OPTIMAL SOLUTIONS INC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.4

Description

The goal of this SBIR Phase I project is to conduct research and prove the feasibility ofmeasuring soil properties using cutting-edge detectors customized optical accessories anddata processing algorithms.Our overall project goal is to bring to market a portable soilsensor which can analyze soil samples in near real-time in Phase II and beyond.Growers rely on soil analysis to help them assess the available levels of plant nutrients in orderto plan fertilization tillage and planting tasks. Soil analysis and the remedial action taken havea direct bearing on crop quality and yield and it affects downstream manufacturing operationsin food & beverage companies (like harvesting food processing and packaging) significantly.The conventional approach to soil-analysis involves sending samples to far-off laboratories andresults may be delivered days later. This approach is time-consuming tedious and laborious.Today growers may choose to analyze soils less frequently and only in some fields and attimes may choose not to analyze soil at all. As a result soil treatments may not fit the soil/croprequirements and therefore conform to nutrient stewardship principles of proper fertilizergrade rate and timing. With over 2 million farms in the US alone the commercial opportunityfor our idea is significant.Our phase I objectives are to 1) assemble a sensor comprising of miniature detectors andoptical accessories 2) develop algorithms to learn the mapping between spectra data and soilproperties and 3) demonstrate feasibility of real-time soil sensing on a bench-scale hardware- software setup. We plan to gather absorbance spectra data of actual soil samples by usingportable NIR (near infrared) detectors. This spectra data along with the ground-truth datagenerated by the Rutgers soil testing laboratory will be used to learn the intricate relationshipbetween the spectra data and the soil properties. Cutting-edge machine learning algorithms willbe used to accomplish capturing this relationship. Our innovation lies in combining off-the- shelf detectors with customized optical accessories and cutting-edge data processingalgorithms to deliver a low-cost and portable sensor.This project directly addresses USDA's / NIFA's soil and water conservation goals. As the worldfaces increased demand for food it is imperative that resources like land water and fertilizersare managed proactively and optimally. Our product will enable growers to be more proactivein soil treatment and hence consume optimal water and fertilizer amounts while protecting soiland water quality.Our project will result in a platform comprised of a novel soil sensor which allows for accuratesoil analysis in near real-time. Our product will enable highly localized and frequentmeasurements at low cost and rapidly initiate any required intervention. Our platform will alsofacilitate gathering auxiliary data like temperature moisture and GPS coordinates which willhelp in the logistics of remedial action. Growers of all sizes (especially small and medium) andthe whole agriculture/food industry will find uses for our product to manage soil health.