Low-cost on-line monitoring system for agriculture based on raspberry pi zero

Abstract

Based on data from the National Defense Agency, the trend of conversion of agricultural land in the 1990s reached around 30,000 ha/year. However, in 2011 there was an increase of 110,000 ha/year and reached 150,000 ha/year in 2019. In fact, with the growing human population, the need for food is increasing from year to year. On the other hand, the slow regeneration of farmers and the lack of dissemination & technological innovation to increase agricultural productivity are challenges in realizing food security. In line with the ongoing industrial revolution in the industrial era 4.0, it has brought very significant changes, not only the type of technology that has shifted, but more importantly a change in mindset in this industrial era. This has a real impact on the direction of national development and has an impact on the agricultural system. The agricultural system is no longer just a cultivation activity, but agriculture is also part of the industrial system which is characterized by a transformation, both in terms of raw materials, economy, social and environment. The development of modern agriculture is marked by mindset changing of using biological and non-biological resources by the needs. The precise use of resources in agricultural production systems is then called precision agriculture. Precision agriculture is an agricultural concept with a systems approach towards low-input, high-efficiency, and sustainable agriculture. In a previous study, a CNC-based precision farming system (Farming-BOT) was developed. The device could perform vegetable crop cultivation automatically. To properly observe the development of cultivation, an online monitoring device based on the minicomputer was developed. The Raspberry Pi Zero, equipped with a 5MP camera and a temperature & humidity sensor, is used. The device is placed on the top of the Farming-BOT device. Image data, temperature, and humidity are sent to the cloud database periodically every day. Users can access the data through the website and Android application. Based on the testing result, with a stable internet connection, data on environmental conditions can be monitored perfectly.