IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL.

70, 2021 9513419

Printed Sensor Technologies for Monitoring

Applications in Smart Farming: A Review
Rakiba Rayhana , Student Member, IEEE, Gaozhi George Xiao , Fellow, IEEE,
and Zheng Liu , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— Smart farming is the integration of advanced Adoption of technologies into the traditional farming practices,
technologies such as sensors, wireless communication, Internet in other words, smart farming, is believed to be the most viable
of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and robots, with approach to address the issues faced by agriculture [3]–[7].
traditional farming practices. The goal is to increase the yield
and quality of the crops or other agricultural products, as well Many technologies, including advanced sensing technology,
as to reduce the cost and improve efficiency. Sensors play a artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, chemicals (fertiliz-
critical role in smart farming as they provide the most important ers, weed killers, and pesticides), equipment, ground and aerial
information related to varied aspects of agriculture, namely soil vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT), irrigation system, lighting
conditions, plant growth, and environmental conditions. With the technology, novel materials, robots, satellite, and wireless
emergence of printed electronics technologies, printed sensors
have gained much attention in recent years. Printed sensors communication, have found applications in agriculture. They
are fabricated through the additive manufacturing and are have played critical roles in improving the agriculture yield
extremely versatile. They can be made on any solid substrate and saving the labor [8]–[11].
and be conformable, flexible, stretchable, low-cost, and/or bio- Many factors decide the yield of the crops. Soil condition
degradable. These unique features have made the printed sensors is one of them [12]. Soil provides the necessary nutrients and
attractive for a variety of applications. This article aims to review
the potential applications of printed sensors in smart farming. water required by the growth of crops. Lack of nutrients and
First, the state of the art of printed sensor fabrication is presented water is certainly not good for the crop yield. Over-supplying
with a discussion on their advantages and disadvantages. Then, nutrients through the use of fertilizers and water might not be
the measurement and monitoring applications of printed sensors good for the crop either, it also causes environmental pollution.
in the key aspects of smart farming, are reviewed, including It is challenging to predict the needs for nutrients and water-
measurement of chemicals, soil monitoring, and microclimate
monitoring in greenhouses. The article also pinpoints the limita- based on experiences. Weeds and pests are other types of
tions and potentials of printed sensors for farming applications. factors harmful to plants. To control them, weed killers and
This article will benefit the researchers and practitioners in the pesticides are usually overused to warrant the proper growth
field to advance the printed sensor technologies to mitigate the of plants at the cost of environmental pollution. Furthermore,
current issues in smart farming. temperature, humidity, lighting, oxygen, and carbon dioxide
Index Terms— Agriculture, Internet of Things (IoT), printed concentration, and other climate factors significantly affect the
electronics, sensors, smart farming. crop yield and the growth of weeds and pests, it is feasible
to control these parameters in a controlled environment to
I. I NTRODUCTION significantly improve the yield of crops or grow the crops in
all seasons [13]–[15].

O VER the last few decades, the rapid climate changes,

the reduction of the arable lands, and the agricultural
labor forces due to urbanization, the decrease of the water
To understand and control the factors discussed above,
the adoption of sensors and new technologies has been
believed to be the only viable solution. Sensors can be used
source, and the contamination of the arable land have spiraled
to monitor the soil conditions, the plant growth as well as the
up the challenges to meet the ever-increasing food demand
local climates so that the needs of chemicals (fertilizers, weed
worldwide. These have stimulated the efforts around the world
killers, and pesticides) and water can be precisely predicted,
to come up with intelligent agriculture practices [1], [2].
and the environment surrounding the crops can be controlled
Manuscript received May 20, 2021; revised August 27, 2021; accepted accordingly [16]–[20]. Nevertheless, to fulfill this monitoring
September 4, 2021. Date of publication September 13, 2021; date of current application, a large number of sensors are needed due to the
version September 29, 2021. This work was supported by the National need for local info for a large farming area. Therefore, cost
Research Council of Canada (NRC). The Associate Editor coordinating the
review process for this article was Dr. Ada Fort. (Corresponding author: and bio-degradation become important for many sensors to be
Zheng Liu.) used in farming. Besides, to obtain the local environment info,
Rakiba Rayhana is with the School of Engineering, The University of British sensors might need to be attached directly to leaf, stems, and so
Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]).
Gaozhi George Xiao is with the Advanced Electronics and Photonics on. This requires the sensors to be lightweight, conformable,
Research Center, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, flexible, or stretchable. But, unfortunately, most traditional
Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). sensors are rigid and not bio-degradable, and/or expensive.
Zheng Liu is with the School of Engineering, The University of British
Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada (e-mail: [email protected]). Printed electronics is a fast emerging electronic fabrication
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2021.3112234 technique, which is an additive manufacturing method and is
1557-9662 © 2021 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

considered as an environmentally-friendly approach. Utilizing oven, and lasers [28]. The aforementioned techniques control
this technique, electronic devices can be fabricated on low- the heat through the radiation process so that the excess solvent
cost substrates, such as paper, plastic films, concrete, and in the inks and the binders is evaporated. This will help
wood, thus potentially offering the possibility of significantly only the metallic content to be left on the substrate so that
lowering the device cost [21]. Also, for paper and plas- it hardens and sticks to the required substrate. The curing
tic substrates, the printing process can be done in a roll is dependent upon the period and the temperature. At first,
to roll manner, further decreasing the product cost [22]. the oven is heated to ensure all the samples that will be
If the substrates and the inks selected are bio-degradable, placed inside will be heated evenly. As a rule of thumb,
the devices can be fabricated as bio-degradable. Further- to obtain higher conductivity, the samples are heated to high
more, if the substrates chosen are lightweight, flexible, and/or temperature so that all organic contaminants burns out [29].
stretchable, the devices can be produced as lightweight, con- Similar to the curing process, the sintering of the printed
formable, flexible, and/or stretchable [21], [23]. Therefore, technologies is dependent upon the melting temperature. Gen-
printed electronics offer the potential of fabricating sensors erally, the sintering process is impelled locally, especially in
meeting those unique requirements of agriculture discussed the printed layer. Therefore, there can be a reduction in the
above. thermal loading for the selected substrate. The conventional
This article aims to introduce printed sensors, their unique sintering process involves thermal heat. A convection oven (for
characteristics, and their potential applications in addressing example, Memmert UNE 400) is used. Nowadays, electrical
the needs of smart farming. Additionally, the article aims to sintering methods are used to design the inks of the printed
highlight the limitations of using printed sensors in the area technologies as it shows a promising prospect for temperature-
of smart farming. It is hoped that this review will benefit sensitive substrates. For the electrical sintering process, two
the researchers to advance the state of the art of the printed electrodes are contacted with the printed surface and a voltage
sensor technologies and address some key challenges in smart is applied between them so that the current flows inside the
farming. The article is organized as follows. Section II presents printed layer. The currents heat up and induce the sintering of
the fundamentals of printed sensor technologies. Section III the nanoparticles and higher conductivity can be achieved [30].
discusses the measurement and monitoring applications of While designing the formulation of the inks, one should
printed sensor technologies in three key aspects of farming, consider how compatible is the ink with the substrate, i.e., if
including measurement of the chemicals, soil monitoring, and the ink spreads or not, how much time does it take for the inks
microclimate monitoring in greenhouses. This section also to dry and how long the inks can last on the printed circuit
highlights the current problems in each aspects and provide board [31].
potential solutions to overcome the issues. Lastly, Section IV Once the inks are designed and developed, they can be
concludes the article. deposited to the substrates via different printing techniques.
Low-viscosity inks are preferred for gravure and inkjet printing
II. P RINTED S ENSORS : P RINCIPLE AND FABRICATION whilst, high-viscosity inks are preferred for screen-printing,
In this section, the core elements to design the printed micro, and nanoimprinting techniques [24].
sensors such as the inks, substrates, and the printing techniques
are reviewed and the existing challenges are highlighted. This B. Printing Substrates
section will aim the researchers in the field to quickly grasp the
important elements and techniques to design a printed sensor According to the study in [32] and [33], the most common
for the smart farming applications. substrates that are used for printed sensors are paper, card-
board, foil, film made of polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and
poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET). Papers and cardboards are
A. Inks for Printing fibrous materials which require several layers of planarization
Generally, three types of ink, namely micro, nano, and before it is suitable to be used as a substrate for printed
metallic inks are used to print the printed sensors [21]. sensor [34]. The poly-ethylene-based derivative substrates are
Nanoparticle suspensions of copper, gold, and silver are used popular as they are cheap, can be manufactured in varying
to create the interconnection in the circuit board. Besides thicknesses, and the roughness of the surface can be set to the
these, metallic oxides, carbon nanomaterials, and Poly (3,4- range of nanometer. These properties aids to develop high-
ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)–poly(styrenesulfonate) are performance printed sensors [32], [33].
used to design the printed sensors and electronics [24]. One major issue of the aforementioned substrates is that
To design the functional inks for printed sensors, the ink they have low thermal tolerance. When silicon ICs are inte-
formulation is essential to understand. To improve the func- grated with the printed sensors, they require high temperature
tionality of the inks, additives, surfactants, and solvents are (204 ◦ C) to solder [35], [36]. An alternative option would be to
mixed with the pure metallic or semiconducting materials [25]. explore Kapton polyimide (PI), which can withstand the higher
Low viscosity metallic inks are developed through the metallic temperature ranges. However, films made from PI are very
microparticle and nanoparticle, nanocarbon elements, and with expensive, opaque, and has high surface roughness [36]. Other
conducting polymers [26]. On the other hand, high viscosity alternatives to explore could be elastomers, polydimethylsilox-
inks are developed through surfactant and binders [24], [27]. ane (PDMS) based substrates, which can be used to fabricate
The ink that is used in the substrates is cured with microwaves, the flexible sensors [37].

