GRD Journals- Global Research and Development Journal for Engineering | Volume 5 | Issue 2 | January 2020 ISSN: 2455-5703
Enhanced Plant Monitoring System for Hydroponics Farming Ecosystem using IOT Deepika S PG Student Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, Kerala, India Vibesh V. Panicker Assistant Professor Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering College of Engineering, Adoor, Kerala, India
Annie Koshy Assistant Professor Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering BM II College of Engineering, Sasthamcotta, Kerala, India
Shukriya Salim PG Student Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, Kerala, India
Shimol Philip PG Student Department of Civil Engineering Saintgits College of Engineering, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Abstract Hydroponics is an interesting way of cultivation where nutrients are effectively provided to the plants as mineral nutrient solutions. It requires much less space than any type of agricultural techniques. Hydroponics is the method of growing plants or vegetables without soil, but using mineral nutrient solutions mixed with water. This modern agriculture sector provides numerous advantages such as efficient location and space requirements, adequate climate control, and water-saving and controlled nutrients usage. This paper proposes a Hydroponic Farming Ecosystem (HFE) that uses IoT devices to monitor the environment of the hydroponic device through some sensors in a real-time and stable way, and then accurately, automatically transmit the data of temperature, humidity, light intensity, nutrient solution temperature, air temperature water level and pH in real-time. The Internet of Things (IoT) concept assumes that various “things,� which include not only communication devices but also every other physical object on the planet, are going to be connected and will be controlled across the Internet. The HFE is made to support non-professional farmers, city people who have limited knowledge in farming and people who are interested in doing vertical planting in very small areas in the city such as building roof, the balcony of high-rise buildings, and in small office spaces. To make the system easy to control and easy to use, we have an android application to control IoT devices in the HFE and alert users when their farm is in an abnormal situation. Therefore, the system is a valuable tool for hydroponics condition analytics and to support decision making on possible intervention to increase productivity. The results reveal that the system can generate a viable hydroponics appraisal, allowing to anticipate technical interventions that improve agricultural productivity. Keywords- Hydroponic Farming Ecosystem (HFE), Internet of Things
I. INTRODUCTION In a developing country like India, where agriculture is the backbone of the country, agriculture is plagued by several problems like small and fragmented land holdings, manures, pesticides, chemicals used for agriculture etc. Consumers also increasingly demand for healthy diet that is rich in quality and free of agricultural chemicals and pesticides. Hydroponics is an efficient way of cultivating crops in a soil less manner with increased productivity per area, reduced water and fertilizer usage. Hydroponics is the method of growing plants or vegetables without soil, but using mineral nutrient solutions mixed with water. Since this solution will be used as a food source for plants or vegetables, it is necessary to control or manage many factors in this liquid. Some examples of variables we have to control are the pH value or concentration and electrical conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution. Hydroponics can be used to produce variety of plants/crops in compact spaces such as the backyard, terrace, or in offices, by using a nutrient rich water solution. A conventional hydroponic set up is shown in Fig.1. The areas of the world with poor or infertile soils can completely rely on hydroponics system. This gives people in these areas access to healthy and fresh produce. With the advances in technology and the improvement of people's living standards, hydroponic plants become an integral part of daily life. Traditional plant cultivation has been mainly performed in the soil. It is known that a series of drawbacks can be found for such a way. For example, regular watering and fertilizing have to require more time and labour. With the development of various techniques, the soilless cultivation has become a more mature and popular breeding choice such
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