Researchers hope sensor-based system can help farms detect ammonia and combat air pollution 

A team in Denmark has developed a sensor-based system which could help to tackle air pollution by detecting ammonia and other gases emanating from the agriculture sector.

Alongside chemical engineers and chemists, researchers from Aarhus University and the Technical University of Denmark worked on the technology as part of the Ecometa project, which is focused on cutting emissions connected to agriculture. 

The researchers at the universities are focused on photonics, a term the European Commission has described as “the science and technology of light.” Details of their system have been published in the journal “MDPI Photonics.”

According to an announcement earlier this week, those involved in the project have produced an integrated optical sensor which “measures ammonia in the air using a laser, a gas sensor and hollow-core optical fibres.”

Andreas Hansel is a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University’s Department of Engineering. In a statement issued Tuesday, he explained the system was able to demonstrate how it was possible to “carry out continuous ammonia monitoring for the agricultural sector.”

Due to the fact it was based on “mature telecommunications technology,” Hansel added the system could be put together “at very low cost.”

At the end of March 2019, for example, fruit grower T&G Global announced that a robotic harvester was being used to carry out a commercial apple harvest in New Zealand. The automated apple-picking robot was developed by Abundant Robotics, a California-based technology firm.

Last year also saw engineers at the University of Cambridge develop a robot that utilizes machine learning to pick lettuce.

More recently, tech giant Alphabet’s so-called “moonshot factory” — also known as X — shared details about a project aiming to change agriculture and food production through the use of technologies including robotics, software and satellite imagery.