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

Fig. 1. Illustration of different types of printing techniques for printed sensors. (a) Flexography printing. (b) Gravure printing. (c) Screen printing. (d) Offset
lithography printing. (e) Ink jet printing. (f) Aerosol jet printing. (g) Laser direct printing.

TABLE I
S UMMARY OF THE P RINTING T ECHNOLOGIES FOR P RINTED S ENSORS

C. Printing Techniques efficiency, and cost to manufacture printed sensors. As can

Printed sensors are fabricated using the printing process. be seen, the main difference between different printing tech-
Fig. 1 illustrates different printing techniques, including flex- niques is the thickness of one-pass printing. A brief review
ography printing, gravure printing, screen printing, offset of the state-of-the-art printing techniques is provided in the
lithography printing, slot die printing, inkjet printing, aerosol following. Details about the printing techniques for sensor
jet printing, and laser direct writing. Applications of print- fabrications can be found in [39] and [40].
ing techniques for printed electronics can be found in [38]. 1) Flexographic Printing: Flexographic printing technique
Each printing technique has its advantages and disadvantages. is one of the oldest contact printing techniques and it is
Table I summarizes the characteristics of different printing one of the fastest printing techniques (prints at a speed up
techniques in terms of substrates, inks, printing thickness, to 1000 m/min [41]). It is also considered as one of the

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

TABLE II
T YPES OF P RINTED S ENSORS

cheapest printing technique [41]. Nanoparticles-based inks 3) Offset Lithography Printing: Offset lithography is
have been developed to print a variety of sensor designs another popular printing technique used for sensor fabrica-
and the commonly used substrates are paper, foil, film, and tion. It is heavily dependent upon the wetting mechanism
cardboards [42]. The size of the equipment can be small of the printing plate. The plate is dampened by the acidic
enough for tabletop printing or large enough for industry solution so that when the inks are placed, it does not spread
scale roll to roll printing. Flexographic printing has been and contaminate the patterns [53]. The advantage of offset
employed to fabricate biosensors [43], [44], resistive sensors lithography printing is that the capacity, speed, and quality
for screen-touch [45], and humidity sensors [46]. Table II of printing is very high. The disadvantage of this technique is
summarizes the techniques in terms of printed sensors, includ- that it is expensive as it requires ultraviolet/hot air instruments
ing sensor type, printing technique, measurement range, and for drying [54]. Offset printing has been explored for the
sensitivity. printing of biosensors, humidity sensor, strain sensor, and
2) Gravure Printing: Gravure printing techniques are pop- RFID sensors [55].
ular for high-resolution contact printing (prints at a speed 4) Microcontact Printing: Microcontact printing can print
of 18m/s [41]). It is also a roll to roll process but offers much 2-D patterns by using the patterned elastomeric stamp
higher printing quality, however, at a much higher cost for on a mold. The elastomer stamp is made up of
low volume printing. Studies show that in some cases gravure Poly(dimethylsiloxane) as it is optically transparent, homo-
printing is preferred over flexographic printing due to its geneous, and has low surface free energy. These properties
premium printing quality. Nanoparticles based inks with low help the elastomer stamp to be used several times and also to
viscosity are used for this printing technique. The substrates generate multiple copies of sensors. The materials/substrates
used are similar to those used in flexography printing. Gravure which are sensitive to lights can be easily printed by using
printing has been explored for the fabrication of humid- microcontact printing techniques. The main issue for the
ity sensors [47], multitouch sensors [48], gas sensors [49], microcontact printing technique is that if by any chance the
electrochemical sensors [50], and biosensors [51] (as shown patterns are contaminated, the elastomer stamp needs to be
in Table II). peeled off from the mold, which can damage the elastomer
Nowadays, an advanced version of gravure printing, known stamps as well [56]. Microcontact printing techniques are
as gravure-offset is available as another fabrication technique. used to print biosensors [57], gas sensors [58], and strain
The difference between gravure and gravure-offset printing is sensors [59].
mainly the hardware configuration. In gravure-offset printing, 5) Nanoimprinting: The nanoimprinting technique involves
one extra elastic blanket is wrapped around the cylinder a mold that contains the nanoscale pattern surface, which
to reduce the damage due to friction. The popular elec- is pressed to create a cast layer to print on the substrate.
tronic devices, such as resistors, radio frequency identification The two important steps that are required for quality print-
(RFID), thin-film transistor (TFT) [52], and solar cells, are ing are 1) resist filling and 2) releasing from the mold.
fabricated through the gravure-offset printing technique. The Additionally, a controlled pressure should be maintained to
main disadvantage of the gravure-offset printing technique eliminate/minimize the defects in the printing patterns [39].
is the availability of inks. This is also true for flexography The advantage of nanoimprinting is that it has a very high
printing. resolution, can produce 3-D patterns, and can cover larger

