Recent printing techniques let us to fabricate sensors integrating them into object allowing the development of the sensing part of a smart object. Being incorporated into the object, the fabricated sensor can be considered as “embedded sensor”. The printed sensor can have dimensions smaller than a millimeter and can exploit a lot of materials enabling the realization of different classical structures for capacitive or resistive transducers. However many topics such as the suitability of the printed material with the corresponding support material, the control of the size and shape of the printed material, the physical characteristics of the printed sensor will guide the next future research activities.

The development of the embedded sensor will involve other elements of the system such as the front-end electronics, the energy management exploiting energy harvesting or telemetry techniques and communication capabilities. The possibilities offered by these printed sensors will enable the development of sensors embedded in plants or leaves.

The seminar will investigate the state of the art of printed sensors and will propose some considerations on the possibility of developing printed sensors for agriculture.