Nanosensors for Smart Agriculture

Book excerpt: Nanosensors for Smart Agriculture covers new breakthroughs in smart agriculture, highlighting new technologies, such as the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence. In addition, the book provides the many advantages of nanosensors over their micro counterparts, such as lower power consumption, higher sensitivity, lower concentration of analytes, and smaller interaction distances between the object and sensor. Sections provide information on fundamental design concepts and emerging applications of nanosensors in smart agriculture. The book highlights how, when cultivating soil, nanosensors and their wireless networks can be used for soil quality monitoring (moisture/herbicides/organic compound/trace metals monitoring in soil, etc. Other applications cover how smart nanosensors can be used for virus detection and hygiene/pathogen controls in livestocks, their use as active transport tracking devices for smart tracking and tracing, and other various applications, such as (i) nanochips for identity (radio frequency identification), (ii) food inspection, (iii) intelligent food packaging, and (iv) smart storage. This is an important reference source for materials scientists and agricultural engineers who are looking to understand more about how nanosensor technology can be used to create more efficient and sustainable agricultural systems. - Outlines the fabrication and fundamental design concepts of nanosensors for agricultural applications - Explains how nanosensors are being used throughout the agricultural cycle – from crop growth to food manufacturing - Assesses major challenges surrounding the application of nanosensors to agricultural applications in mass scale