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

areas to print at a low cost. However, the fabrication technique 10) Laser Direct Writing: Recently, laser direct writing
is prone to contamination, which can increase the printing is becoming an alternative to the offset lithography printing
defects [60]. Nanoimprinting techniques are used to print strain technique. A pulse laser beam is employed to transfer the
sensors [61], and chemical sensors [62]. source material onto the transparent substrate. The laser pulses
6) Transfer Printing: Transfer printing is a recently devel- are projected via the transparent substrate, which modulates
oped technique. The traditional photolithography process the laser beam. This modulation process helps to print 3-D and
is employed to obtain the circuits on a wafer and complex patterns in a short period and at a lower cost [97].
Poly(dimethylsiloxane) is used to fabricate the stamps [63], The common substrate that is used for this type of printing
[64]. The stamp picks up the circuits from the wafer surface techniques is glass, metal, and polymers [98]. Laser direct
and then transfers the pattern to the desired substrate (such as writing has been explored for vapor sensors [99], humidity
plastic film). The advantage of transfer printing is that it com- sensors [100], and strain sensors [64].
bines the advantages of inorganic electronics and the flexibility The aforementioned printed technologies have advanced the
of plastics (or other functionality of the substrates). Transfer fabrication of printed electronics in many ways. However,
printing has been used to fabricate temperature sensors [65], there are still many challenges that need to be addressed
wearable sensors [66], chemical sensors [67], gas sensors [68], to make printed electronics suitable for wider applications
[69], and strain sensors [70]. and be more efficient and robust. Those challenges include
the availability of functional inks; difficulty in high-resolution
7) Screen Printing: Screen printing is the oldest printing
printing and fine feature control; poor reliability, and so on.
technology. It was introduced in the 1980s to commercially
Nevertheless, the rapid growth of printing technologies has
produce amperometric biosensors [71]–[73]. Screen printing
broadened the scope and the application of sensors. Due to the
sensors are cost-effective and have a wide range of substrate
uniqueness of printing electronics, printed sensors are becom-
materials for selection, i.e., any flat surfaces including textile,
ing complementary to the conventional silicon IC sensors. For
plastic film, paper, rubber, drywall, wood plate, concrete
example, screen-printed glucose sensors are now a billion-
plate, and so on. Both microparticles based and nanoparticle-
dollar business. Therefore, the development of low-cost inks
based inks have been developed for screen printing. Screen
and low-cost high-resolution printing devices can improve the
printing has been employed or explored for the fabrication
sensor reliability, performance, and also can reduce the invest-
of many types of sensors as listed in Table II. including
ment cost to employ printed sensors in different applications.
electrochemical sensors [74]–[76], capacitive sensors [77],
[78], gas sensors [79]–[81], humidity sensors [82], temperature
sensors [83], and moisture sensors [84]. The screen-printed III. M EASUREMENT AND M ONITORING
sensors have been used in a wide range of applications, espe- W ITH P RINTED S ENSORS
cially in biomedical, environmental, and agri-food sectors [85].
Sensors are the basis of smart agriculture, as it helps to
8) Inkjet-Printing: Inkjet-printing is a digital and understand the environment for crop growth and the soil
contactless printing technique that has been explored for many condition, to assist the decision making of the application of
electronic device fabrications including transistors, diodes, fertilizer, pesticides, and weed killers, to control the irrigation
antennas, as well as sensors It is a relatively slow process system, to decide the timing of harvest, and to evaluate the
but very simple. It is particularly useful for the verification quality of the crops. In other words, the objective of the sensors
of concepts and the fabrication of prototypes but not quite is to develop the intelligent capacities to facilitate the decision-
suitable for mass productions. Usually, the nanoparticles- making process for the crop production [108], [109].
based inks are used by inkjet-printing. The advantage of inkjet Over the years, various transducers and sensing technologies
printing is that it works for any type of substrates. The inkjet- have been developed and used in different research domains.
printed techniques have been explored for the fabrication For instance, the most popular sensing technology to measure
of electrochemical sensors and biochemical sensors [86], soil moisture content in laboratories is a thermo-gravimetric
RFID sensors [87], capacitive sensors [88], ammonia gas sen- method, which measures the water content in the soil. Apart
sors [89], temperature sensors [90], and humidity sensors [91]. from water content, many soil moisture sensors are designed
9) Aerosol Jet Printing: Aerosol jet printing is another to operate through the dielectric property, thermal conductiv-
noncontact printing technology. It is also known as mask- ity, and specific heat capacity of the dry soil. For on-site
less mesoscale materials deposition (M3D) where materials monitoring, gypsum block, tensiometer, single, multi, and
are deposited without any contact with the substrates [92]. neutron probe commercial sensors, time-domain reflectome-
An atomizer is used to release the ink, which can then spray try, capacitance, and impedance-based sensors are used. For
the ink in the form of liquid droplets, like aerosol spraying. crop nutrient sensing, colorimetry, inductively coupled plasma
The advantage of aerosol printing is that it can be used to spectroscopy, visible spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy,
print patterns on 3-D subjects, be it flat or curved [43]. The infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, ion-
technology has been explored for the repair of electronic selective field-effect transistors, and ion-selective electrodes
circuits and 3-D electronic component printing. It has also are used Kashyap and Kumar [110]. For carbon diox-
been explored for the fabrication of strain sensors [93], ide measurements, gravimetric sensors, piezoelectric-based
motion sensor [94], electrochemical sensors [95], and humidity and capacitive-based sensing technologies are commonly
sensors [96]. used. To facilitate the sensing technologies, printed sensing

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

technologies can be integrated with the conventional silicon- nitrate ions in real-time and could detect 1–70 ppm of nitrates.
based sensors so that the sensing capacity is more accu- The unique benefit of these sensors is that it is reusable and
rate [111]. avoids repeated calibration [121].
The measurement techniques of the sensors can be divided The quantification of nitrite has been a concern as the
into contact and noncontact measurement categories. The con- nitrite compounds can interact with amines to form car-
tact measurement usually refers to the measurement techniques cinogenic compounds. Nitrite is a chemical compound that
where the devices are directly in contact with the measurands is used in fertilizers and food additives [122], [123]. It is
or parameters. For instance, soil moisture sensors are directly usually monitored through nanomaterial-based electrochemi-
inserted in the soil so that it remains in contact with the soil cal/biosensors. Screen-printed graphene-based electrochemical
and measures the soil moisture level. However, they require sensors can be used to measure and monitor the nitrite
a higher footprint and a high number of laborers. Noncon- level in the soil. The graphene-based electrochemical sensors
tact measurement refers to the measuring process which can offer high electrical conductivity (106 S cm−1 ) and specific
directly measure the component, such as carbon dioxide gas surface area (2630 m2 g−1 ) [124], [125] than that of other
sensors in greenhouses. The advantage of noncontact measure- forms of carbon. Additionally, graphene oxide is an excel-
ment is that it can quickly collect a large amount of data with lent hydrophilic compound which makes the sensors more
high accuracy without contact with the measurand/parameters. precise in measurements than the traditional sensors. The
Therefore, for the smart agriculture applications, noncontact graphene-based printed sensors also show high sensitivities
measurements are mostly preferred [112]. (0.126 μA μM−1 cm−2 ) [122], [123].
In Sections III-A–III-D reviews the applications of the 2) Pesticides: Chemical pesticides are used for pest and
printed sensors that have been explored so far with the state- weed control. The excessive use of chemical pesticides not
of-the-art sensors to tackle issues in smart agriculture. only degrades the quality of the harvest but can also contribute
to environmental pollution. Besides, it can trigger many dis-
A. Measurement of Chemicals eases such as cancer, allergies, sterility, and also death [126].
1) Fertilizers: The yield and/or the biomass of the crops Over the past few years, several novel methods to control
are dependent upon the adequate amount of essential macro- the pest and disease have been developed. The traditional
nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), methods to detect pesticides include capillary electrophoresis,
and sulfur (S). Therefore, chemical fertilizers such as ammo- mass spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography. However, most
nium, urea, nitrate are provided to replenish the nutrients in of these methods are time-consuming, expensive, and require
the soil. However, over-exploitation of the chemical fertilizers skilled personnel to operate [127]. To overcome these limita-
can contaminate the surface and groundwater, which increases tions, enzymatic biosensors are used to detect pesticides as it
environmental pollution. On the other hand, underuse of the provides faster detection than the traditional techniques [128].
chemical fertilizers comes with the cost of the crop yield or However, the mass production enzymatic biosensors are very
production [113]. An adequate amount of mineral nutrients expensive [129] as the cost of extracting the enzyme and
can improve both the quantity and quality of the harvest. purification of the enzyme is very high. Also, the enzymatic
Most of the farmers are not aware of the nutrient level that is not stable as it tends to get deactivated with the alteration
is present in the soil. Based on their experiences, the farmers of the environment conditions [130].
either under-estimate or overestimate the usage of fertiliz- Recent research presented a study on the screen-printed
ers [114]. To tackle this issue, nitrogen (N), phosphorous acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biosensors to detect the residual
(P), and potassium (K) (NPK) sensors are integrated with component of toxic compounds such as organophosphorus
the IoT systems to analyze the macro-nutrients of the soil. and carbamate pesticides [131]. The AChE enzyme is used
These sensors are capable enough to monitor the soil nutrients as it can inhibit the organophosphorus and carbamate com-
in real-time and efficiently transfer the information to the pounds. Screen-printing is employed to print the electrodes.
cloud server [114]–[117]. However, these sensors need to be These sensors respond fast, are stable, sensitive, and bio-
calibrated before each measurement, which is time consum- degradable. They can be mass-produced at a lower cost than
ing [118]. Also, the price of the sensors is high [119]. the traditional biosensors [131]. Another study presented a
Screen-printed electrochemical sensors might leverage screen-printed Cholinesterase biosensors for the detection of
the aforementioned problems. A low cost and nonenzy- the organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides [132]. Similar
matic screen-printed electrochemical sensor was presented by to the previous study, the electrode is screen-printed with
Bao et al. [120] to measure the urea fertilizer in the soil. The polyaniline, 7,7,8,8 -tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), and
sensor was printed on a carbon substrate and had a sensitivity the detection limit was 0.005 mmol L−1 . The sensitivity for
of 0.38 mA mM−1 cm−2 [120]. the sensor was measured to be as 8.0 ± 0.1 μA (μmol L −1 ),
Nowadays, printed carbon/graphene sensors are also used to which makes it suitable to detect the hazardous residuals
measure the nitrate level in the field. The carbon sensors are compounds in the soil [132]. Fig. 2 represents a typical screen-
fabricated through laser direct writing on thin glass materials printed Cholinesterase sensors.
to measure the nitrate ions. PDMS was used for casting A screen-printed disposable electrochemical biosensor
material as it is a cheap, hydrophobic, and nonhazardous electrode was presented by Palchetti et al. [133] to detect
element. The length and width of the sensors are around 5 mm organophosphorus and carbamate components. The screen-
× 4.5 mm, respectively. The developed sensors could sense the printed electrode was made up of the modified carbon

