PhotosynQ - Gathering, Processing and Analyzing Plant, Soild and Coral Health Data

The Michigan State University spin-off PhotosynQ launched the MultispeQ device, an instrument for measuring plant health. And all of it is Open Source. The platform offers all data collected with the MultispeQ at global scale with access to every user registered through the PhotosynQ portal.

Nexus-Computing is designing, developing and maintaining the Android application which connects to MultispeQ devices over Bluetooth. The source code is openly available on github and demonstrates the latest best practices in Android software development.

Additionally to measurements of leaves (MultispeQ), the CoralspeQ device measures coral health and the SoilspeQ device measures soil humidity and composition, all devices are supported by the PhotosynQ Android app.

Android, Bluetooth and the Cloud

The MultispeQ device analyzes a plant leaf in order measure chlorophyll contents and how well the photosynthesis process works. The tool is used to give educational institutions as well as agricultural developers indications of how to maximize harvest yields. Currently Michigan State University supports the southeastern African country Malawi in collecting plant health data in order to increase yield.

The Android application plays the central role between data acquisition and analysis from the PhotosynQ Data Explorer. It guides the user through consecutive measurements allowing them to supply additional data with each measurement using a mobile phone or tablet device. For instance, when taking a series of measurements for enumerated trees, the Android application will memorize the current plant for which the measurement is done and then increment to the next plant automatically.

Allowing to add additional user information or pictures increases reliability and helps later analysis of the data captured in the field.

Hardware available now

The MultispeQ device is available for order on the PhotosynQ website, further documentation and firmware / Android software are available on github.

PhotosynQ Project »
PhotosynQ on twitter »

Android App on Github »
MultispeQ Firmware on Github »