
Croptix utilizes it’s patent-pending technique for applying "structural" spectroscopy (e.g. using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy) to perform optical analysis of the inside of leaf structures. As disease takes hold, it causes a number of small physiological changes corresponding to specific states of a plant's health that gradually increase in severity until plants can no longer produce a viable crop. By looking at the structure inside the leaf, Croptix collects information on the internal mechanisms of leaves indiscernible to the naked-eye and unascertainable with a standard leaf reflectance measurement, a limitation that other external optical techniques suffer from.
Croptix’s patented miniature spectrophotometer contained within the field device captures light which has diffused in and re-emerged from the leaf. This represents an optical fingerprint that reveals the current physiological state. This optical fingerprint is then analyzed by an intelligent, cloud-based algorithm to diagnose the stresses (e.g. disease, nutrient deficiency, and water stress) afflicting the plant to a high degree of accuracy.
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This approach achieves insights into the health of the plant while changes are still very small and many months before they become visibly evident using other methods, providing an essential and significant head start on addressing problems.