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

TABLE III
A PPLICATION OF P RINTED S ENSORS FOR C HEMICAL C ONTROL

Fig. 2. Typical screen printed pesticide detection sensor.

and cobalt (II) phthalocyanine (CoPC). The CoPc helps to

detect complex compounds (-thiol compounds) in the pes-
ticides. They can also be used to detect Carbofuran and
are not susceptible to electrochemical interference, which
makes them more suitable to users than the traditional
biosensors [133]–[135].
Besides the organophosphorus and carbamate compounds,
the detection of chlorine deposition in the soil is also very
important. This is because chlorine has an adverse effect on
plant growth and it can also contaminate the water. Screen-
printed potentiometric sensors are gaining attention to detect
the chloride ions in the soil [136]. The detection range of
these sensors is from 0.1 mM (3.55 mg/L) to 200 mM
(7.09 g/L) [136] and the response time for the sensors are
better, which makes it suitable for integration with wireless
communication technology [136]. Table III summarizes the
applications of the printed sensor for the control of chemicals
discussed in this section. Fig. 3. Printed capacitor developed by Kim et al. [151] (Image for this
There are still some issues regarding the chemical fertil- illustration is reproduced with permission from the respective authors).
izer/pesticide detection using the printed sensors. For instance,
The AChE-biosensors require a high voltage to generate the hydrological cycle. Soil moisture also impacts plant growth,
thiocholine oxidation [131]. The transducers (amperometric soil erosion, and can interfere with the application of chemical
and voltammetric) used for these sensors might provide the fertilizers [140]–[142]. According to [143], maintaining suit-
wrong current readings due to the interference with other able moisture content can save up to 25% of irrigation water.
electro-active elements [133]. These problems can be allevi- The soil moisture content also has a proportional relationship
ated by incorporating the mediator in the electrodes which with the soil humidity and temperature [144]. Various studies
maintain the potential difference across it and mitigate the have been conducted to monitor the soil moisture level. The
interferences. Also, the membrane is required to control the most popular soil moisture sensors are the electromagnetic
molecular weight and charge of the compounds which can sensors, such as time-domain reflectometer (TDR), frequency
interfere with the electrodes [131], [133]. domain reflectometer (FDR), resistive and capacitive sen-
sors [145]. However, each of these sensors comes with its
B. Monitoring of Soil Properties challenges. For instance, the waveform analysis of TDR sen-
Soil is an imperative resource to ensure the proper growth sors is very complex to interpret [146]. The FDR sensors
of plants. The physical and chemical compositions of the soil, are very time-consuming and inefficient for real-time mea-
such as soil moisture, humidity, temperature, pH, salinity, and surements [147]. The capacitance-based sensors have issues
nutrient contents, are the essential parameters to assess the with long-term reliability and stability in the performance.
quality of the soil for the crop harvest or natural vegeta- The capacitance-based sensors have issues with long-term
tion [137]. However, the manual monitoring of these para- reliability and stability in the performance [148]. The resistive-
meters is time-consuming, error-prone, and requires a large based sensors are composed of heavy materials (gypsum
labor force. This increases the overall cost of the production porous blocks, which use fiber-glass as substrate [149]), and
of the crops. To mitigate the aforementioned issues, various the calibration changes with the course of the time [150].
types of sensors are deployed with IoT systems to acquire the Printed sensors have the potential to solve some of the afore-
real-time data of the soil conditions [138], [139]. mentioned challenges. A study conducted by Kim et al. [151]
1) Soil Moisture: Mapping the soil moisture content is crit- presented the advantage of using inkjet-printed RFID sensors
ical as it can affect the atmospheric temperature and alters the to alleviate the challenges regarding sensor reliability and sta-

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

TABLE IV
PARAMETERS TO M ONITOR THE WATER L EVEL FOR THE P LANT G ROWTH

Fig. 4. Sensprout- a printed soil monitoring prototype [158] (Image for this
illustration is reproduced with the permission from the respective authors).

