IoT Based Automatic Water Level and Electrical Conductivity Monitoring System

Abstract

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) is a technique for planting the plants or vegetables in a shallow stream of nutrient solution. Currently, farmers need to check and control water levels and Electrical Conductivity (EC) values of nutrient solution inside water tank manually and regularly according to the schedule. The manual process is inconvenience and time consuming as the EC values for plants and vegetables are varied. On that account, an IoT based automatic water level and EC monitoring system for NFT is proposed. The proposed system consists of hardware and software parts that include HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, waterproof temperature DS18B120 sensor, EC sensor, DHT11 sensor, 5V relay, water pump, 000webhost, website and mobile app. Real time sensor data are displayed on the developed website and mobile application for remote monitoring. In addition, water level and EC value of nutrient solution are controlled automatically, which is based on the data given from HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and EC sensor. The proposed system is also designed to control the water pump remotely and to notify user through the developed mobile app. Experimented on several types of vegetables, namely Red Spinach, Green Spinach, Water Spinach, Bok Choy, Cabbage and Eggplant, the proposed system promotes healthy plant growth based on a relative growth rate that is calculated from plant growth parameters, namely average plant height, average leaf length, average leaf width, average stem perimeter and average plant crown are 7.20%, 6.17%, 7.29%, 5.31% and 5.71%, respectively. The proposed system has also eased the task of controlling and monitoring water level and EC value of nutrient solution for NFT. In conclusion, the proposed system provides convenience for users in monitoring and controlling of water level and EC value of nutrient solution for NFT.