Bluetooth® Low Energy Sensor Tag for Sagebrush Monitoring

Sagebrush are an integral part of the ecosystem in the western United States that are often damaged by wildfires and other stressors. Reseeding efforts often yield poor long-term success. It is hypothesized that understanding how sagebrush use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to communicate could improve reseeding efforts. This project aims to provide a wireless method for collecting spatial-temporal VOC data in the field. Detecting VOCs is done with a laser induced graphene (LIG) sensor which changes its equivalent resistance in the presence of VOCs. This sensor is integrated with a Wheatstone bridge and amplifier circuit to convert the resistance change into a voltage that can be sampled. This sensor is then combined with other basic sensors, like temperature, humidity, and soil moisture, to create a sensor tag system that communicates its data wirelessly. This approach allows for large-scale deployment of many sensor tags that can together monitor a large population of sagebrush.