Abstract
Indoor smart-farming based on artificial grow lights has gained attention in the past few years. In modern agricultural technology, the growth status is generally monitored and controlled by radio-frequency communication networks. However, it is reported that the radio frequency (RF) could negatively impact the growth rate and the health condition of the vegetables. This work proposes an energy-efficient solution replacing or augmenting the current RF system by utilizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the grow lights and adopting visible light communications and optical camera communication for the smart-farming systems. In particular, in the proposed system, communication data is modulated via a 24% additional green grow LED light that is also known to be beneficial for the growth of the vegetables. Optical cameras capture the modulated green light reflected from the vegetables for the uplink connection. A combination of white ceiling LEDs and photodetectors provides the downlink, enabling an RF-free communication network as a whole. In the proposed architecture, the smart-farming units are modularized, leading to flexible mobility. Following theoretical analysis and simulations, a proof-of-concept demonstration presents the feasibility of the proposed architecture by successfully demonstrating the maximum data rates of 840 b/s (uplink) and 20 Mb/s (downlink).
Highlights
With ever-increasing environmental issues, the importance of securing healthy food has been widely acknowledged as one of the most crucial problems in the near future
We investigated the use of reflected light from the leafy vegetables after photosynthesis
A series of simulations and experimental results show the feasibility of this approach in constructing an energy-efficient radio frequency (RF)-free environment
Summary
With ever-increasing environmental issues, the importance of securing healthy food has been widely acknowledged as one of the most crucial problems in the near future. New technologies and techniques to get the maximum yield has been actively investigated. New agriculture techniques and types have been introduced. One of them is called Agriculture 4.0, in which the vegetables growing under artificial lights revolutionized the way of traditional agriculture [1]. Light intensity, spectrum controlling, and photoperiod are directly related to vegetable growth, productivity, and size. A number of actuators and sensors are installed across the farming area to meet the required necessities and environmental conditions. Such complex management can be simplified with advanced agriculture techniques, leading to a low cost and high productivity, independent of the season
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