Progress 02/15/07 to 02/14/10
Outputs
Progress Report Objectives (from AD-416) Improve/develop incubator controls to mimic environmental conditions at user-selected geographical locations. Approach (from AD-416) ARS computer models will be merged with PERCIVAL software, and a user- friendly entry method and associated user documentation for required model parameters will be established. Controls will be developed for multiple lighting options. Linkage will be established to enable real- time weather downloads and synchronization of incubator controls, and models will be developed for general diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal environmental carbon dioxide concentration changes. All planned activities were completed, and no new activities were initiated this past year. The goal of the project was to develop a software application named WeatherEze, which would interact with Percival incubators and growth chambers. Percival is an American company based in Perry, Iowa. It is one of the major world-wide manufacturers of incubators and growth chambers. The proposed software was completed successfully, integrated with Percival hardware, and the name, WeatherEze�, trademarked by Percival and its business partners. Researchers conferred periodically via telephone and e-mail to discuss the project and fine-tune the WeatherEze software. The software now is being used as a marketing tool. Because the manufacturing of incubators and growth chambers is a mature industry, leading manufacturers need competitive edges. Percival recruited our team because of our interest and expertise in automatically capturing and applying hourly and daily internet-based weather information from around the world. WeatherEze software allows users to simulate weather conditions in their Percival incubators with only a one-hour time lag from any of about 40,000 METAR (airport) weather stations. These sorts of simulations now are being used by a range of researchers from evolutionary geneticists to agronomists and weed scientists to cosmetic manufacturers.
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Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09
Outputs
Progress Report Objectives (from AD-416) Improve/develop incubator controls to mimic environmental conditions at user-selected geographical locations. Approach (from AD-416) ARS computer models will be merged with PERCIVAL software, and a user- friendly entry method and associated user documentation for required model parameters will be established. Controls will be developed for multiple lighting options. Linkage will be established to enable real- time weather downloads and synchronization of incubator controls, and models will be developed for general diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal environmental carbon dioxide concentration changes. Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations The project entailed a two-year CRADA with Percival Scientific, Inc. (Perry, Iowa) pertaining to the development of software that interacted with incubators/growth chambers, of which Percival is one of the leading manufacturers worldwide. WeatherEze software was developed and released to Percival in 2008. WeatherEze permits users to choose amongst 40,000 weather stations around the globe and have the environment near those stations simulated by the incubator in near real time. For instance, WeatherEze coupled to Percival incubators permits a researcher in Beltsville to simulate automatically in an incubator the microclimate conditions (weather and radiation) in Beijing one hour ago. This feature provides scientists and engineers tremendous flexibility in research (e.g. , ecological adaptation and evolution) and product testing (e.g., fates of cosmetics) for differing regions of the world using realistic microclimatic conditions. WeatherEze was featured in USDA�s 2008 annual technology transfer report to Congress. Submodels used in the WeatherEze software were published as peer-reviewed journal articles. This project was directly related to the parent project through Objective 2: Develop new strategies and decision aids to improve and increase the efficiency of weed management. Specifically, Sub-objective 2- 1 was to "Develop biological models of important invasive and prominent weeds, stressing critical life history events." WeatherEze software permits weed researchers to examine in their own laboratories the simulated microclimate effects of any region on earth on germination and development of select invasive weed species.
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Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08
Outputs
Progress Report Objectives (from AD-416) Improve/develop incubator controls to mimic environmental conditions at user-selected geographical locations. Approach (from AD-416) ARS computer models will be merged with PERCIVAL software, and a user- friendly entry method and associated user documentation for required model parameters will be established. Controls will be developed for multiple lighting options. Linkage will be established to enable real- time weather downloads and synchronization of incubator controls, and models will be developed for general diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal environmental carbon dioxide concentration changes. Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations WeatherEze software was completed for the CRADA with Percival Scientific, Inc. This software allows this Iowa company, which manufactures incubators and growth chambers, to regulate light quantity and quality, temperature, and humidity to match user-specified locations around the world. The program accesses one-day-old weather records of thousands of global locations and interacts with the growth chamber�s controller to mimic the conditions at the chosen location. This provides users with the ability to simulate yesterday�s conditions in Singapore, for instance, in their incubator in Berkeley, CA, or Beltsville, MD. Because the incubator and growth chamber industry is mature, industry leaders like Percival need such innovations to remain in the technological forefront of this business. Percival already is marketing the software specifically designed for its products. CSREES, a collaborating and sponsoring USDA sister agency, is featuring the release of WeatherEze in its on-line publications. The project is associated with Objective 1 (model development) of the Project Plan for the parent project 3645-21220-003- 00D. This project made use of and extended software that originally was developed for simulating weed and crop emergence as specified in the parent project.
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Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07
Outputs
Progress Report Objectives (from AD-416) Improve/develop incubator controls to mimic environmental conditions at user-selected geographical locations. Approach (from AD-416) ARS computer models will be merged with PERCIVAL software, and a user- friendly entry method and associated user documentation for required model parameters will be established. Controls will be developed for multiple lighting options. Linkage will be established to enable real- time weather downloads and synchronization of incubator controls, and models will be developed for general diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal environmental carbon dioxide concentration changes. Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations This report serves to document the accomplishments under a CRADA between ARS and Percival Scientific, Inc. Additional details of research can be found in the parent project 3645-21220-003-00D. The main objective of this CRADA is to assist Percival in developing improved incubator controls based on models that have been developed at ARS under the parent project 3645-21220-003-00D. These models will be utilized to accurately simulate air temperature, relative humidity, as well as solar radiation quality and quantity of any location on the globe within a laboratory incubator. Recent progress has also included the linkage to real-time weather data, which further expands the capability of the incubator to duplicate conditions at any location on the globe in real-time. These are significant advancements over the current estimations and assumptions of static photoperiods and temperature ramps that are used for laboratory incubator control settings. Donation of a Percival incubator to the research team has increased the financial value of the CRADA and allows easy access for debugging during program development. The project currently is on schedule. Methods of monitoring this project have included bimonthly meetings between the USDA development team and Percival representatives in order to provide progress reports and demonstrate current program development. In addition, we are in weekly contact via email and/or conference calls addressing issues that have arisen during the program development. It is envisioned that next year presentations will be made at national meetings detailing this project. Technology Transfer Number of Non-Peer Reviewed Presentations and Proceedings: 2 Number of Newspaper Articles,Presentations for NonScience Audiences: 4
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