Sbir phase i: cosmic RAY neutron sensing for soil water measurements at irrigation decision resolution

This $255,663 National Science Foundation Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships project grant funds the development of cosmic ray neutron sensing technology for precision soil moisture measurement by Silverside Detectors Inc. The company aims to address water scarcity challenges in agriculture through an automated, non-invasive soil moisture monitoring system with sub-field resolution. The system would provide irrigation zone-specific soil moisture data to enable optimized water use. This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research project supports validating the technical feasibility of interpolating soil moisture maps from an array of smaller cosmic ray neutron sensors placed at irrigation point spacing. The data will be compared to manual probe readings to assess the technology's ability to minimize water usage and correct for overwatering through precision irrigation management. If successful, the system could broadly reduce agricultural water consumption through granular moisture analysis for responsive irrigation scheduling.

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial impact of this small business innovation research (sbir) phase i project is a touchless, crop agnostic, automatic, always on, non-drifting, and cost-effective way of measuring soil moisture in large fields with data specific to each irrigation zone. The goal is to enable irrigators in water-scarce environments to maximize yields given the water available, and to mitigate the impacts of drought and aquifer reduction by enabling irrigators to calibrate their systems to the precise needs of the plants. The impact of this system is to maximize productivity of irrigation water, reducing waste and costs for crop growers and other irrigators. The commercialization of this product will provide the data needed for precision irrigation to respond to daily ground water needs, broadly reducing water consumption in agriculture and other markets. This technology translates a known methodology for soil moisture monitoring used by researchers and academics into a tool that delivers actionable data to end users that steward the world?s water resources. The goal of the proposed research and development is to verify that data from an arrayed set of smaller cosmic RAY neutron sensing (crns) systems, ingested into an interpolation algorithm, can provide a soil moisture heat map with resolution at the level of each irrigation point for water measurements in the field. This project will remove the main technical risks associated with applying the crns methodology to a sub-field measurement scale, providing actionable data through granular moisture analysis. This data will be compared with a similar heat map generated by a multi hour, high labor assay using a manual probing system. This comparison seeks to support automated, precision irrigation systems to minimize water usage and correct for overwatering. The main technical hurdles that will be addressed include: the data collection from an array of smaller-form-factor crns systems that are placed on the field at the spacing of the desired measurement resolution; integration of neutron count data over the large temporal scales that are necessary to overcome the noise associated with the less efficient detectors; and the ability to provide the necessary temporally-changing information that is relevant to the irrigation manager. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.