PIPages
Labs

Javad Mohammadpour Velni

Clemson University, SC·Engineering

Feeding a growing world population will require producing an estimated 70% more food by 2050. Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), such as greenhouses and indoor farms where light, temperature, and other conditions are managed, could help.

Fields

Engineering

Plant Science & Agriculture

Computer Science

Topics

controlled-environment agriculture

greenhouses

indoor farming

Grants
1 known grant, through Sep 2027

What they work on

  1. Integrate photosynthesis models with real-time biophysical measurements to optimize environmental settings such as light and climate for crop growth in controlled-environment agriculture facilities.
  2. Monitor crop growth and environmental conditions automatically using AI-guided analysis of image and sensor data within a networked cyber-physical system.
  3. Develop control methods that optimally distribute mobile robot manipulators across large growing facilities for automated data collection with safety guarantees.
  4. Devise stochastic control tools that adjust environmental parameters for each crop species and growth stage, while managing renewable energy and storage to cut grid dependence and energy cost.

More about the research

But CEA facilities use a lot of energy, which raises costs and limits how widely they are adopted. This project asks how sensing, data analysis, automation, and renewable energy can be combined to grow crops efficiently while cutting energy costs and reliance on the power grid.

Why it matters

Indoor and greenhouse farms could help meet rising food demand, but high energy costs limit their use. Combining smart sensing, robotic data collection, and renewable energy management could reduce growers' energy bills and grid dependence while improving crop yield. This could make controlled-environment agriculture more affordable and support food security. The control methods could also apply to other cyber-physical systems.

Known grants

From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.

Collaborative Research: CPS: Medium: Multi-Scale Sensing and Control for Optimizing Crop Production and Energy Efficiency in Controlled-Environment Agriculture

NSF · Oct 2024 – Sep 2027

Closest labs

Kofi Nyarko

Morgan State University, MD·Computer Science

Assess the commercial translation potential of an AI supervisory control platform for controlled-environment agriculture, through hands-on investigation of the hydroponic and greenhouse industry.

Jan Kleissl

University of California-San Diego, CA·Engineering

Build DERConnect, a remote-access testbed that integrates solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicles, wind and solar emulators, and controllable building lighting and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems.

Somali Chaterji

Purdue University, IN·Computer Science·Early-career

Develop on-device machine learning analytics for farm sensors that adapt to each device's computing power, changing network conditions and competition from co-located applications.

The school

Clemson University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $339M a year on research, 297 research doctorates a year.

More about Clemson University

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