CICS’ VP Nguyen to Lead Research Team to Develop Sustainable Platform for Monitoring Tree Health

VP Nguyen

A team of researchers led by Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) Assistant Professor VP Nguyen has been awarded a $300,000 as part of a $600,000 Computer Systems Research (CSR) grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a sustainable platform for monitoring tree health.<_o3a_p>

The grant will support the development of a zero-maintenance, battery-free, intelligent sensing system that continuously monitors water and nutrient levels inside trees to perform on-time and efficient fertilizer and watering. The device utilizes biocompatible and sensor arrays to capture the variations of electrical impedance during water and nutrient uptake, specifically key ions such as calcium (Ca²⁺), phosphate (PO₄³⁻), ammonium (NH₄⁺) and potassium (K⁺). The wearable device then wirelessly transmits its data to the base station located several miles away, allowing for continuous and long-term monitoring with no maintenance.<_o3a_p>

The awarded proposal was submitted under the NSF's call for research that addresses computing, data, networking and software needs for the development of a national-scale cyberinfrastructure capable of supporting end-to-end climate research and education.<_o3a_p>

"Observing trees to infer climate changes has long been an active research direction to restore, preserve and protect our planet. While most current methods focus on the tree's external appearance, particularly its greenness, this research emphasizes the intrinsic health information of individual trees, which can offer more accurate measurements for climate analysis," Nguyen explains. "We are exploring innovative computational resources-such as implantable sensing arrays, tree wearables, battery-free computation, long-range communication and AI-powered continuous calibration methods-to monitor the health of living plants, which are important for various domains, including precision agriculture, horticulture and environmental conservation."<_o3a_p>

The team will evaluate the proposed battery-free sensing system in various farm settings in collaboration with multiple levels of government, as well as non-profit institutions. <_o3a_p>

"We look forward to collaborating with our partners at UMass, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and the Morton Arboretum to deploy the developed system in Amherst, Knoxville, Chicago and potentially in locations outside the United States," Nguyen says.<_o3a_p>

Nguyen, the founder and director of the Wireless and Sensor Systems Laboratory (WSSL) at UMass Amherst, joined the CICS faculty in 2023. Prior to UMass, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. His research focused on Sustainable Autonomous Things (SATs) for the vision of the Internet of Sustainable Medical Things, the Internet of Sustainable Living Things and the Internet of Sustainable Flying Things.<_o3a_p>

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