IoT Controlled Smart Aquaponics System

Throughout recorded history, food security has been a recurring issue and is further augmented by a growing world population and climate change. Countries with crops grown by conventional farming methods will produce lower yields due to changes in climate conditions. Conventional farming methods als

Project Title

IoT Controlled Smart Aquaponics System

Project Area of Specialization

Internet of Things

Project Summary

Throughout recorded history, food security has been a recurring issue and is further augmented by a growing world population and climate change. Countries with crops grown by conventional farming methods will produce lower yields due to changes in climate conditions. Conventional farming methods also require more land and manpower. As such, conventional farming alone cannot address food security; the quest for modern vertical farming is essential. 

Aquaponics, which combines aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (plant growing without soil) within a symbiotic environment, is a potential alternative to conventional farming. Fish consumes food and excretes waste in form of ammonia. This ammonia is broken down into nitrite and then nitrate by different naturally occurring bacteria in the aquaponics ecosystem. The water is purified by plants absorbing the nitrate and eventually recirculated back to the fish tank.  Aquaponics utilizes 90% less water than conventional farming. Moreover, it employs soil-less media for growing plants, which yields crops that are free of soil prone diseases and crops are also organic and chemical-free. 

The aim of this project is to design a prototype of a smart, sustainable, and self-powered aquaponics system for the monitoring and control of various critical parameters for the healthy growth of fishes and plants. Healthy growth of fishes and plants shall be ensured by sending an early warning to the user in the event of any abnormal system condition via push notification in a feature-rich internet of things (IoT) mobile application. An IoT based graphical user interface will be integrated with the proposed system that shall enable the user to monitor the overall system parameters in real-time on his mobile device. The proposed system will be incorporated with sensors to measure the necessary system parameters and appropriate actuators that will be capable of operating and controlling the system automatically to rectify abnormalities in a timely manner.

Project Objectives

• Design and build a prototype for the aquaponics system.
• Design and implement hardware/software integrated system for monitoring of the internal environment including temperature, humidity, plant height, water level, pH level, ambient light intensity, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity.
• Design and implementation of appropriate actuators automatically operated to rectify abnormalities in system parameters in a timely manner.
• Design and develop an IoT platform for monitoring the aquaponics environment and controlling the devices to keep the parameters in check.

Project Implementation Method

Stage 1: Design and Building a prototype for Aquaponics.

Stage 2: Design and Implementation of the software module.

Stage 3: Design and Implementation of hardware for monitoring and controlling the internal environment.

Stage 4: Setting up an IoT platform for remote monitoring and control.

Stage 5: Integration

Benefits of the Project

• Aquaponics uses 90% less water than traditional farming.
• Low power usage.  
• Minimum human intervention.
• The primary inputs to the system are Fish food and water. 
• Little to no Chemical usage. Aquaponics requires no synthetic fertilizers and few pesticides.  
• Many of the plants that thrive in Aquaponics growing are very easy to grow.
• Low susceptibility to pests and diseases.  
• Timely crops turn around.  
• Increased crop production per square foot versus traditional farming.
• Produces both a protein and a vegetable crop.
• Multiple crops and fish can be grown from the same system.
• Fish can be harvested as an additional food or revenue source. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final deliverable of the project will be a smart, sustainable, and self-powered aquaponics system that will ensure the healthy growth of fishes and plants by;

• Monitoring the critical system parameters including temperature, humidity, plant height, water level, pH level, ambient light intensity, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity by using various sensors incorporated in the system.
• Controlling these parameters through the use of appropriate actuators that will be capable of operating and controlling the system automatically to rectify abnormalities in the system which shall be ensured by sending an early warning to the user in the event of any abnormal system condition via push notification in a feature-rich internet of things (IoT) mobile application. An IoT based graphical user interface will be integrated with the proposed system that shall enable the user to monitor the overall system parameters in real-time on his mobile device.

Moreover, the system will be made self-powered and self-sustainable by using solar panels and an energy harvesting circuit which will power the whole system.

For the mechanical structure, the system will contain a fish tank and a grow bed for plants and they will be connected together and by using water pumps, water will be recirculated in the system. The water from the fish tank containing necessary nutrients will flow to the grow bed from where it will be purified by plants absorbing the nutrients and eventually recirculated back to the fish tank.  

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Agriculture

Other Industries

Food

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Zero Hunger

Required Resources

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