Abstract:
One approach to improving nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in crop production is to use infrared (IR) soil nitrate sensors to analyze soil nitrate and then spatially mo...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
One approach to improving nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in crop production is to use infrared (IR) soil nitrate sensors to analyze soil nitrate and then spatially modulate fertilizer application rates. The most commonly used Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectrometers are sensitive to vibration and hence not suitable for real-time measurements in agricultural fields when mounted on tractors that experience severe vibrations as they are driven across a field. In this paper, we propose IR sensor designs to address the vibration issues currently limiting the use of IR spectroscopy for precision nitrogen fertilizer management in agriculture. We evaluate the performance of different nitrate sensor configurations based on diamond attenuated total reflection (D-ATR) spectrometers, that do not have moving parts and less sensitive to vibrations than FTIRs. We study sensor configurations based on the following infrared light sources: commercially available tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), thermal sources, superluminescent diodes (SLDs), and superlattice light emitting diodes (SLEDs). Performance of the different sensor systems is evaluated and optimized to achieve maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We also propose a sensing limit variable, S, to characterize different sensor configurations. The work presented in this manuscript provides design options for agricultural nitrate sensors that can be rugged in the field and collect spectral data at fast rates with high SNR.
Published in: IEEE Sensors Journal ( Volume: 21, Issue: 18, 15 September 2021)
Funding Agency:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Bingtao Gao received the B.S. degree in applied physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 2017. He is pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa. His research activities involve design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of next genera...Show More
Bingtao Gao received the B.S. degree in applied physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 2017. He is pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa. His research activities involve design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of next genera...View more
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Alexander C. Walhof received the B.S. degree in materials engineering from Iowa State University and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Iowa in 2019. He is an Electrical Engineer with Firefly Photonics LLC. His research is focused on megapixel MWIR LED arrays for thermal scene projection and commercialization of superlattice MWIR technology.
Alexander C. Walhof received the B.S. degree in materials engineering from Iowa State University and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Iowa in 2019. He is an Electrical Engineer with Firefly Photonics LLC. His research is focused on megapixel MWIR LED arrays for thermal scene projection and commercialization of superlattice MWIR technology.View more
Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
N-Sense LLC, Ames, IA, USA
David A. Laird was a Professor with the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University. He was named as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for the period 2017–2019. He is the Founder and the President of N-Sense LLC. He has mentored 20 M.S. and Ph.D. students, and published over 140 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of Ame...Show More
David A. Laird was a Professor with the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University. He was named as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for the period 2017–2019. He is the Founder and the President of N-Sense LLC. He has mentored 20 M.S. and Ph.D. students, and published over 140 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of Ame...View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Fatima Toor (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 2009, where her thesis work involved developing spectrally high performing mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. She is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with secondary appointments at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa Technology Institute, and Iowa-CREATES...Show More
Fatima Toor (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 2009, where her thesis work involved developing spectrally high performing mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. She is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with secondary appointments at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa Technology Institute, and Iowa-CREATES...View more
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
John P. Prineas (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the College of Optics, The University of Arizona, in 2000. He is the Professor of Physics and Astronomy with The University of Iowa. For over a decade, Dr. Prineas has intensively developed mid-infrared semiconductor light sources (LEDs and lasers and superluminescent diodes) for medical monitoring and thermal scene generation, a military tech...Show More
John P. Prineas (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the College of Optics, The University of Arizona, in 2000. He is the Professor of Physics and Astronomy with The University of Iowa. For over a decade, Dr. Prineas has intensively developed mid-infrared semiconductor light sources (LEDs and lasers and superluminescent diodes) for medical monitoring and thermal scene generation, a military tech...View more
Contents Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Bingtao Gao received the B.S. degree in applied physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 2017. He is pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa. His research activities involve design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of next generation optoelectronic and photonic devices.
Bingtao Gao received the B.S. degree in applied physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 2017. He is pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa. His research activities involve design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of next generation optoelectronic and photonic devices.View more
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Alexander C. Walhof received the B.S. degree in materials engineering from Iowa State University and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Iowa in 2019. He is an Electrical Engineer with Firefly Photonics LLC. His research is focused on megapixel MWIR LED arrays for thermal scene projection and commercialization of superlattice MWIR technology.
Alexander C. Walhof received the B.S. degree in materials engineering from Iowa State University and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Iowa in 2019. He is an Electrical Engineer with Firefly Photonics LLC. His research is focused on megapixel MWIR LED arrays for thermal scene projection and commercialization of superlattice MWIR technology.View more
Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
N-Sense LLC, Ames, IA, USA
David A. Laird was a Professor with the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University. He was named as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for the period 2017–2019. He is the Founder and the President of N-Sense LLC. He has mentored 20 M.S. and Ph.D. students, and published over 140 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. He was the President and the Vice President of the Clay Minerals Society and the Chair of the Soil Chemistry Division, Soil Science Society of America. He is an Editor of Geoderma.
David A. Laird was a Professor with the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University. He was named as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for the period 2017–2019. He is the Founder and the President of N-Sense LLC. He has mentored 20 M.S. and Ph.D. students, and published over 140 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. He was the President and the Vice President of the Clay Minerals Society and the Chair of the Soil Chemistry Division, Soil Science Society of America. He is an Editor of Geoderma.View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
Fatima Toor (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 2009, where her thesis work involved developing spectrally high performing mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. She is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with secondary appointments at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa Technology Institute, and Iowa-CREATES at The University of Iowa. Her team’s current research interests include the design, fabrication, and testing of innovative photonic devices for the health, environment, energy, and security industries. She is a member of APS, IEEE, ASLMS, and SPIE, and a Senior Member of OSA.
Fatima Toor (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 2009, where her thesis work involved developing spectrally high performing mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. She is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with secondary appointments at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa Technology Institute, and Iowa-CREATES at The University of Iowa. Her team’s current research interests include the design, fabrication, and testing of innovative photonic devices for the health, environment, energy, and security industries. She is a member of APS, IEEE, ASLMS, and SPIE, and a Senior Member of OSA.View more
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Firefly Photonics LLC, Coralville, IA, USA
John P. Prineas (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the College of Optics, The University of Arizona, in 2000. He is the Professor of Physics and Astronomy with The University of Iowa. For over a decade, Dr. Prineas has intensively developed mid-infrared semiconductor light sources (LEDs and lasers and superluminescent diodes) for medical monitoring and thermal scene generation, a military technology.
John P. Prineas (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the College of Optics, The University of Arizona, in 2000. He is the Professor of Physics and Astronomy with The University of Iowa. For over a decade, Dr. Prineas has intensively developed mid-infrared semiconductor light sources (LEDs and lasers and superluminescent diodes) for medical monitoring and thermal scene generation, a military technology.View more
