THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DESIGN AND DEMONSTRATE A DIRECT NOZZLE INJECTION SYSTEM FOR FIELD SPRAYERS WHERE MULTIPLE CONCENTRATED CONTROL CHEMICALS ARE INJECTED DIRECTLY AT EACH NOZZLE ON THE BOOM THEREBY IMPROVING THE PRECISION AND CONTROLLABILITY OF CHEMICAL APPLICATION, REDUCING THE CONTROL DELAYS, AND REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL CLEANOUT THAT IS REQUIRED. THE SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A HIGH-PRESSURE CHEMICAL DELIVERY SYSTEM TO EVENLY DISTRIBUTE THE CONCENTRATED MATERIALS TO THE NOZZLES, METERING DEVICES FOR EACH NOZZLE TO INJECT THE CHEMICAL AT THE NOZZLE, LOW-COST OPTICAL CONCENTRATION SENSORS FOR EACH NOZZLE TO FACILITATE FEEDBACK CONTROL OF THE CHEMICAL INJECTION RATE, AND A NETWORKED CONTROL AND MONITORING SYSTEM.PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS HAVE SHOWN THAT THE NOVEL LOW-COST CHEMICAL METERING DEVICE IS FUNCTIONALLY ABLE TO METER CHEMICALS AT THE LOW FLOW RATES REQUIRED FOR INDIVIDUAL NOZZLE INJECTION. A CONCENTRATION SENSOR HAS BEEN DEVELOPED THAT WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE NOZZLE-LEVEL FEEDBACK CONTROL OF CHEMICAL APPLICATION RATES. A DEMONSTRATION OF THE INJECTION SYSTEM ON A COMMERCIAL NOZZLE BODY SHOWED THAT THE NOVEL INJECTION METHOD CAN ACHIEVE ADEQUATE MIXING OF THE CHEMICAL.THE PROJECT REPRESENTS THE ENGINEERED DESIGN OF A NEW SYSTEM CONCEPT TO IMPROVE THE CHEMICAL APPLICATION PROCESS USED IN IN A BROAD RANGE OF PLANT PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WILL UTILIZE A COMBINATION OF MATHEMATICAL MODELING, COMPUTATION PRINCIPLES, AND SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION TO ACHIEVE THE PROJECT GOAL. IT REPRESENTS A NEW PRECISION TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR THE PERFORMANCE OF A KEY PROCESS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM. IT ALSO HAS POTENTIAL TO REDUCE THE RISK OF HUMAN EXPOSURE TO AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS, AND CAN BE ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE AS A COMPONENT OF PRODUCTION MACHINERY.