moisture and soil humidity. The platform comprises the soil

moisture sensor, leaf sensor, microcontroller, and antenna.
Fig. 4 shows the SenSprout platform. The soil moisture is
inserted in the soil, whilst the leaf sensor, microcontroller, and
antenna are placed outside of the soil. The components which
are placed outside the soil are coated with parylene and silicon
to safeguard the sensors from harsh weather conditions. The
microcontroller detects the changes in the capacitance of both
Fig. 5. Water management with printed sensors designed by MIT researchers. leaf and soil moisture sensors and processes the information.
The antenna helps to transmit the processed information to the
relevant data storage platforms. The fully passive platform is
bility. The study presented a design of printed capacitance and printed via inkjet printing technology and paper is used as a
printed RFID tags, which could minimize the cross-coupling substrate [154], [158]–[160].
effect and stabilize the readings. Fig. 3 shows the printed 2) Requirement of Water for Plant Growth: Knowing the
capacitive sensors. One of the important reasons for employing soil moisture content is not enough for proper irrigation
printed sensors technology in smart agriculture is that it does control. These data have to be correlated with the plant
not utilize any toxic chemicals to abrade the unwanted metals growth [161]–[165]. The traditional smart irrigation system
from the surface of the substrate. As printed sensors are based considers the parameters (presented in Table IV) to design
on additive manufacturing techniques, the nanoparticle inks are an efficient water management system. Recently, a group of
deposited only at the desired location on the substrate, which Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers has
reduces ink waste. The nanoparticle-based silver inks have a proposed a printed sensor to understand the plant’s water
1.1×107 S/m conductivity value, which is close to the conduc- requirements. When the soil of the plant dries out, the rate
tivity of silver and copper. The RFID-based capacitive sensors of photosynthesis decreases, and the plant’s wilt. Therefore,
can be printed on paper substrates, which are very cheap and the printed sensors for water management are placed on the
biodegradable. Moreover, transparent paper and hydrophilic stomata of the plants, which can measure the water evaporation
papers can be used as a substrate to avoid calibration errors rate. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with sodium dodecyl sulfate
and enhance the accuracy of the measurements. (organic solvent) ink are used to develop this sensor. This
Similar work of using printed RFID sensor for soil moisture ink has no hazardous effect to destroy the stomata/pore of
content monitoring was reported by Kim et al. [151], [152], the plants. Thus, it can help to record the transpiration and
da Fonseca et al. [153], and Traille et al. [154]. In addition to evaporation rate and relay the information to the IoT-based
the printed capacitive sensors, printed capacitor touch sensors system to manage the water resources. This can also help to
for measuring the soil moisture content are also gaining popu- mitigate the alteration of the electrical conductivity as it is
larity that are operated within 50 kHz–3 MHz [155]. A recent placed on the leaves. Fig. 5 shows the water management
study shows that thin film was used for sensor fabrication, prototype developed by MIT researchers. The potential to
which can lower the overall production price [156]. In addition manage the water for the plant growth and crops using
to this, thin sheets of glass and metals are also used to develop these printed sensors is very high. This sensor has been
the soil printed sensors as they can stand high annealing and tested on different types of plants and it can provide drought
sintering temperature [157]. alerts very efficiently [166]–[169]. Recently, Graphene-on-
Recently, “SenSprout;” a low-cost printed sensor platform tape-based flexible wearable devices are used in plant leaves to
was proposed by Kawahara et al. [158]. SenSprout is an inte- remotely monitor the water uptake of the plants. The graphene-
gration of multiple sensors that can efficiently detect soil on-tape- based wearable device comprises on-tape- pressure

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

sensors, humidity, and strain sensors. As the tapes are placed TABLE V
on the leaves, they can measure the transpiration rate from A PPLICATIONS OF THE P RINTED S ENSORS FOR S OIL M ANAGEMENT
the stomata and can ensure if the plant is under-watered/over-
watered. This can not only help to monitor the water needs
of the plants but can also optimize the use of irrigation [170],
[171]. The primary advantage of this kind of printed sensor
is that they are lightweight and can be attached to the plant
leaves.
3) Soil Salinity: Soil salinity is an important soil parameter
to monitor [175]. Soil showing more than four decisiemens
per meter (dS m−1 ) of electrical conductivity at a temperature
of 25 ◦ C is defined as saline soil [176]. Soil salinity not
only severely impact plant growth but also plays a major
role in soil degradation as it can cause soil erosion and
soil dispersion [177]. The plant growth is also dependent
upon the pH of the soil as the pH determines the nutrient
availability, soil structure, and soil bacteria. Healthy plant
growth requires an optimum pH of 5.5–6.5 [178]. Hence, highly influenced by the microclimate. The control of the
it is paramount to monitor the soil salinity and pH so that microclimate is a difficult process as it involves many envi-
the location with higher salt and lower nutrient areas can be ronmental parameters such as humidity, temperature, carbon
located. Nowadays, a combination of multiple sensors, which dioxide gas, and illumination. Nowadays, printed sensors are
includes, soil electroconductivity (EC) sensors, humidity, and being explored to facilitate data acquisition and to improve
temperature sensors are used in IoT based systems to monitor the microclimatic control inside the greenhouses. Table VI
the salinity of the soil [176], [179], [180]. EC sensors are summarizes the typical applications of printed sensors in
also used to measure the pH level of the soil [181]. The greenhouses. In Sections III-C1–III-C5 briefly describes the
reported issues for the saline monitoring and pH sensors are climatic parameters of the greenhouses and the potential use
that they are rigid and bulky in structure. Also, the sensors are of the printed sensors to improve the control of the parameters.
nonbiodegradable. Printed sensors can be employed to tackle 1) Humidity: Humidity control is essential for plant growth
these problems as they can be fabricated as thin, flexible, as a slight change in the humidity might introduce fungi,
or even biodegradable. molds, and other fungal plant diseases which affect the yield of
Screen-printed potentiometric silver/silver chloride sensors the crops [186]. There are different types of humidity sensors,
along with the silicon-based sensors have been compared for such as resistive, capacitive, surface acoustic, and colorimetric.
saline and phosphine (PH) sensing. The fabrication process, Amongst them, the most manufactured are capacitive humidity
cost, and precision of printed silver/silver chloride sensors are sensors as they are very simple and it offers a wide measure-
found to be more competitive than the full silicon-based EC ment range [47]. However, as aforementioned, the common
sensors [182]. Moreover, printed potentiometric silver/silver problem of the traditional capacitive sensors is the bulk size
chloride sensors require fewer calibrations than silicon-based and poor long-term stability in measurements. It is also very
ones [76]. sensitive to dew points and certain harsh chemical compo-
Table V summarizes the applications of the printed sen- nents [187]. For printed sensors, during manufacture, a layer
sor for soil management discussed in this section. Although of hydrophilic film is used for the sensing layer which remains
printed sensors are cost-effective and fabricated in an envi- stable for a different range of humidities (low to high) so that
ronmentally friendly way, many challenges require ample the stability and sensitive issues facing the traditional sensors
attention for smart agriculture. can be overcome. The types of substrates that are used are
The substrates used for printing should be properly mostly polymers such as, polyamide, polymethyl methacry-
selected/developed for a different environment, such as the late (PMMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (pHEMA), and
hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions [183]. Also, the bio- cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). A study conducted in 2011
degradability of the printed sensor is important. Besides, presented full gravure printed capacitive sensors using the
for soil water sensors, one potential issue could be bio- silver nanoparticle inks and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
fouling. Biofouling is the natural growth of microorganisms, as the substrate. This humidity sensor outperformed the thick
algae/plants on water surfaces. This phenomenon can reduce film-coated (conventional) humidity sensors, which makes it
the lifetime of the printed sensors and can generate inaccurate suitable to use in the smart agriculture [47]. An example of a
values [184]. For the printed saline and pH sensors, the cali- screen-printed temperature sensor is presented in Fig. 6.
bration error and sensor drift are the issues, which give errors Similarly, Mraović et al. [188] proposed two capaci-
in the pH values [76]. tive based humidity sensors. Those sensors were fabri-
cated by the screen-printing technique. Silver nanoparticle-
C. Monitoring of Microclimate in Greenhouses based ink was employed and cardboard and recycled paper
Greenhouses are one of the complex multifactor control were selected as the substrates. The experiment results
system [185], where plant growth and crop production are show that sensors printed cardboard perform better than the

