초록 ▼

System and methods for monitoring the growth of an aquatic plant culture and detecting real-time characteristics associated with the aquatic plant culture aquatic plants. The systems and methods may include a control unit configured to perform an analysis of at least one image of an aquatic plant cu

System and methods for monitoring the growth of an aquatic plant culture and detecting real-time characteristics associated with the aquatic plant culture aquatic plants. The systems and methods may include a control unit configured to perform an analysis of at least one image of an aquatic plant culture. The analysis may include processing at least one collected image to determine at least one physical characteristic or state of an aquatic plant culture. Systems and methods for distributing aquatic plant cultures are also provided. The distribution systems and methods may track and control the distribution of an aquatic plant culture based on information received from various sources. Systems and methods for growing and harvesting aquatic plants in a controlled and compact environment are also provided. The systems may include a bioreactor having a plurality of vertically stacked modules designed to contain the aquatic plants and a liquid growth medium.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A system for monitoring a culture of aquatic plants, the system comprising: a processor in communication with at least one image sensor disposed in a bioreactor; anda memory in communication with the processor, containing instructions executed by the processor,wherein the processor is configured

1. A system for monitoring a culture of aquatic plants, the system comprising: a processor in communication with at least one image sensor disposed in a bioreactor; anda memory in communication with the processor, containing instructions executed by the processor,wherein the processor is configured to: receive at least one image of a culture of aquatic plants from the at least one image sensor disposed in the bioreactor, the culture of aquatic plants comprising a plurality of aquatic plants;perform image processing on the at least one image to determine at least one physical characteristic of an aquatic plant of the plurality of aquatic plants in the culture of aquatic plants;perform an analysis to determine at least one state of the culture based on the image processing; andcontrol operation of the bioreactor based on one or more of: the determination of the at least one physical characteristic and the determination of the at least one state. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical characteristic is determined based on at least one parameter of the aquatic plant. 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of: the surface area of the aquatic plant, the amount of light absorbed by the aquatic plant, the wavelength and intensity of light reflected from the surface of the aquatic plant, the wavelength and intensity of light which is transmitted through the aquatic plant, and the distribution of the wavelengths and intensities in the reflected or transmitted light. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to store in a database a time stamp of when the at least one image is received together with the at least one physical characteristic of the aquatic plant. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the at least one state by monitoring changes in the at least one physical characteristic of aquatic plants in the aquatic plant culture over time. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to monitor the changes in the at least one physical characteristic of aquatic plants in the aquatic plant culture by using at least one mathematical model. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical characteristic is any of: a shape of the aquatic plant, a size of the aquatic plant, a pigment of the aquatic plant, a texture of the aquatic plant, a hue of the aquatic plant, a pigmentation intensity of the aquatic plant, a distribution of colors in the aquatic plant's pigmentation, or a transparency of the aquatic plant. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one state of the culture is at least one of: a healthy culture, a contaminated culture, a growth phase of the culture, a selective nutrient profile, a growth rate of the culture, a culture under stress, a deficiency of a growth condition, a mortality rate, a dead culture, a dying culture, and a viability of the aquatic plants' growth. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one state of the culture is the growth phase of the culture, and wherein the growth phase of the culture is one of: lag phase, exponential phase, stationary phase, death phase, or any intermediate phase. 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to store in a database one or more of: the at least one image, the at least one physical characteristic, or the at least one state. 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is in communication with the bioreactor via a server over a network. 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is located in a control unit within the bioreactor. 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the culture of aquatic plants comprises at least one of: the genus Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna, Wolffiella, and Wolffia. 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the bioreactor comprises: at least one input unit for receiving an aquatic organism used as a starter material for the culture of aquatic plants;at least one growing unit for growing the culture of aquatic plants;at least one harvesting unit for harvesting the culture of aquatic plants; andat least one output unit for providing a consumable derived from the culture of aquatic plants. 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the processer is configured to control operation of the bioreactor by adjusting at least one growing condition. 