Iot Based Automatic Hydroponics Cultivation System

Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than soil. This hydroponic system requires the regulation of several plant growth-based parameters such as temperature, humidity, water level, solar irradiance, acidity (pH), and the concentration of the nutrient (EC). Correc

Project Title

Iot Based Automatic Hydroponics Cultivation System

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than soil. This hydroponic system requires the regulation of several plant growth-based parameters such as temperature, humidity, water level, solar irradiance, acidity (pH), and the concentration of the nutrient (EC). Correct pH level, air temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiance, nutrient level of the water, and sufficient water level are critically important in hydroponics and pertinent to plant growth. This work proposes a fully automated system using both a microcontroller and a microprocessor-based board, along with sensors and actuators to keep human intervention at a minimum. Human intervention is only required during the seedling plantation phase and selecting the initial plant type. An Internet of Things (IoT) based Hydroponics system is proposed for controlling the system autonomously and intelligently. ATMEGA328 is the main processing unit with a sub processing unit ATMEGA328.The system is modeled and proven to successfully collect information from the Hydroponic environment and then systematically evaluate and analyze them. Once done, the system is able to successfully maintain the ideal parameters for plant growth, promote optimum plant health and send all acquired data to a cloud server.

Project Objectives

There has been a paradigm shift in the 21st century towards urban farming due to the growing population. However, traditional farming and agriculture methods are not enough. The push comes as farmland becomes increasingly expensive and in short supply. Farming and irrigation require the highest water consumption and contribute highly to the water stress the world has been facing recently. The hydroponic method of farming has the benefit of reducing the impact on the environment. In a hydroponic system, a plant is placed in a solution composed of soluble nutrients and water as opposed to soil. Hydroponic Farming use a fraction of the water consumption compared to traditional farming, aiding in water conservation. In its most efficient and ideal form, the Hydroponics system uses 10% of soil farming water requirement. Additionally, Hydroponics systems can be built vertically, increasing the amount of crop per acre. Another benefit is cleaner food by providing Pesticide-free products. Hydroponics eliminates the need for pesticides as most crop-infesting insects live in the soil. This also meets the demand for greater crops as Hydroponic systems allow for two to ten times the amount yielded compared to regular soil-based agriculture. It allows food to be grown and consumed in areas of the planet that cannot support crops within the soil.

The drawback of setting up a hydroponic system is that it requires research and many installation steps. The issue with this system is that it is manual and needs constant monitoring and supervision to get the desired results and requires frequent human aided maintenance, which leaves room for human error and subsequently leading to damage to the yield of the crops. To alleviate the problem, we intend to work on the implementation of Hydroponics based on an IoT (Internet of Things) framework using Raspberry Pi as a network backbone with ATMEGA328 acting as a slave.

Project Implementation Method

The sensors attached to the hydroponics structure acquire data relevant in maintaining and determining the growing plants health.We need both temperature and humidity, for this purpose we would preferably use one sensor which gives us both temperature and humidity. So, one sensor which is factory calibrated is our requirement. We have finalized the DHT 11 sensor which has digital interface and provide both temperature and humidity using one wire protocol.  This sensor operating voltage is 5V and only three pins sensor in which we can easily interface. We use one pull up resistor at the output pin of this sensor to get accurate output.

Benefits of the Project

Smart Hydroponics has the following benefits:

• The ability to produce higher yields than traditional, soil-based agriculture.
• Allowing food to be grown and consumed in areas of the world that cannot support crops in the soil.
• Pesticide-free products, eliminating the need for massive pesticide use (considering most pests live in the soil), effectively making our food cleaner.
• Nutrient solutions may be recycled or reused in other areas such as potted plants and turf management.
• Its usage of water is up to 90% less when compared to traditional farming [10].
• It requires less space, therefore, allowing for a high density of plants in the same location.
• Ability to grow year-round.
• A closed recirculation system allows greater control of the nutrient solution and therefore exactly what nutrients the plants receive.
• Varying nutrient formulas to suit different plants at different stages .
• Eliminates consumption of artificial ripening agents and pesticides used on imported produce.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The hydroponics system is a new innovation, developing quickly since its initiation 70 years prior. From its origins in academic research to its utilization in industry, hydroponics has discovered numerous new applications. It is a versatile technology, fitting for both developing countries and state-of-the-art cutting-edge space stations. Hydroponic technology can efficiently generate food crops from barren desert sand and, desalinated seawater, in hilly locales too steep to even consider cultivating, on city housetops and substantial schoolyard and in arctic communities. The concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) has allowed us to automate the hydroponic system, by monitoring water levels, pH, EC, temperature, humidity, and light intensity and further regulating using IoT.In future works, further control parameters can be introduced into the automation of hydroponics systems, such as the temperature of the solution, the carbon dioxide, the dissolved oxygen, and the oxidation-reduction potential can be considered as they directly affect the growth of hydroponically grown plants. Additionally, to reduce the dependence on natural sunlight and to deal with cloudy days, artificial sun lamps can be introduced. With image processing and machine learning on the rise, the hydroponics system can be further automated by completely removing the requirement for human intervention. In future works, automated picking machines can be implemented that can evaluate when a product is ready to be picked, harvested, or moved. For future exploration, the systems will need to have more helpful and adaptable related devices, and data mining methods and artificial intelligence techniques will be applied to analyze and foresee information about the amount, quality, and time angles

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Food

Other Industries

Agriculture

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com