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 Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
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ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory Research





- Kim, Moon
- Baek, Insuck
- Qin, Jianwei - Tony Qin
- Chao, Kuanglin - Kevin Chao
- Food Safety, (Animal and Plant Products) (108)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory** Project Number: 8042-42000-021-031-S
                        
                        Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement Start Date: Feb 1, 2024
                        
                        End Date: Sep 15, 2024 **Objective:**
                        
                        The objective of this project is to develop and test a new, advanced multimode imaging system that will help monitor the health and safety of plants grown in space environments, specifically for NASA. The main aim is to create a compact, automated system that can detect plant stress early using edge computing technology. This system will use both reflectance and fluorescence imaging in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectrum (400–1000 nm) and promises to be a revolutionary tool for assessing plant health in space. A key phase of the project involves constructing and testing this system at the University of North Dakota's Inflatable Lunar Habitat (ILH), which has a rigid frame enclosed by an inflatable bladder, creating a perfect simulation of space crop production conditions. The successful deployment of this system could significantly enhance the sustainable cultivation of crops in space. **Approach:**
                        
                        Key components of the prototype system include two LED line lights for VNIR broadband and UV-A (365 nm) illumination, a line-scan hyperspectral camera, and a linear motorized stage with an 80 cm travel range. This arrangement allows for the sequential acquisition of reflectance and fluorescence images over the plants in a single cycle of line-scan imaging. The system software will be developed to facilitate hardware parameterization, data transfer, and automated imaging analysis.  Cooperator will design a new illumination system with optimized weight, size, and functionality that supports multimode imaging capabilities. We will design a software prototype with the ARS team for gathering data and analysis. We will build a replicate system at USDA-ARS and Kennedy space center in the University of North Dakota and make it operational for space ag research purpose.


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