The development of biofuels crops on marginal lands is a crucial strategy for a sustainable national transition to renewable energy sources. Modern biological approaches, such as genetic engineering, can accelerate the establishment of biofuels crops in these soil environments of limited soil fertility. However, public opinion on genetic engineering remains an obstacle to the wide-scale adoption of this technology. Instead, traditional plant breeding methods rely on a slower pace of one breeding cycle per year to modify plant traits that would support growth on marginal lands. The recent focus on agricultural microbiomes could enhance the sustainability of biofuels cropping systems by enabling plants to access nutrients made available through biological fixation, mineralization, or solubilization. While some microbiome studies in development are focused on genetic engineering, the majority of research is conducted on natural communities of microbiomes that inhabit the soil ecosystem. There is a lack of technologies that measure in-situ microbial activity in the rhizosphere in real-time, limiting the progress on agricultural microbiomes research that is essential for a sustainable bioenergy program.Gigahertz Ultrasonic Imagers for Microbiome Imagers This proposal develops an ultrasonic frequencies as high as 2-3 GHz. At these frequencies, the resolution of imaging in soil can be as small as one-micron, enabling observation of single bacteria. Geegah has developed single-chip CMOS integrated imagers that integrate the ultrasonic transducers and the electronics for an ultracompact, non-optical, low power imager that can be wirelessly connected to the internet 40um resolution. A large field-of-view of 1x1cm will enable the imaging of biofilm formation in real-time, observing dynamical processes over days to months to years, without destructive removal of the soil and roots. The work will lead to an inexpensive multisensory imager that can image water content, microbiome activity though micro biofilm formation, chemical properties of the soil, root growth, and nematode pests near the surface of the sensor chip. we envision the geegah imagers, several tens of the imagers being used on a single plant to monitor the physiology and environmental variables, creating a tool that will become indispensable for plant research. We will commercialize the devices through laboratories, farm consultants, and eventually farms to monitor crop growth.
