CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Field-scale, single plant-resolution agricultural management using coupled molecular and macro sensing and multi-scale data fusion and modeling
Lead PI:
Liang Dong
Abstract
Water and nitrogen represent two of the most expensive inputs to agricultural systems, and two of the critical constraints on overall agricultural productivity. Today, farmers generally over apply nitrogen fertilizer, because the potential cost of over application is less than the potential cost of achieving suboptimal yields. Similarly, in farm settings water is often over applied, particularly when studies are conducted at high resolution within individual center-pivot fields. We willdesignand validatean integrated cyber-physical system to collect and integrate data from remote sensing and low-cost field deployed wearable sensors and use machine learningand mathematical modeling to guide precision water and nutrient interventions in farmer's fields. This would mean that agricultural productivity can be sustained or increased while reducing overall nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation applications. Among the many beneficial effects to society as a whole would be 1) a decrease the environmental impact of agriculture; 2) decreased competition for scarce water supplies between agriculture and growing urban centers; and 3) increased farmer profitability, improving the economic viability of rural economies.The CPS will enable fusion of a large volume of spatio-temporally distributed multi-modal information to create a data-driven decision support platform that provides actionable information on optimal agricultural managementstrategies.The team will continue to leverage and develop extensive outreach and educational activities to train the next generation of scientists, through many existing STEM programs in Iowa State University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Liang Dong

Liang Dong is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor University. His research interests include Digital Communications and Signal Processing, Green Wireless Networks, Cyber-Physical System and Security, Social Internet of Things, and E-health Applications.

Liang Dong is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the American Physical Society (APS), and a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He served on the executive board of IEEE West Michigan Section from 2006 to 2011 and the executive board of ASEE North Central Section from 2007 to 2008. He also served as a TPC member for IEEE HealthCom 2015, IEEE GlobalSIP 2015 and IEEE GlobalSIP 2016, and a session chair for IEEE WCNC 2013 and IEEE GlobalSIP 2016. He is a member of Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi, and a faculty advisor of Eta Kappa Nu.

Performance Period: 06/01/2020 - 05/31/2023
Institution: Iowa State University
Sponsor: USDA
Award Number: 1932554