A Smart Solution To Collect And Analyze Crop Growth Information

Abstract

Establishment and focus: In this study, a novel, smart solution was developed to collect and analyze crop growth information in protected, hydroponic farms. The developed hardware and software solutions collect and analyze crop growth information such as moisture content, EC, pH, and the temperatures of soil, water, and leaf. The collected data are used to judge between the vegetative and the generative growth phases. The data are stored in DB to allow further analysis and meta-studies.
System: The solution system consisted of the main controller, the measurement and analysis software, and the communication algorithm. A prototype was built to implement the solution system as designed. A demonstration farm was selected to install the solution system and a 225% increase of the tomato productivity was observed between 2014 and 2019. Overall, a successful demonstration of the solution system was achieved. The collected crop growth information can be used as a modeling data set for deep learning.