Associate Professor Koichiro Miyamoto of Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Engineering, along with Assistant Professor Kaori Kohzuma (currently of Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture), has developed a miniature sensor for attachment to the underside of plant leaves. This sensor can detect changes in leaf color, chlorophyll levels, and stress responses. With cloud connectivity, it enables remote monitoring of plant health, paving the way for smart agriculture solutions.
Achieving Widespread Plant Monitoring with a Leaf-Attached Miniature Sensor
In today’s world, where climate change and population growth are impacting agriculture, efficient resource management and productivity improvement are increasingly critical. As a result, the demand for technologies that enable remote monitoring of plant health is on the rise, driving interest in smart agriculture. In response, researchers at Tohoku University have developed a new miniature sensor.
This sensor, designed for direct attachment to the underside of plant leaves, can detect leaf color, chlorophyll levels, and environmental stress responses. It is water-resistant, battery-operated for long-term continuous measurement, and allows real-time monitoring via the cloud. Furthermore, the sensor is relatively low-cost, enabling scalable and broad-area monitoring of plants.
The research team conducted functional tests on approximately 30 plant species, confirming that the sensor provides measurement accuracy comparable to commercial spectrometers. High reliability was also demonstrated in experiments detecting changes in stress responses due to environmental factors. Outdoor testing allowed real-time observation of leaf color changes and leaf senescence, proving the sensor’s effectiveness as a tool for assessing plant health.
Moving forward, the sensor is expected to support the advancement of smart agriculture while also finding applications in ecosystem management and environmental research. By deploying numerous sensors with high accuracy and low cost across multiple locations, this technology could provide a foundation for sustainable growth in agriculture.