Scalable Crop Monitoring System for Traversing Vertical Farms Autonomously

Acreage Farms is developing a mobile crop monitoring system built for vertical farms. The system will be able to move in three dimensions over the crops while also traversing multiple tiers with a single set of environmental sensors and cameras. Measuring the 3D environmental parameters will provide insights for optimal growth at individual crop sites. Additionally using visible light and NIR cameras plant nutrient deficiencies can be identified days in advance of a worker spotting the issue preventing crop loss. Two variations of the system architecture will be studied to provide customers with an option between higher utility/ actionable data and a lower cost version. Utilizing this technology will allow farms to increase yields and free up their staff to complete other necessary tasks. Another benefit for this solution is that it can run continuously and autonomously while providing warnings to growers or API-based commands that could run necessary processes (e.g. watering). The proposed system can significantly reduce a vertical farm's startup cost by removing 1000s of components normally used for crop monitoring. The main objectives for Phase I are 1) Build and integrate two 3D monitoring systems 2) Collect environment data provide data analytics and control system commands 3) Complete an economic assessment of commercial viability. The many benefits of the proposed work directly advance the goals for Topic 8.13 Plant Production and Protection (Engineering).