2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The real-time monitoring and control systems for the plant roots, mycorrhizal dynamics and their related plants and ecosystem processes are defined as minirhizotron modules, and they have become key tools for non-destructive investigation of plant roots specifically in the major agricultural farmlands. Facilitating minirhizotron camera systems-based proactive detection and elimination of potential cyst nematode infestation may avoid jeopardize of entire multi-million dollars crop fields. Real-time monitoring and recording of the images of living roots, mycorrhizal hyphae, soil fauna and invasive beetles over the course of a day, a crop cycle or even multiple seasons help reduce potential destruction of farmlands especially in the southern U.S. states.
This applied senior design project with multi-disciplinary STEM faculty and undergraduate engineering technology and computer science students with funding from the USDA aims to design, develop, and test a cost-effective smart minirhizotron module for agricultural use in the field. This minirhizotron takes pictures of nursery crop roots, providing early detection of cyst nematode infestation, which could jeopardize entire crop fields if left unchecked. Utilizing Wi-Fi capability, the camera captures pictures via a command from a computer connected wirelessly to the same network and then sends those pictures to the user for image processing. With the continuous efforts from faculty and student researchers, this project has now the capability to be upgraded for monitoring and control from anywhere on the planet.
This project utilizes a Raspberry Pi 4B and a Geekworm Raspberry Pi 4B full function motor HAT to receive and execute operation commands. Considering the types of environments and locales it may be subject to, an outer casing with small openings for ventilation and solar power capability was built into the minirhizotron’s design. The resulting minirhizotron device is complete and fully operational and a number of plants have been under investigation using invasive and non-invasive species. The overall minirhizotron system uses a solar powered camera capable of capturing quality photographs of the crop to which it is assigned and delivering said pictures to the cloud, which is a vast network of interconnected servers with remote access whose purpose is to store, manage data, and run applications in remote farmlands. The 3D model of the final design including electronic and electromechanical components with Raspberry Pi units on a transparent tube have been completed and will be reported in the full paper.