Ammonia and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air can cause major problems for crops and health issues in animal farming. Along with inadequate humidity and temperature levels, these problems can result in a reduction of crop yields. 

The use of low-cost wireless ammonia sensors is crucial for healthy and sustainable animal farming. Professor Farrokh Ayazi is working on a sensor platform technology to address this need. His team developed a sensitive silicon-based resonant sensor that can act as a low-cost, portable air quality detection system.

“Existing ammonia sensors are large and costly to be employed as distributed networks and difficult to collect data from," Ayazi said. "There is a need for low-cost sensor microsystems that provide accurate information on a range of important gases, including ammonia and VOCs, while providing wireless connectivity.”

Due to inefficient design and materials, current air quality sensors have only been effective in detecting VOCs when they are well-above the acceptable level, leading to delayed and potentially ineffective action from food producers.

Ayazi’s design uses silicon-based micro-resonators, offering several benefits including robustness, wide dynamic range, high sensitivity and array implementation. Furthermore, these devices can be integrated with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) to develop smart wireless sensing microsystems.

Prototypes of these devices are available at Ayazi’s Integrated MEMS Laboratory. 

Grain storage is critical in reducing food waste, with improper storage potentially leading to severe insect and mold problems that can significantly contribute to global food loss.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail.

Many times, these problems go unnoticed until the grain is removed from storage, with pesticide treatment coming afterwards, further risking food quality and the health of consumers.