Ahmad Nizar Harun

Red and blue LED with pulse lighting control treatment for Brassica chinensis in Indoor farming

This study proposes a method of optimizing plant growth in control environment using led lighting system. Indoor farming system can cultivate varieties of plant mainly vegetables. Research on indoor farming using Led as a light source for plant photosynthesis has becoming high in demand due to uncertainty of weather and pest mortality. Red / Blue (RB) LEDs combination of ratio 16:4 as light source has been used to simulate actual sun light radiation and has similar absorption spectrum of the plant photosynthesis. Optimizing plant growth with climate control system to maintain and monitor humidity, temperature and light intensity is a must to ensure the survival of the plant and is proposed for the system. The system of data logger capability to acquire data and perform analytical work after each experiment performs. The study compares the effect of plant growth with different amount of light exposed. The finding from the experiment has shown very significant result for plant with pulse lighting control system of 1-hour duration with 15 minutes light off period as compared to typical photoperiod at 12 hours continuous lighting system and 12 hours light off period. From data analysis, we conclude that the plant with pulse light treatment which was recorded 291% higher photosynthesis rates is having better growth rates compared to conventional 12 hours lighting system.

Precision irrigation using Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) are used to build decision support systems (DSS) to overcome many real-world problems. Nowadays, one of the most popular fields that needs DSS is precision agriculture (PA). In general, this paper presents WSN as an alternative and efficient way to solve the farming resources optimization and decision making. Precision agriculture systems based on the internet of things (IOT) technology is explained in detail especially on the hardware and network architecture and software process control of the precision irrigation system. The system collect, analyse and monitors data from the sensors in a feedback loop which activates the control devices based on pre-calculated threshold value.

Wireless Sensor Network in precision agriculture application

The Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) is nowadays widely used to build decision support systems to overcome many problems in the real-world. One of the most interesting fields having an increasing need of decision support systems is precision agriculture (PA). This paper presents WSN as the best way to solve the agricultural problems related to farming resources optimization, decision making support, and land monitoring. This approach provides real-time information about the lands and crops that will help farmers make right decisions. Using the basic principles of Internet and WSN technology, precision agriculture systems based on the internet of things (IOT) technology is explained in detail especially on the hardware architecture, network architecture and software process control of the precision irrigation system. The software monitors data from the sensors in a feedback loop which activates the control devices based on threshold value. Implementation of WSN in PA will optimize the usage of water fertilizer and also maximized the yield of the crops.

Precision irrigation performance measurement using wireless sensor network

It is observed that farmers have to bear huge financial loss due to wrong prediction of weather and incorrect irrigation method to crops. Evolution of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology enabled automatic irrigation in a greenhouse for Precision Agriculture (PA) application. In this paper, we describe the design requirements, system architecture, implementation, system test results of WSN for PA in a greenhouse. Sensors are used to monitor temperature, humidity and moisture. Software monitors data from the sensors in a feedback loop which activates the control devices based on threshold value. Implementation of WSN in PA will optimize the usage of water fertilizer and also maximised the yield of the crops.

RF and battery performance study for WSN in palm oil plantation applications

This paper presents the architecture of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for Precision Agriculture application particularly on RF and battery performance of the mote. The WSN consists of energy-efficient and scalable communication protocols and low power hardware platforms. The architecture comprises of four main parts- (a) the sensor tip, (b) the mote, (c) the router and (d) the gateway to address the needs of wireless sensor networks. The sensor node (mote and tip) powered by 2xAA-size batteries and can sleep at a very low current. This paper discussed on the RF performance by doing two type of test; transmit power and receiver sensitivity. A power management test was also carried out to identify maximum current during mote transmitting and minimum current during sleep mode. Details of the test and conclusion are described in this paper.

Applications of WSN in agricultural environment monitoring systems

The Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) is nowadays widely used to build decision support systems to solve many real-world problems. One of the most interesting fields having an increasing need of decision support systems is agricultural environment monitoring. Agricultural environment monitoring has become an important field of control and protection, providing real-time system and control communication with the physical world. An intelligent and smart WSN system can collect and process large amount of data from the beginning of the monitoring and manage air quality, soil conditions, to weather situations. The proposed system collects and monitors information related to the growth environment of crops outside and inside greenhouses using WSN sensors and CCTV cameras. The temperature and humidity sensors are developed in-house and both sensors are very reliable. Furthermore, the system allows automatic control of greenhouse environment remotely and thus improves the productivity of crops. This paper presents hardware architecture, system architecture and software process control of the agriculture environment monitoring system.

