Internet of Things based smart automated indoor hydroponics and aeroponics greenhouse in Egypt

Abstract

The world's population explosion and water scarcity has researchers looking for smart innovations to provide food for the world and save water. In recent years, smart technologies have received much attention in the areas of irrigation and agriculture research. The main objective of this paper is to design and implement of new smart hydroponic and aeroponic greenhouse system based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology for research studies in National Water Research Center. The greenhouse is connected to many various tools for controlling the weather conditions automatically inside the greenhouse consistent with the plant type and season. The indoor environment is equipped with a set of IoT sensors to measure various parameters such as temperature; Humidity, luminous intensity, and total dissolved solids. The pesticide spraying tank is also used to overcome pests within the greenhouse. The IoT platform was used to automate and store system parameters, as well as provide graphical interface remote access. With minimal user input, the constructed system can preserve healthy plant growing parameters. The current study evaluates the environmental and technical impacts of the developed smart system on the cultivation of Batavia lettuce with high economic value. It can conclude that improving water and energy use efficiency (saving them to about 80%), in addition to doubling productivity per area and reducing the time yield to reach 45 days comparing 75 days with the traditional agriculture whatever the fertility of the soil. Moreover, save labor in agriculture, and reducing fertilizer and pesticide use. The resulted of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Relative Humidity (RH), and Temperature (T) was analyzed and evaluated during the cultivation period with and without the developed smart system.