Gigahertz Ultrasonic Imaging of Nematodes in Liquids, Soil, and Air

Plant parasitic nematodes are soil-borne microscopic worms that parasitize plant roots, reducing crop yields for economically important crops such as soybeans, sugar beets, and strawberries, to name a few. This paper presents the concept of using a GHz ultrasonic imaging array to image nematodes, as a way to quantify nematode populations within soil. A 128-pixel by 128-pixel, 1.85 GHz monolithic CMOS integrated ultrasonic imager was successfully used to image nematodes in moist soil, air, and thin layers of water.