WSN application in LED plant factory using continuous lighting (CL) method

This study was performed to investigate the best practise on using LED light to optimum growth to reduce turn around time using different kind of photoperiod study and using Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology as remote monitoring system has been conducted. Growth performance of Brassica Chinensis under two different wavelengths (blue and red) 16:4 as light source has been used to determine plant growth performance and phytochemicals aspect of plant characteristics. Two experiments were conducted which is the pulse treatment (1 hour light and 1 hour dark) and continuous light (CL) photoperiod treatment in both trials. Observation such as leaves count, height, dry weight and chlorophyll of both plant were analysed. It was noted that the CL photoperiod has significant effect on overall growth performance and remarkably lead to improve the efficiency of the plant factory. In order to reason on data and monitor the environmental parameters of the plant factory, an intelligent system using embedded system has been developed to automate the LED control and manipulation. The result shows that the system is stable and has referential significantly in the area of plant factory or indoor farming system.

IoT in Precision Agriculture applications using Wireless Moisture Sensor Network

Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of sensors and connectivity to enable application like agriculture optimum irrigation. Wireless sensor network (WSN) and Wireless Moisture Sensor Network (WMSN) are components of IoT. One of the important processes in agriculture is irrigation. Improper irrigation will result in waste of water. Proper irrigation system could be achieved by using WSN technology. Monitoring and control applications have been tremendously improved by using WSN technology. It enabled efficient communication with many sensors. WMSN is a WSN with moisture sensors. In this study, Precision Agriculture (PA) used WMSN to enable efficient irrigation. In this paper, we describe about IoT and WMSN in agriculture applications particularly in greenhouse environment. This paper explained and proved the efficiency of feedback control method in greenhouse crop irrigation. A test was conducted to see the different these two methods. The methods are irrigation by schedule or feedback based irrigation. Irrigation by schedule is to supply water to the plant at specific time periods. Feedback based irrigation is to irrigate plant when the moisture or level of media wetness reached predefined value. The test shows that there is an average savings of 1,500 ml per day per tree.

Precision agriculture applications using wireless moisture sensor network

Improper irrigation will result in waste of water. Proper irrigation system could be achieved by using Wireless sensor networks (WSN) technology. Monitoring and control applications have been tremendously improved by using Wireless sensor networks technology. It enabled efficient communication with many sensors. Wireless moisture sensor network (WMSN) is a WSN with moisture sensors. Efficient irrigation could be achieved through the utilisation of WMSN. WMSN enabled efficient irrigation in a greenhouse for Precision Agriculture (PA) application. In this paper, we describe the overall system design, system architecture, implementation, system test results of WMSN for PA in a greenhouse. Moisture Sensors are used to measure amount of water in the media. Close loop system acquires sensors data and activates the control devices based on predetermined threshold value. A test was conducted to compare the efficiency of irrigation using two methodologies; schedule and automated. The test shows that there is an average savings of 1,500 ml per day per tree.

Plant growth optimization using variable intensity and Far Red LED treatment in indoor farming

Plant growth optimization using LED light has been conducted to study the best method to reduce power consumption and obtain the optimum growth. In this study a system that able to produce variable intensity using microcontroller, solid state and dimmable LED light has been proposed. Two experiments were conducted with i) combined Red / Blue/White (RBW) LEDs of ratio 16:4:2 as light source for 12 hours photoperiod treatment ii) Red/Blue/Far Red (RBFR) LEDs of ratio 16:4:16 as light source for 12 hours photoperiod treatment. The finding from the experiment has shown that variable intensity method has proven to reduce overall power consumption, increase mortality of the plant by introducing hardening process and significantly RF treatment has shown to delay the flowering process. Our analysis shows that the system allowed the finding of a new method on optimization of plant growth using LED light with variable intensity and shows significant difference on flowering respond using FR treatment. Prototype of the proposed system has been developed in small scale hydroponic plant growth chamber. Data acquisition and remote management of the system is used to maintain humidity, temperature, CO2 concentration and light intensity and development of automated system for plant manipulation.