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

TABLE VI
A PPLICATION OF P RINTED S ENSORS FOR M ICROCLIMATE M ANAGEMENT IN G REENHOUSES

sensors on the recycled paper. This shows that the card- paper [192], which swells the fibers. The swelling reduces
board humidity sensors have a greater chance to be inte- the adsorption ability and alters the equilibrium of the paper.
grated with UHF-RFID sensors to form a complete sys- The alteration of the equilibrium then disrupts the linearity
tem for recording humidity [188]. Another study proposed of the sensor. As a result, inaccurate humidity values are
a screen and gravure-based printed CNT humidity sensor. recorded. One potential solution to overcome this issue is to
The sensor is printed with the silver nanoparticle inks on reduce the thickness of the paper so that layer for adsorption
the flexible PET substrate. The performance of these fab- becomes thinner and equilibrium can be reached faster. This
ricated sensors showed promising results for use in smart will improve the response time and eliminate the hysteresis
agriculture [189]. problem [191], [192].
Besides, gravure and screen-printing, fully inkjet-printed 2) Temperature: For greenhouse farming, maintaining tem-
capacitive humidity sensors were also studied [190]. A study perature is crucial as temperature variation significantly affects
conducted by Rivadeneyra et al. [191] used the inkjet-printed plant growth. There are many approaches to comprehend
capacitive humidity sensors on the polyamide substrate. The the temperature variation through the transducers. The tradi-
size of the sensor has been optimized so that it can be attached tional sensors that are used to measure the temperature are
to the leaf of the plants. Studies show that most of the the thermistor, thermocouple, resistance temperature detector
sensors that are used to measure humidity are the printed (RTD), and semiconductor based IC sensors. Printed sen-
capacitive type sensors. However, one common problem for sors have been explored in recent years. In [193], a screen
printed capacitive sensors is hysteresis. The phenomenon is printed chipless wireless temperature sensor was demon-
developed through the water molecules trapped inside the strated. In [194], an inkjet-printed temperature sensor was

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

reported. In this study, both negative coefficients (NTCs) of gas concentration. It also shows better selectivity than
and positive coefficients (PTCs) materials were combined in that of the traditional sensors, which makes it suitable to be
a Wheatstone bridge configuration to enhance the electri- integrated with the control systems of the greenhouse farms.
cal sensitivity of the temperature. Carbon nanoparticle inks Although the prospect of the printed carbon dioxide sen-
with different concentrations were studied and Polyethylene sors is great for the greenhouse, yet there are still many
Napthalate (PEN) substrates were used for the fabrication. unknowns that need to be resolved. The literature study
A similar concept was applied by Aliane et al. [195] but shows that the scope of printed carbon dioxide sensors is
instead of inkjet- printing technology, a screen-printed tech- not fully explored. The integration of printed carbon dioxide
nology was used to fabricate the temperature sensor. This sensors and the data acquisition/performance of the sen-
was mainly developed for human body temperature detection. sors in real-time remains unknown. Hence, more studies
However, the size and the properties of the sensors ensures and analyses should be conducted on the printed carbon
that it can be used in the agricultural fields. For a wideband dioxide sensors.
of temperature, a screen printing-based capacitive tempera- 4) Light Intensity: During the winter season, when the
ture sensor on the PET substrate was developed. This is a sunlight is less than the summer, greenhouse farms receive
remote readable flexible temperature sensor, which is very around 40%–80% natural light for plant photosynthesis.
suitable for smart agriculture and it is suitable for remote The decreased photosynthesis then reduces the plant growth
sensing. The sensor could operate efficiently in the range and crop/fruit yield. Therefore, to increase the quality and
of 0 ◦ C–70 ◦ C and the performance was better than other crop/fruit yield, artificial lighting systems are used to comple-
conventional thermistors [196]. An example of a screen- ment the natural sunlight. However, careful monitoring of the
printed temperature sensor is presented in Fig. 6. artificial light intensities is required to maintain healthy plant
The literature studies show that limited studies were con- growth inside the greenhouses. The traditional lighting sensors
ducted regarding the printed temperature sensors for smart have a very high response time and are sensitive to temperature
agriculture. The printed temperature sensors have a propor- changes as well [201]. The printed light sensors might perform
tional relationship between the resistance and the temperature. better in these two aspects. One such study was found in [202].
In other words, the changes in the temperature can change the The study presented organic inkjet printed light intensity
resistance of the sensors. However, the operation range of the sensors on flexible foil papers. The sensor is developed
printed temperature sensors is dependent on the inks selected. through organic photodiodes and a transconductance opera-
Currently, the availability of inks for different temperature tional amplifier to mitigate the temperature-sensitive issue.
range measurements is very limited. The proposed sensor exhibited a satisfactory performance for
3) Concentration of Carbon Dioxide: It is a general practice monitoring the light intensities [202]. A full inkjet polyflu-
to supply artificial carbon dioxide gas inside the greenhouse orene photosensor was developed by Lavery et al. [203] to
farms to increase the quality and yield of the crops as it detect high light intensities. With the metal nanoparticles and
can increase the photosynthesis rate. The photosynthesis rate conjugated polymers, the light intensity sensors were printed
influences the plant growth (leaf size, height, biomass, etc.), on the glass substrates with indium tin oxide (ITO). The
the higher rate tends to increase the yield of the crops [197]. proposed sensors could detect light intensities within 100–
One of the most common problems for the traditional carbon 400 Klux and could solve high response time issues for the
dioxide gas sensor is the cross-sensitivity which affects the traditional sensors.
calibration of the sensors. In other words, the changes of other There are very limited studies related to the application
gases around would affect the calibration of the carbon dioxide of printed sensors in smart agriculture. The results and per-
gas sensors [198]. formance analysis from the literature studies show a good
Recently, printed devices are employed to monitor prospect to use the printed light intensity sensors in smart
the carbon dioxide level inside greenhouse farms. agriculture, but the measurement range and the sensitivity of
Waghuley et al. [199] presented two sensors: Polypyrrole the printed light sensors are unknown.
(PPy)-I and PPy-II, to measure the concentration of the 5) Plant Growth Monitoring: Plant/crop growth is depen-
carbon dioxide gas. The sensors are developed using the dent upon the aforementioned parameters such as humidity,
monomer of Pyrrole and FeCl3 powder. Screen printing temperature, carbon dioxide level, and light intensity. These
was employed to fabricate the sensor on glass substrates. parameters are quantitative which means that the obtained data
The developed sensors exhibited a very good performance from each sensor need to be further analyzed to comprehend
while measuring the concentration of the carbon dioxide gas healthy plant growth. The quantitative parameters do not
(0–900 ppm). provide much crucial information for plant growth. Therefore,
A fully inkjet-printed chipless RFID-based carbon diox- there is a constant need to develop systems/devices which
ide gas sensor was presented in [200]. A layer of carbon can assess and monitor the plants both quantitatively and
nanoparticles is infused with PEDOT-polystyrene sulfonate qualitatively [204]. In recent times, different studies were
(PSS) solution. CNT-based PEDOT-PSS and silver inks are conducted to develop such integrated systems [205]–[207].
used to print on the flexible laminated substrate. The sensor However, the sensors that are deployed for the plant growth
operates at the frequency range of 2.4–2.5 GHz, allowing measurement are very heavy and bulky in size and need to be
a long reading range for the sensors. The results from the placed in secured areas so that they can operate efficiently.
proposed sensors show promising aspects for the measurement Hence, there is an urge to develop a flexible, stretchable,

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

Fig. 6. Some examples of screen printed sensors. From left to right (a) exam-
ple of screen-printed humidity sensor (The image is collected from [82] and Fig. 7. Multifunction leaf sensor developed by Zhao et al. [208] (Image for
resized for the illustration) and (b) example of screen-printed temperature this illustration is reproduced with the permission of the respective authors).
sensor (The image is collected from [83] and resized for the illustration).

