Through our work with researchers and growers we have found that cost is the most significant barrier to adopting high-resolution soil water monitoring needed to meaningfully reduce agricultural water…

Transcend Engineering and Technology, LLC was awarded a $181,395 Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture within the Department of Agriculture under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

The grant aims to develop a spatially dense, multi-level soil moisture sensor using commodity radio frequency electronic components to infer soil water content from dielectric properties. Phase I will determine feasibility and quantify tradeoffs between accuracy and cost. Phase II would build an algorithmic decision support system framework under commercial development to incorporate the sensing innovation.

The resulting technology seeks to span adoption gaps through unprecedented efficiency in managing and conserving irrigation water used in agriculture. Benefits include soil health and groundwater quality improvements leading to greater sustainability.

Through our work with researchers and growers we have found that cost is the most significant barrier to adopting high-resolution soil water monitoring needed to meaningfully reduce agricultural water consumption. We previously developed, patented, and commercialized an innovation using time domain reflectometry that quantifies in situ soil water content in highly resolved spatial profile, providing greatly improved understanding of the distribution and fate of applied water as a function of the irrigation schedule, but cost has been a barrier to adoption. The recent massive proliferation of wireless accessories has driven the cost of integrated circuit-based programmable RF transceivers unprecedentedly low, and their usability unprecedentedly high.phase i of this proposed project will determine if IT is feasible to base the design and operation of a spatially dense, multi-level soil moisture sensor around the exploitation of commodity RF electronic components to infer soil water content from soil dielectric properties. The work also seeks to quantify the tradeoffs of accuracy and cost that the approach presents. Phase-II work would build the algorithmic basis for a decision support system, the framework for which is under commercial development.a hyper-advanced decision support system is under development by our commercialization partners. Incorporating our resulting sensing innovation will span the adoption GAP, from data, to insights, to data driven recommendations and decisions. The result will be unprecedented efficiency in the management and conservation of water used in irrigated agriculture, with concomitant benefits for soil health and groundwater quality leading to greater sustainability.