Fully Automated Hydroponics System for Smart Farming

Abstract

This project is focused on developing a Fully Automatic Hydroponics system which helps in monitoring and controlling temperature, Humidity, pH and EC in Hydroponics. Hydroponics is a method of growing crops without soil. Plants are grown in rows or on trellises, just like in a traditional garden, but they have their roots in water rather than in dirt. Although, there are different ways in which hydroponics can be implemented, there is no individual system which can measure and control pH and EC level of nutrient solution along with its surrounding temperature and humidity automatically. We use PIC16F877A microcontroller and four pumps, three of which are used to pump water, nutrient solution, pH solution and the fourth pump is used to control the humidity. A fan is used to control the temperature which increases its speed as the temperature increases. The pumps are turned on depending on the EC and pH values obtained from the electrodes. A passive LCD display is used to display variations in the values. Different Analysis like water usage, plant growth in comparison with regular farming method and hydroponics is successfully completed which results in hydroponics system is significant method in comparison with soiled cultivation method in terms of yield and water usage. This project is expected to produce high yield crops by taking minimal space, makes work easier for farmers in growing of plants, and also consumes less amount of water when compared to traditional method resulting in conservation of water.

Automatic nutrient estimator: distributing nutrient solution in hydroponic plants based on plant growth

“…It was outfitted with various sensor modules to track growth parameters like water temperature and level, total dissolved solids, relative humidity, ambient temperature, and light intensity. A subsequent investigation has included an automated data acquisition system (DAQ) ( Shetty, Pai & Mallya, 2021 ). The DAQ program, written in Arduino software, was intended to collect and store data from six hydroponic parameters.…”

SMART GROW – Low-cost automated hydroponic system for urban farming

“…Recent studies have shown that integrating wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things (IoT) into hydroponic systems can assist in optimal plant growth [1] . The architectural design of smart hydroponics systems has evolved over the past ten years or more [4] , [5] , from purely hardware components [6] , [7] to designs that include server and client services [5] , [8] , [9] . The ability of smart hydroponics has evolved from monitoring only to providing corrective ability to maintain equilibrium required by the hydroponics system [10] , [11] , [12] .…”

“…Sensors deployed in the data acquisition system mostly focus on the water level and pH reading of the system [13] . More recent designs have deployed more sensors to detect other parameters such as EC reading and temperature of water [9] . The processor connecting directly to the sensors at the hardware level has shifted from Arduino UNO [8] to Arduino MEGA boards [14] , and later to custom-made PCB boards or ESP32 boards [9] , [15] that have higher clock speeds and WiFi features in their circuitry.…”

Smart greenhouses as the path towards precision agriculture in the food-energy and water nexus: case study of Qatar

“…Hence, the hydroponic production of lettuce can result in 64% water savings than the soil cultivation (Majid et al 2021) or even higher, as it needs 13 ± 2.7 times less water compared to conventionally produced lettuce (Barbosa et al 2015). Fully automated hydroponic systems for smart farming (Shetty et al 2021) and the use of internet of thing (IoT) technology (Aliac and Maravillas 2018), results in even less amount of water resource consumption when compared to traditional methods. Further water use optimization in hydroponics can be realized by the implementation of the circular economy concept.…”