WatchPlant: Networked Bio-hybrid Systems for Pollution Monitoring of Urban Areas.

Growing cities are a world-wide phenomenon and simultaneously awareness about potential dangers due to air pollution, heat, and pathogens is increasing. Integrated and permanent monitoring of environmental features in cities can help to establish an early warning system and to provide data for policy makers. In our new project ‘WatchPlant,’ we propose a green approach for urban monitoring by a network of sensors tightly coupled with natural plants. We want to develop a sustainable, energy-efficient bio-hybrid system that harvests energy from living plants and utilizes methods of phytosensing, that is, using natural plants as sensors. We present our concept, here with focus on Alife-related methods operating on the gathered plant data and the bio-hybrid network. With a self-organizing network of sensors, that are alive, we hope to contribute to our future of livable green cities.