Overview
Motivation
GoodFood aims at developing the new generation of analytical methods based on Micro and Nanotechnology (MST and MNT) solutions for the safety and quality assurance along the food chain in the agro-food industry. The main demands identified by the agro-food sector will be the applications that will drive the technological developments within GoodFood. The need for increasing the control of products at different critical steps of the food chain (control of raw materials and food supply, improvement of food processing, monitoring of storage and logistics, and control of safety and quality of fi nal products) will be addressed by GoodFood with a vertical and horizontal integration of food, bio, and electronics experience for developing a set of systems with clear breakthrough solutions to specific safety and quality and traceability requirements.
Description
It was the main aim of the GoodFood project to trace and monitor the food chain at every step, from farmer to the consumer. This was accomplished by the massive use of intelligent sensor networks. The project, due to its multi-disciplinary nature, was implemented in 9 separate work packages. Several sensors with specific functionalities where implemented in various work packages. Communication between these sensors was accomplished inside sensor webs. Each sensor web element, also known as a smart sensor, consists of one or more application specific sensors, communication modules and a processor. These elements communicate among themselves, hence sharing their data with every neighbour element. Data coming from neighbour sensors will add to self intelligence of each smart sensor, hence providing a means of adaptation. The elements of the web and eventually the sensor web itself is a continuously evolving organism. In this sense, the sensor web can be likened to the human brain, where simple cells, when come together, form the complex and adaptive brain. The sensor web concept was implemented within work package 7 and the Competence Center Electronics had the following design and implementation responsibilities, which where perhaps the most critical parts of the GoodFood project:
• Wireless communication (SensorWeb) protocols,
• Development and miniaturisation of Satellite components,
• Secure communication architectures, protocols and interfaces.
Results
The miniaturisation achieved at the end of the GoodFood project allows future migration of lab solutions to simpler MST based solutions, reducing size and cost of laboratory systems.