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one growing condition includes at least one of: a light level, light spectrum, light interval, temperature, fertilizer elements level, water level, vapor pressure, humidity, pH, ion concentration, oxygen concentration, CO2 level, culture density, air flow, growth solution flow, and culture flow. 17. A bioreactor for growing an aquatic plant culture comprising: at least one input unit for receiving an aquatic organism used as a starter material for an aquatic plant culture;at least one growing unit for growing the aquatic plant culture, the aquatic plant culture comprising a plurality of aquatic plants of at least one of the genus Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna, Wolffiella, and Wolffia; at least one harvesting unit for harvesting the aquatic plant culture;at least one output unit for providing a consumable derived from the aquatic plant culture; anda control unit configured to: receive an image of the aquatic plant culture within the growing unit from an imaging system disposed in the bioreactor, the imaging system comprising at least one image sensor;determine at least one physical characteristic related to an aquatic plant of the plurality of aquatic plants in the aquatic plant culture by performing at least one image processing technique on the at least one image, wherein the at least one physical characteristic is at least one of: a shape of the aquatic plant, a size of the aquatic plant, a pigment of the aquatic plant, a texture of the aquatic plant, a hue of the aquatic plant, a pigmentation intensity of the aquatic plant, a distribution of colors in the aquatic plant, or a transparency of the aquatic plant; andcontrol operation of the bioreactor based on the determination of the at least one physical characteristic. 18. The bioreactor of claim 17, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the bioreactor by adjusting at least one growing condition. 19. A method for monitoring a culture of aquatic plants in a bioreactor, the method comprising the steps of: performing an analysis of at least one image of the culture, wherein the analysis includes: receiving the at least one image of the culture of aquatic plants from at least one image sensor disposed in the bioreactor,performing an image processing technique on the at least one image to determine at least one physical characteristic of the culture, andperforming an analysis to determine at least one state of the culture; andadjusting at least one growing condition based on one or more of the at least one determined physical characteristic and the at least one determined state,wherein the culture comprises at least one of the genus Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna, Wolffiella, and Wolffia. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one growing condition is adjusted based on the at least one determined physical characteristic and the at least one determined state. 21. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control operation of the bioreactor in real-time based on one or more of: the determination of the at least one physical characteristic and the determination of the at least one state. 22. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor performs image processing on a plurality of images received from the at least one image sensor to determine the at least one state of the culture. 23. The system of claim 1, wherein upon determining the at least one state of the culture, the processor is configured to promote a change of the at least one state of the culture to a different state by adjusting at least one growing condition for the culture of aquatic plants. 24. The system of claim 1, wherein, during the image processing, the processor is configured to determine at least one physical characteristic of each of a plurality of aquatic plants in the culture of aquatic plants. 25. The system of claim 1, wherein, during the image processing, the processor is configured to determine a plurality of physical characteristics of the aquatic plant. 26. The system of claim 25, wherein one of the plurality of physical characteristics is a shape of the aquatic plant. 27. The system of claim 1, wherein, during the image processing, the processor is configured to determine a plurality of physical characteristics of each of a plurality of aquatic plants in the culture of aquatic plants. 28. The system of claim 27, wherein, during the image processing, the processor is configured to score each of the plurality of physical characteristics in the at least one image of a culture of aquatic plants based on the determined physical characteristics of each of the plurality of aquatic plants. 29. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one state is determined based on the scoring of each of the plurality of physical characteristics. 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor is configured to control an operation of the bioreactor based on the at least one state determined based on the scoring of each of the plurality of physical characteristics. 31. The system of claim 1, wherein the culture of aquatic plants comprises individual aquatic plants and at least one of mother-daughter aquatic plant pairs and mother-daughter aquatic plant colonies. 32. The system of claim 1, wherein the aquatic plant is an individual aquatic plant, a mother-daughter aquatic plant pair, or a mother-daughter aquatic plant colony. 33. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one state is determined based on a determination of a plurality of physical characteristics of each of a plurality of aquatic plants in the culture of aquatic plants determined during the image processing. 34. The bioreactor of claim 17, wherein the control unit is configured to determine at least one state of the culture based on a determination of the at least one physical characteristic of each of a plurality of aquatic plants in the culture of aquatic plants. 35. The bioreactor of claim 34, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the bioreactor based on the determination of the at least one state.