The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Supratik Guha NST Division Director, of Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago on “Sensors and Cyber-Physical Sensing Networks for Water and Agriculture” on Friday, March 3, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Supratik Guha
Abstract: The affordability of computing today, progress in nanomaterials and sensing devices, the increasing availability of data, and the emergence of low power wireless networks have made this an opportune time for the emergence of cyberphysical sensor networks for agriculture, water, and the environment. I will discuss three projects at different stages of development:
- A two year pilot experiment with Gallo wineries and IBM that used satellite imagery data to calculate and then deliver water to vineyards in a pixelized manner via drip irrigation–resulting in improvements in yield and water efficiency;
- The development of Thoreau (Thoreau.uchicago.edu)-the first university based fully sub-terranean sensing network for soil that we have built at the University of Chicago, and
- A planned pilot for temporal and geospatial mapping of water quality in the Godavari River in Southern India.
Through the descriptions of these projects I will try to argue that a key bottleneck for ubiquitous use of these technologies lies in the development of cheap, reliable, and scalable sensing packages. I will also describe a few of the key sensing challenges for water and agriculture.
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