Development and Testing of an IoT Spectroscopic Nutrient Monitoring System for Use in Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponics

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Abstract

Nutrient monitoring in Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponics (MISH) relies on measuring electrical conductivity or total dissolved solids to determine the amount of nutrients in a hydroponic solution. Neither method can distinguish concentrations of individual nutrients. This study presents the development and testing of a novel spectroscopic sensor system to monitor nitrogen changes in nutrient solutions for MISH systems. The design phase determined that using an inexpensive AS7265x Internet of Thing (IoT) sensor in a transflective spectroscopic application could effectively detect small fluctuations in nitrogen concentraation. Next, a novel transflective sensor apparatus was designed and constructed for use in a MISH system experiment, growing lettuce over 30 days. Two solution tanks of different sizes, 80 L and 40 L, were used in the deployment of the system. Samples from each tank were analyzed for nitrogen concentration in a laboratory, and multilinear regression was used to predict the nitrogen concentrations using the AS7265x 18 spectral channels recorded in the sensor system. Significant results were found for both tanks with an R2 of 0.904 and 0.911 for the 80 and 40 L tanks, respectively. However, while the use of all wavelengths produced an accurate model, none of the individual wavelengths were indicative on their own. These findings indicate that the novel system presented in this study successfully and accurately monitors changes in nitrogen concentrations for MISH systems, using low cost IoT sensors.

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Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Rattan Lal (2020)

Despite a 2.3% increase in world cereal production in 2019 over 2018, the number of people facing severe food insecurity may double from 135 million in January 2020 to 265 million by the end of 2020. The problem of food and nutritional insecurity is severe in urban centers, where the global population is projected to increase (%/year) by 1.84, 1.63, and 1.44 between 2015 to 2020, 2020 to 2025, and 2025 to 2030, and it will increase overall from 54% in 2016 to 60% by 2030. The number of megacities (>10 million people) will increase from 34 in 2015 to 41 by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated food insecurity in urban centers because of the disruption in the food supply chain, aggravation of the physical and economic barriers that restrict access to food, and the catastrophic increase in food waste because of labor shortages. Thus, there is a need to adopt more resilient food systems, reduce food waste, and strengthen local food production. Enhancing availability at the household and community levels through home gardening and urban agriculture is an important strategy. Food production within the cities include small land farming in households, local community gardens, indoor and rooftop gardens, vertical farming, etc. Home gardening can play an important role in advancing food and nutritional security during and after the COVD-19 pandemic, while also strengthening the provisioning of numerous ecosystem services (i.e., plant biodiversity, microclimate, water runoff, water quality, human health). However, risks of soil contamination by heavy metals must be addressed.

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IoT-Based Smart Irrigation Systems: An Overview on the Recent Trends on Sensors and IoT Systems for Irrigation in Precision Agriculture

Laura GarcÍa, Lorena Parra, José M Moraleda Jiménez … (2020)

Water management is paramount in countries with water scarcity. This also affects agriculture, as a large amount of water is dedicated to that use. The possible consequences of global warming lead to the consideration of creating water adaptation measures to ensure the availability of water for food production and consumption. Thus, studies aimed at saving water usage in the irrigation process have increased over the years. Typical commercial sensors for agriculture irrigation systems are very expensive, making it impossible for smaller farmers to implement this type of system. However, manufacturers are currently offering low-cost sensors that can be connected to nodes to implement affordable systems for irrigation management and agriculture monitoring. Due to the recent advances in IoT and WSN technologies that can be applied in the development of these systems, we present a survey aimed at summarizing the current state of the art regarding smart irrigation systems. We determine the parameters that are monitored in irrigation systems regarding water quantity and quality, soil characteristics and weather conditions. We provide an overview of the most utilized nodes and wireless technologies. Lastly, we will discuss the challenges and the best practices for the implementation of sensor-based irrigation systems.

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Hydroponic Solutions for Soilless Production Systems: Issues and Opportunities in a Smart Agriculture Perspective

Paolo Sambo, Carlo Nicoletto, Andrea Giro … (2019)

Soilless cultivation represent a valid opportunity for the agricultural production sector, especially in areas characterized by severe soil degradation and limited water availability. Furthermore, this agronomic practice embodies a favorable response toward an environment-friendly agriculture and a promising tool in the vision of a general challenge in terms of food security. This review aims therefore at unraveling limitations and opportunities of hydroponic solutions used in soilless cropping systems focusing on the plant mineral nutrition process. In particular, this review provides information (1) on the processes and mechanisms occurring in the hydroponic solutions that ensure an adequate nutrient concentration and thus an optimal nutrient acquisition without leading to nutritional disorders influencing ultimately also crop quality (e.g., solubilization/precipitation of nutrients/elements in the hydroponic solution, substrate specificity in the nutrient uptake process, nutrient competition/antagonism and interactions among nutrients); (2) on new emerging technologies that might improve the management of soilless cropping systems such as the use of nanoparticles and beneficial microorganism like plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs); (3) on tools (multi-element sensors and interpretation algorithms based on machine learning logics to analyze such data) that might be exploited in a smart agriculture approach to monitor the availability of nutrients/elements in the hydroponic solution and to modify its composition in realtime. These aspects are discussed considering what has been recently demonstrated at the scientific level and applied in the industrial context.