Ubiquitous Sensing with MEMS-FTIR Spectroscopy Applications in Agri-Food and Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been agreed in 2015 by 195 countries of the United Nations (UN), aiming to change the world for better. Since that time, some actions have been taken to address the major concerns on climate change and global anthropogenic pollution. A transition to alternative solutions are being considered nowadays for energy production, transportation, agriculture. The aim is to prevent the consequences on the environment and to ensure long-term availability of fundamental natural resources: clean water, fresh air, food, soil and energy, also looking for more sustainable cities as the consequence of increasing urbanization. In this talk, we will discuss on how MEMS, Lab-On-Chip and related microsystems and nanometarials, can help in this area. First present recent technological breakthroughs enabling MEMS to perform not only chemical sensing but also chemical analysis in a contactless remote fashion. In particular, we will highlight some recent advances in MEMS optical spectroscopy in the infrared spectral range and their integration into portable spectral sensing devices. We will show how such devices already found a plenty of applications in smart farming, precision agriculture, through the whole supply-chain from-farm-to-fork, in the same time reducing food waste and optimizing the use of soil with reduced impact on the environment. The second part of this talk will address some challenges of ‘Sustainable Cities’ as an emerging new directions of research with considerable momentum towards ubiquitous sensing. We will review some experiments of environmental monitoring including remediation actions for the purpose of reducing air and water pollutants as well as tools for medical diagnosis.