Handheld Remote Sensing with Microsoft

Sponsor: Microsoft
Principal Investigator: Rattan Lal (The Ohio State University), Ranveer Chandra (Microsoft)
Researcher: Nancy Loria

The Lal Carbon Center is collaborated with Microsoft on a project aimed at developing a prototype for a portable handheld device that demonstrates its effectiveness in monitoring soil organic carbon (SOC) levels directly in the field, with Dr. Nancy Loria serving as the current project researcher in the Lal Carbon Center. The innovative method combines Wi-Fi signals and images of the soil surface to sense the SOC levels. Dr. Loria has already analyzed several field samples for SOC and water retention. At present, she is in the process of incorporating additional variability into the calibration set to prepare it for an accurate model capable of estimating SOC levels. 

Project Updates

• The Sequestration Newsletter - Autumn 2024: C-FARM: Microsoft
• Carbon Capture Digest #1: Handheld Device Methodologies for In-Field Soil Organic Carbon

• The Sequestration Newsletter - Autumn 2023: Handheld Carbon Measurement with Microsoft Update

Outcomes

Journal Articles

• Loria, N., Lal, R. & Chandra, R. (2024). Handheld In Situ Methods for Soil Organic Carbon Assessment. Sustainability 16(13). doi: 10.3390/su16135592. 
• Umesh Acharya, Rattan Lal & Ranveer Chandra (2022) Data driven approach on in-situ soil carbon measurement, Carbon Management, 13:1, 401-419, DOI: 10.1080/17583004.2022.2106310

Project History