Design and implementation of a low cost microcontroller in controlled environment agriculture

Arduino is one of the most popular low-cost open-source microcontroller platforms employed in prototyping and industrial applications.
In the agricultural field, this hardware has been used to monitor and control different variables in food production systems.
This paper presents two application cases of low cost microcontrollers in CEA. The first case shows an Arduino-based monitoring aeroponic irrigation system and associated variables.
This system employed low cost aspirated psychrometers and standard pH and EC probes.
The second scenario was implemented in an indoor plant factory with a system to monitor plant related, environmental and irrigation variables.
Leaf temperature and plant growth were monitored using IR temperature sensors and low cost cameras.
Data could be access online via bluetooth and internet protocols using mobile devices.
These systems allow the connection of standard and low cost sensors and also perform control actions, decreasing the hardware expenses in CEA, becoming an attractive tool to be implemented when flexible monitoring and control platforms are required, displace a large number of sensors or develop speaking plant approach systems.

XXX International Horticultural Congress IHC2018: VII Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture, IV Conference on Turfgrass Management and Science for Sports Fields and II Symposium on Mechanization, Precision Horticulture, and Robotics

A.P. Montoya, M. Kacira, F.A. Obando

Arduino, low cost sensors, controlled environmental agriculture

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1279.41