sensing. Multiple sensors can be multiplexed along a single optical fiber to provide dense sensing coverage with minimal environmental impingement. Also, remote monitoring at multiple locations separated by several millimeters up to kilometers is possible due to the very low optical losses in the fiber. These sensors have the potential to replace conventional electronic sensors that are not immune to electromagnetic interference and corrosion and require multiple copper wires per sensor. IFOS's planned lattice-type sensor network involving the innovative combination of humidity-reacting hydrogels and strain-sensing FBGs will allow a scalable temperature and humidity sensing platform that can potentially monitor tens of greenhouses with a single interrogator. With the ease of fiber splicing and repair brought about by the telecom boom of the '90s, the IFOS sensing system will be reconfigurable as a greenhouse grower scales up his area under cultivation or adds adjacent greenhouses simply by adding sensor-embedded optical fiber to the existing network.