small, lightweight device that can be placed on the plant of grains in the silos and storehouse facilities. Every year,
leaves to monitor growth. One such study was found in [204], a lot of food grains are wasted due to mere negligence and
where a butterfly-shaped plant wearable device was designed catastrophes [210]. A monitoring system was developed to
by integrating strain, temperature, and humidity sensor with monitor the condition of the grains in the warehouse [210],
a miniature programmable-system-on-chip (PSoC) and with [211]. The parameters that were monitored are humidity,
a petite rechargeable battery (3.7 V Li-ion, with a capacity atmospheric gases, temperature, and motion detection. The
of 500 mAh). The important feature of this device is that proposed system consists of various sensors such as humidity,
it is very flexible and can be stretched and it can easily temperature, gas sensor, and motion detector sensors with
conform to the uneven surface of the plant leaves for accurate several nodes. The nodes are connected in an ad hoc manner.
data acquisition [204]. Zhao et al. [208] proposed a multi- An algorithm is developed to compare the humidity, gas
functional flexible ultrathin wearable leaf sensor fabricated level, temperature, and motion with a predefined value. Once
by the traditional spinning coating and etching process. This the sensor acquires the values, the values are fed to the
sensor can measure temperature, light intensity, hydration, algorithm for comparison. If the values are more than what
and leaf growth to monitor the plant physiology and the was predefined, it will generate a report of which parameter is
microclimatic parameters. Fig. 7 shows the developed leaf high and needs to be controlled/adjusted and a warning alarm
sensor by Zhao et al. [208]. It is possible to print such a will be set on. The system could reduce crop wastage and
sensor using the printed electronic technology to simplify the save a lot of money [210]. Another study proposed a similar
fabrication process. approach but they used a light sensor instead of gas and motion
The advantage of integrating printed technologies with the detector sensors. The study showed a promising prospect to
conventional sensors is that it enhance the durability of the be used in monitoring the grains in the warehouse [212].
sensors. The bulk conductive inks which interconnects have Nowadays, many integrated platforms with soft sensors are
higher conductivity. This high conductivity removes the curing used to monitor crop wastage. Jayas et al. [213] proposed an
of high temperature. The bulk wire and the mesh like structure integrated platform, which is comprised of multisoft sensors
increases the tensile strength of it. Therefore, the durability of to monitor the condition of the stored grains. The study
the sensors increases more than the conventional sensors [209]. proposed to employ temperature, humidity, and moisture sen-
One major challenge of designing the plant growth moni- sors, microcarbon dioxide gas sensor, odor sensors, acoustic,
toring sensors would be to ensure the stability of the materials and electrostatic sensors (dust sensors) combined together to
which is used to develop the printed sensor. From the concept monitor the quality of the grain inside the bin. The study
and definition of printed sensor technologies, the sensors showed that the proposed multisoft sensors integrated platform
should be flexible and stretchable. However, the printed sensor can prevent grain spoilage and potential health hazards [213].
materials that are currently used or available in the market Recent studies found in [214]–[217] showed that wireless
are firm and hard in nature, which improves the performance temperature and humidity sensors integrated with IoT based
and robustness of the sensors. The mechanical requisite to platforms are very effective to measure the grain mass that is
administer the stretchable and flexible nature opposes the stored in silos. Monitoring the mass of the grain can facilitate
electronic properties of printed electronics. If flexible and knowing the conditions of the grains in the silos and can
stretchable elements are added to the printed sensors, this can significantly reduce grain wastage.
deteriorate the performance of the electronic components in Grains that are stored in higher temperatures and moisture
the sensors [24]. Hence, several mechanical studies on material will spoil fast due to the increased respiration and metabolic
and bonding mechanisms of the material under different con- rate, mold growths, and mycotoxin development [218]. Well-
ditions such as flexing, twisting, and bending [24] are required dried and temperature-regulated grains can be stored in sealed
to design plant growth monitoring sensors. silos/bins for almost a year [219]. However, the grain moisture
content and grain temperature do not remain static, which
D. Monitoring Crop Wastage means that regular monitoring is paramount to minimize grain
After the crops are harvested, the next task is to store them wastage. The most common temperature sensors that are used
in silos in a warehouse so that the supply lasts while the to monitor the grain conditions in silos are the thermocouples
demand for the crops is there. Unfortunately, most of the and the integrated digital (silicon-based) sensors [218]. The
time, many crops are wasted due to the poor management thermocouples have cables and they are very cheap to be

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RAYHANA et al.: PRINTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING APPLICATIONS IN SMART FARMING 9513419

installed inside the silos. However, if multiple thermocouples print. The ink for screen printing is thicker, which enables
are used, the system would get bulky, and expensive to manage it to print the design in good quality. It has strong implica-
as each sensor requires individual cables to operate at a max- tions of 3-D patterns, which makes this printing technology
imum silo height of 45 m. Additionally, thermocouples have unique and suitable for designing the printed sensors for
higher measurement errors, which makes them less suitable to smart agriculture [226]. Inkjet printing is also suitable for
be used in large warehouses or storage facilities. On the other smart agriculture practices. This is because inkjet printing
hand, digital wireless temperature sensors are lightweight, easy has exhibited the capacity to minimize the losses between
to install, and can be used in silos of more than 45 m. the mesh interconnection at the millimeter frequency level
The measurement accuracy is also around 0.5 ◦ C, which in comparison to the conventional ribbon-bonded (radio fre-
makes it more suitable to be used in the integrated IoT-based quency) interconnections. The ribbon-bonded interconnections
monitoring platforms. The real-time temperature monitoring of provide inductance at high frequencies and also have higher
the grains in silos can identify the early stage grain spoilage discontinuities, which reduces the overall efficiency of the
and preventive measures such as ensuring proper aeration sensors. Since smart agriculture requires precise monitoring
through switching on the fans can be taken [218]. and measurement, inkjet printing techniques can ensure the
To monitor the grain moisture content in silos, capacitive sensors perform better than the conventional silicon-based
sensors are mostly used. The capacitive moisture sensors sensors [22].
operate based on the alteration of capacitance and they are cali-
brated according to the specific permittivity and temperature of IV. F UTURE P ERSPECTIVES
the grain/crop that are stored in the silos [142]. McIntosh and
Casada [220] developed a fringing field capacitance sensor- Although the printed sensor technologies have a promising
based grain moisture monitoring probe, which showed a outlook in the smart farming field, there are still many issues
promising performance. In addition to the capacitive sensors, that need to be addressed or taken into account. The issues
near infra-red (NIR) moisture meter [221], and microwave are listed in the following.
moisture sensors [222], [223] are also employed to monitor 1) From the perspective of material selection for design-
the grain/crop wastage. ing printed sensor technologies, the materials need
In addition to the grain temperature and moisture con- to be stretchable and flexible. However, incorporat-
tent, monitoring carbon dioxide gas levels, fumigation and ing these properties might confound with the silicon-
insects are also very crucial to know the internal condition based traditional sensors. A recent study found in [24]
of spoilage of the stored grains in silos. The literature study proposed to explore elastomeric soft components and
shows that increased carbon dioxide gas levels refer to the organic/inorganic nanomaterials to overcome the mater-
potential invasion of insect activities or mold growth inside the ial selection issues for printed sensors.
grains [224]. Hence, carbon dioxide gas sensors are installed 2) From the printing technology’s perspective, the availabil-
in the exhaust air stream so that the concentration of the ity, and high-cost of the functional inks, precise feature
gas can be accurately measured [218]. To manage the insect control in printing, which makes the printed sensors less
infestation, phosphine (PH3 ) fumigant is commonly used to reliable in performance are important issues to look at.
regulate the grain conditions. Non-dispersive infra-red (NDIR) Therefore, low-cost inks and printing techniques such
sensors are placed inside the sealed silos so that the concen- as high speed and Roll-to-Roll techniques need to be
tration of the fumigant can be measured [225]. To monitor explored. Additionally, cross-sensitivity, degradation of
insect invasions, electronic insect sensors (dual infrared-beam sensor performance over time, the packaging issues can
sensors, developed by OPIsystems Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada) be a bit challenging. At present, there are little or
are used to detect. Several electronic sensors are required to no scientific studies conducted to explore the cross-
be placed inside the silos containing the grains. In this way, sensitivity issues. As this concept is new, the degradation
the grain/crops spoilage can be monitored and controlled. of the performance of the sensor is also not reported in
Monitoring the wastage of crops is a very important issue the literature. Since waste from the electronic industry
for smart agriculture. However, studies regarding the inte- is always in huge amounts, it is expected that wastage
gration of the printed sensors with the conventional silicon- from the printed sensors will be high in the future.
based sensors are not available yet. Therefore, there is a high 3) From the smart farming application’s perspective, there
potential to use the available printed technologies to print the are many doors to explore the usage of the integrated
humidity, temperature, light, and gas sensors and observe the printed sensor technologies. The issues of poor calibra-
efficiency and accuracy of the data acquisition. This can be tion, reduced accuracy in data acquisition for measure-
envisaged as a further research topic. ment, substrate selection for the specified application,
From the aforementioned literature, it was observed that hysteresis, sensitivity, and ensuring the stability of the
the suitable printing technologies for smart agriculture appli- sensors are some of the issues that need to be resolved.
cations are screen-printing and inkjet printing technologies. These issues can be mitigated by wide studies supported
This is because screen-printing is a relatively simpler and by environmental/mechanical tests to design efficient
inexpensive method of designing and printing the patterns and effective sensors.
of the printed sensors. Regardless of the texture of the sub- 4) From the environment conservation perspective,
strate material, screen-printing technologies can be applied to biodegradable polymers such as, RESOMER R

