Federal Grant Award Summary

Michigan State University received a $272,947 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310), effective January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027. The project develops an innovative drone-based system to detect water quality anomalies in agricultural landscapes by integrating multispectral camera technology with a miniature electronic nose sensor. The research team will construct a compact smell-sensing module calibrated to water quality indicators including nitrogen, phosphorus, algae, and dissolved oxygen levels, then integrate this olfactory technology with multispectral imaging and GPS systems onboard an unmanned aerial vehicle. The deliverables include synchronized data fusion software, field trial results from lakes and rivers, and a machine learning model trained to identify and flag water quality impairment hotspots.

The project's practical application centers on enabling water resource managers to conduct targeted sampling and mitigation efforts with reduced cost and labor requirements compared to traditional remote sensing approaches. By combining visual and olfactory data streams—mimicking the detection capabilities of vultures—this system addresses limitations of optical remote sensing in detecting non-point source pollution from agricultural runoff. The research establishes foundational technology for future autonomous drone applications in environmental monitoring and extends potential applicability to precision agriculture and crop and soil monitoring through volatile organic compound detection.