Electrical Modelling of In-Vivo Impedance Spectroscopy of Nicotiana tabacum Plants

Abstract

Electrical impedance spectroscopy has been suggested as a sensing method for plants. Here, a theoretical approach for electrical conduction via the plant stem is presented and validated, linking its living electrical characteristics to its internal structure. An electrical model for the alternating current conduction and the associated impedance in a live plant stem is presented. The model accounts for biological and geometrical attributes. It uses the electrically prevalent coupled transmission line model approach for a simplified description of the complicated vessel structure. It considers the electrode coupling to the plant stem (either Galvanic or Faradic), and accounts for the different interactions of the setup. Then the model is simplified using the lumped element approach. The model is then validated using a four-point probe impedance spectroscopy method, where the probes are galvanically coupled to the stem of Nicotiana tabacum plants. The electrical impedance data was collected continuously and the results exhibit an excellent fitting to the theoretical model, with a fitting error of less than 1.5% for data collected on various days and plants. A parametric evaluation of the fitting corresponds to the proposed physically based model, therefore providing a baseline for future plant sensor design.

Plant impedance spectroscopy: a review of modeling approaches and applications

“…Direct plant monitoring is one of the strategies in precision agriculture to improve crop yield, working towards food security for the increasing global population. Bar-On et al (2021) recently developed an EIS method for in-vivo, in situ, and non-destructive monitoring of a plant's physiological status. It is based on a fourelectrode setup attached to the stem of a Nicotiana tabacum plant used as a dicot plant model.…”

Fundamental studies to assess and restore vestibular function in patients with severe bilateral vestibular loss

“…The electrical impedance measurements followed by the equivalent circuit fitting approach is widely used in biology studies, including ex vitro measurements of isolated animal tissues (Dean et al, 2008), in vivo measurements of plants ( Bar-On et al, 2021), and ex vivo human dental (Herencsar et al, 2020) and cardiac (Fischer et al, 2019) tissues. The most accurate physical models used to optimize the VI should account for all significant physical phenomena of current transmission in the inner ear.…”