Plant fluorometer for remote detection of growth dynamics

A method for remote detection of plant growth dynamics, the method comprising:

• providing, by a controller module, an excitation control signal to an excitation LED (light emitting diode) module;
• emitting, by at least one LED included in the excitation LED module, an excitation light in response to the excitation control signal, the excitation light having an emitted light spectrum;
• detecting, by a photodetector included in a detection module, an initial chlorophyll a fluorescence (“ChlF”) light and an excited ChlF light from a plant species;
• converting, by the photodetector, the detected initial ChlF light into an initial detection electrical signal and the detected excited ChlF light into an excited detection electrical signal, the excited ChlF light emitted from the plant species in response to receiving the excitation light;
• capturing, by the controller module, the initial and excited detection electrical signals from the detection module, the initial detection electrical signal captured prior to capturing the excited detection electrical signal, the excitation control signal comprising an excitation pulse, the excitation pulse comprising a pulse train defined by a plurality of excitation pulse parameters comprising a maximum current amplitude, a duty cycle, an excitation pulse period (TE), a pulse train pulse period (TP) and an excitation pulse fundamental frequency, a respective value of each of the plurality of the excitation pulse parameters related to a growth dynamic of the plant species;
• and
• determining, by the controller module, chlorophyll fluorescence data based, at least in part, on the initial and excited detection electrical signals;
• wherein the excitation LED module and the detection module are configured to be positioned remotely from the plant species, and wherein the chlorophyll fluorescence data represents a growth characteristic of the plant species.

A system for remote detection of plant growth dynamics, the system comprising:

• sensing circuitry comprising:
• an excitation LED (light emitting diode) module comprising at least one LED, each LED configured to emit an excitation light in response to an excitation control signal, the excitation light having an emitted light spectrum;
• a detection module comprising a photodetector configured to detect an initial chlorophyll a fluorescence (“ChlF”) light and an excited ChlF light from a plant species, the photodetector further configured to convert the detected initial ChlF light into an initial detection electrical signal and the detected excited ChlF light into an excited detection electrical signal, the excited ChlF light emitted from the plant species in response to receiving the excitation light;
• and
• a controller module coupled to the excitation LED module and the detection module, the controller module configured to provide the excitation control signal to the excitation module, to capture the initial and excited detection electrical signals from the detection module and to determine chlorophyll fluorescence data based, at least in part, on the initial and excited detection electrical signals, the excitation control signal comprising an excitation pulse, the excitation pulse comprising a pulse train defined by a plurality of excitation pulse parameters comprising a maximum current amplitude, a duty cycle, an excitation pulse period (TE), a pulse train pulse period (TP) and an excitation pulse fundamental frequency, a respective value of each of the plurality of the excitation pulse parameters related to a growth dynamic of the plant species and the controller module is configured to capture the initial detection electrical signal prior to capturing the excited detection electrical signal;
• wherein the excitation LED module and the detection module are configured to be positioned remotely from the plant species, and wherein the chlorophyll fluorescence data represents a growth characteristic of the plant species;
• and
• a cloud service coupled to the sensing circuitry via a network, the cloud service comprising a data store, the controller module configured to transmit the chlorophyll fluorescence data to the cloud service for storage in the data store.