Device for measuring the plant physiology and electrophysiology

TL;DR

This paper introduces a versatile phytosensor device capable of measuring plant physiological and electrophysiological parameters, environmental conditions, and performing plant stimulation and autonomous experiments for research and agricultural applications.

Contribution

The paper presents a comprehensive, multi-functional plant sensor system that integrates physiological measurement, environmental monitoring, and plant stimulation with autonomous control capabilities.

Findings

Measures key plant physiological parameters in real time

Records environmental data including soil and air quality

Performs autonomous, feedback-based plant experiments

Abstract

This paper briefly describes the device - the phytosensor - for measuring physiological and electrophysiological parameters of plants. This system is developed as a bio-physiological sensor in precise agriculture, as a tool in plant research and environmental biology, and for plant enthusiasts in smart home or entertainment applications. The phytosentor measures main physiological parameters such as the leaf transpiration rate, sap flow, tissue conductivity and frequency response, biopotentials (action potentials and variation potentials), and can conduct electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with organic tissues. Soil moisture and temperature, air quality (CO2, NO2, O3 and other sensors on I2C bus), and general environmental parameters (light, temperature, humidity, air pressure, electromagnetic and magnetic fields) are also recorded in real time. In addition to phytosensing, the device can also perform phytoactuation, i.e. execute electrical or light stimulation of plants, control irrigation and lighting modes, conduct fully autonomous experiments with complex feedback-based and adaptive scenarios in robotic or biohybrid systems. This article represents the revised and extended version of original paper and includes some descriptions and images from the FloraRobotica and BioHybrids projects.