Adaptalight: An Inexpensive PAR Sensor System for Daylight Harvesting in a Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponic System

Abstract

Environmental changes and the reduction in arable land have led to food security concerns around the world, particularly in urban settings. Hydroponic soilless growing methods deliver plant nutrients using water, conserving resources and can be constructed nearly anywhere. Hydroponic systems have several complex attributes that need to be managed, and this can be daunting for the layperson. Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponics (MISH) leverage Internet of Things (IoT) technology to manage the complexities of hydroponic techniques, for growing food at home for everyday citizens. Two prohibitive costs in the advancement of MISH systems are power consumption and equipment expense. Reducing cost through harvesting ambient light can potentially reduce power consumption but must be done accurately to sustain sufficient plant yields. Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) meters are commercially used to measure only the light spectrum that plants use, but are expensive. This study presents Adaptalight, a MISH system that harvests ambient light using an inexpensive AS7265x IoT sensor to measure PAR. The system is built on commonly found IoT technology and a well-established architecture for MISH systems. Adpatalight was deployed in a real-world application in the living space of an apartment and experiments were carried out accordingly. A two-phase experiment was conducted over three months, each phase lasting 21 days. Phase one measured the IoT sensor’s capability to accurately measure PAR. Phase two measured the ability of the system to harvest ambient PAR light and produce sufficient yields, using the calibrated IoT sensor from phase one. The results showed that the Adaptalight system was successful in saving a significant amount of power, harvesting ambient PAR light and producing yields with no significant differences from the control. The amount of power savings would be potentially greater in a location with more ambient light. Additionally, the findings show that, when calibrated, the AS7265x sensor is well suited to accurately measure PAR light in MISH systems.

Development and Testing of an IoT Spectroscopic Nutrient Monitoring System for Use in Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponics

“…The adoption of hydroponics in urban applications has been proposed to assist in alleviating pressure on global food security, enabling urban residents to grow food at home [1][2][3][4]. The COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather caused by climate change have exposed the vulnerability of the global food supply chain, emphasizing the need for alternative solutions, such as hydroponics [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather caused by climate change have exposed the vulnerability of the global food supply chain, emphasizing the need for alternative solutions, such as hydroponics [5][6][7][8][9][10]. The system complexity and expertise required for the adoption of hydroponics are a barrier to its wider adoption and use in an appliancelike manner [1][2][3][4]. To simplify the management of the system complexities, micro indoor smart hydroponics (MISH) systems use Internet of Things (IoT) technologies [4,11,12].…”

“…The system complexity and expertise required for the adoption of hydroponics are a barrier to its wider adoption and use in an appliancelike manner [1][2][3][4]. To simplify the management of the system complexities, micro indoor smart hydroponics (MISH) systems use Internet of Things (IoT) technologies [4,11,12]. IoT technologies enable sensors and actuators to connect to a networked computing system, allowing software systems to monitor and assist with hydroponic management.…”

“…The proposed system, hereby referred to as NutriSpec, was built with a commodity IoT spectroscopic sensor and hardware. The NutriSpec system uses IoT hardware and software architectures that are well-established for MISH systems [4,12,32,33]. The system was demonstrated in a real-world setting via a 28-day lettuce-growing experiment.…”

A Survey of Modern Greenhouse Technologies and Practices for Commercial Cannabis Cultivation

“…The effect on cannabinoid expression remains unclear. Cultivators adjust lighting position and/or intensity at the plant canopy level, measuring PAR or PPFD to indicate light availability for photosynthesis [35], [36].…”