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9513419 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 70, 2021

205S Poly(d-lactide) (PDLA) [227], polycaprolactone [7] D. Shadrin, A. Menshchikov, A. Somov, G. Bornemann, J. Hauslage,
(PCL) [228], SU-8 polymer [229], and so on can be and M. Fedorov, “Enabling precision agriculture through embedded
sensing with artificial intelligence,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas.,
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government labs covering areas including radio
Mag., vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 32–55, Jun. 2017.
frequency identification (RFID)/near field commu-
[219] C. Singh, D. S. Jayas, and R. Larson, “Assessment of fan control
nication (NFC), flexible/printable/wearable electron-
strategies for in-bin natural air-drying of wheat in Western Canada,”
ics, fiber optic sensor systems, photonic sensing and
Can. Biosyst. Eng., vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 1–12, Jan. 2014.
measurement, structural health monitoring, indoor air quality monitoring,
[220] R. B. McIntosh and M. E. Casada, “Fringing field capacitance sensor
structural materials, smart materials, and so on. He has brought several tech-
for measuring the moisture content of agricultural commodities,” IEEE
nologies from concepts to products. He has published more than 100 articles
Sensors J., vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 240–247, Mar. 2008.
in refereed journals and refereed conference proceedings, and one co-edited
[221] M. Manley, “Near-infrared spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging:
book. He holds five U.S. patents.
Non-destructive analysis of biological materials,” Chem. Soc. Rev.,
Dr. Xiao was a recipient of the 2014 Technical Award from the IEEE
vol. 43, no. 24, pp. 8200–8214, 2014.
Instrumentation and Measurement Society. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief
[222] S. Trabelsi and S. O. Nelson, “Unified microwave moisture sensing
of the IEEE J OURNAL OF RFID and an Associate Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE
technique for grain and seed,” Meas. Sci. Technol., vol. 18, no. 4,
T RANSACTIONS ON I NSTRUMENTATION AND M EASUREMENT.
p. 997, 2007.
[223] M. A. Lewis, S. Trabelsi, and S. O. Nelson, “Assessment of real-
time, in-shell kernel moisture content monitoring with a microwave
moisture meter during peanut drying,” Appl. Eng. Agricult., vol. 30,
no. 4, pp. 649–656, 2014.
[224] K. E. Ileleji, D. E. Maier, C. Bhat, and C. P. Woloshuk, “Detection of
a developing hot spot in stored corn with a CO2 sensor,” Appl. Eng.
Agricult., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 275–289, 2006.
[225] S. A. Cook, “Evaluation of sealed storage silos for grain fumiga-
tion,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Grain Sci. Ind., Kansas State Univ.,
Manhattan, KS, USA, 2016.
[226] M. M. Abdelhameed, Y. A. Attia, M. S. Abdelrahman, and
T. A. Khattab, “Photochromic and fluorescent ink using photolumines- Zheng Liu (Senior Member, IEEE) received the
cent strontium aluminate pigment and screen printing towards anti- Doctorate degree in engineering (earth resources)
counterfeiting documents,” Luminescence, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 865–874, from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 2000, and
Jun. 2021. the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the
[227] J. Park, J.-K. Kim, S. A. Park, and D.-W. Lee, “Biodegradable polymer University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, in 2007.
material based smart stent: Wireless pressure sensor and 3D printed From 2000 to 2001, he was a Research Fellow
stent,” Microelectron. Eng., vol. 206, pp. 1–5, Feb. 2019. with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
[228] J. Park, J.-K. Kim, S. J. Patil, J.-K. Park, S. Park, and D.-W. Lee, He then joined the National Research Council of
“A wireless pressure sensor integrated with a biodegradable polymer Canada, Ottawa, ON, as a Governmental Laboratory
stent for biomedical applications,” Sensors, vol. 16, no. 6, p. 809, 2016. Visiting Fellow nominated by NSERC in 2001.
[229] J. Park, J.-K. Kim, S. A. Park, D. S. Sim, M. H. Jeong, and In 2002, he became a Research Officer Associ-
D.-W. Lee, “3D-printed biodegradable polymeric stent integrated with ated two research institutes of NRC (Aerospace [IAR], Ottawa, ON, and
a battery-less pressure sensor for biomedical applications,” in Proc. Construction [IRC], Ottawa, ON). From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a
19th Int. Conf. Solid-State Sens., Actuators Microsyst. (TRANSDUC- Full Professor with Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan. He is
ERS), Jun. 2017, pp. 47–50. currently a Professor with the Faculty of Applied Science, The University
of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada. His research interests include
predictive maintenance, data/information fusion, computer/machine vision,
machine learning, smart sensor and industrial Internet of Things (IoT), and
Rakiba Rayhana (Student Member, IEEE) received nondestructive inspection and evaluation.
the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronic engi- Dr. Liu is a Fellow of SPIE. He is Co-Chairing the IEEE Instrumentation
neering from BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Measurement Society Technical Committee (TC-1). He holds a Profes-
in 2015, and the M.Sc. degree in electronic and sional Engineer license in both British Columbia and Ontario. He serves on
electrical engineering from the University of Strath- the Editorial Boards for journals including the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON
clyde, Glasgow, U.K., in 2017. She is currently I NSTRUMENTATION AND M EASUREMENT, the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON
pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering M ECHATRONICS , the IEEE J OURNAL OF R ADIO F REQUENCY I DENTIFI -
with The University of British Columbia, Kelowna, CATION (RFID), Information Fusion (Elsevier), Machine Vision and Appli-
BC, Canada. cations (Springer), and IET/CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology.
He also serves the Standards and Interoperability Committee of the Research
Data Canada.

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