Sensor Fusion Based Intelligent Hydroponic Farming and Nursing System

Abstract

In this paper, a sensor-fusion based smart hydroponic system has been proposed. The system aims to monitor and regulate environmental conditions to boost the yield of plants grown using hydroponics. The system employs multiple sensors synchronized to work and communicate to a common server giving shape to sensor fusion and the Internet of Things. The proposed system reduces human intervention to a minimum, by operating autonomously. The Random Forest algorithm has been used to help the system identify the ambient parameter to be regulated based on priority, thus making the system intelligent. By using the randomized priority-based selection of operations, the algorithm determines the parameter to be altered, based on the input from the sensors, reducing the sensor crowding problem. The ability to regulate nutrient concentration is a salient feature of the proposed system. Sensor fusion along with the Random Forest algorithm has been implemented in a hardware prototype of the proposed system. The system was able to save 20.4% of the peak power consumption while temperature and water level regulation and 82.1 % of peak power while light regulation, thus making the system smarter and more energy-efficient for a hydroponic system.