Tiny, low cost sensor set to aid crop growers
1 min read
A team from Cornell University has created a low cost water sensing chip that's not only tiny, but is also a hundred times more sensitive than current devices.
The 'lab on a chip' device – which could cost as little as $5 (approx. £3) to produce - is designed to measure moisture levels in soil and can be embedded in plant stems for accurate information on water stress.
The chips can also be embedded in concrete, the researchers say, to help civil engineers determine optimal moisture levels as the concrete cures.
The sensors make use of microfluidic technology that places a tiny cavity inside the chip.
The cavity is filled with water, and then the chip may be inserted in a plant stem or in the soil where it, through a nanoporous membrane, exchanges moisture with its environment and maintains an equilibrium pressure that the chip measures.
"Using chips embedded in plants or spaced across soil and linked wirelessly to computers, growers may control the precise moisture of blocks of land, based on target goals," said researcher Vinay Pagay.
The team is now establishing how moisture readings made by the chips translate to plant growth, so that users can make sense of their data.
