Location: Sustainable Water Management Research
Project Number: 6066-13000-006-013-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2021
End Date: Aug 31, 2026
Objective:
The goal of this proposed project is to develop and demonstrate a fully integrated sensing system with gas sensor arrays in a single platform to accurately monitor various greenhouse gas, and accurately monitor infield greenhouse emission and develop the system in response to physical and environmental conditions through the season. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to develop a sensing system which consists of 1) an electrochemical sensor array, 2) a readout electronics, and 3) a wireless communication unit. The sensing system will address three greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all of which can originate directly from field-applied fertilizer, crop residue decomposition, and the cultivation of organic soils. A version of the sensing system will also be developed to measure ammonia gas.
Approach:
A low-cost embedded system will be designed and constructed to read outputs from custom sensors and wirelessly transmit the data. The sensing system will be developed as an integrated low-cost dual mode sensor array that incorporates novel nanoengineered materials, unique device structures and circuits, and low-cost manufacturing to enable widespread deployment. The system will be designed and fabricated to collect quantitative data from the custom sensor array in a miniaturized printed circuit board utilizing commercial off-the-shelf electronic components. The system will consist of a multiplexer, microcontroller unit, and a wireless communication unit. The multiplexer will serialize the outputs from the custom sensor array to provide inputs into the microcontroller unit to quantitatively measure the analytes. The results will then be transmitted from the microcontroller unit through the wireless communication unit. Firmware for the microcontroller will be developed to fulfill all necessary functions such as component control, data reading/processing/transmission, and power management.
