Patent ID: 7987632

Claim:
A system for achieving optimized crop growth, comprising: a growth chamber which is sealed off from an ambient environment; imaging means for acquiring and monitoring spatially distributed crop growth information within said growth chamber, said imaging means comprising at least one device selected from the group consisting of a multispectral imager, a hyperspectral imager, a RAMAN, a thermal luminescence imager and a photo acoustic imager; environmental monitoring means for acquiring and monitoring data regarding environmental conditions within said growth chamber; illumination and environmental control means for controlling illumination and environmental conditions in said growth chamber; and an expert system that is coupled to said imaging means and said environmental means, said expert system being trained to analyze and evaluate crop growth conditions within the growth chamber using a heuristic method, and to control said illumination and environmental control means to achieve optimized crop growth and minimum consumption of energy and nutrients, wherein said expert system controls said illumination in response to said spatially distributed crop growth information to achieve a spatial, spectral and temporal distribution of illumination within the growth chamber that optimizes plant growth, maximizes yield and minimizes power consumption.