INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) AND AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS

14 Nov INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) AND AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS

The Internet of Things is one of the prominent technology areas of recent years. The concept of the Internet of Things is based on the ability to connect all objects, small and large, to the Internet. Wearable devices, smart phones, white goods, home and office lighting, security systems, medical devices are used in many areas such as applications. The devices are designed to send and receive data to the central servers continuously whenever possible, and to act on the servers. It is preferred that a design be made in such a way that there is no major operational loss if the connection to the Internet is lost.

The agricultural area is a suitable application area for the internet of objects. The main reasons are:

1. It is necessary to measure the ambient values in both traditional and non-soil greenhouses and in multi-tire greenhouses and to determine whether the environmental conditions are appropriate based on plant species. Values such as pH, CO2, temperature, humidity, illumination level, electrical conductivity are measured and reported by sensors. In order to transmit sensor data to servers, it must have an internet connection.
2. In multi-tire high-tech greenhouses, water and nutrient values of plants are given to plants with the help of water pumps. Internet connection is required to control these water engines by the server.
3. Likewise, the light requirements of the plants are given to the plants with LED lighting modules.

One of the most important architectural constraints of the agricultural applications carried out with the Internet of Things is that the plant growing environment will not deteriorate even if the internet connection is temporarily unavailable and that the plants will not be left without food and light. Most plants; it is very sensitive to providing proper water, nutrients and light levels regularly. A temporary interruption or irregularity in irrigation will adversely affect plant growth.

All sensors, lighting modules, water pumps and air conditioning/ventilation components used in ForFarming products are directly linked to the ForFarming automation module. All components are designed to be addressed separately. The central server application controls all sensors and control elements and monitors accessibility status. This allows instant reports of defective or disabled devices. One of the most important features of the ForFarming automation module is that it stores a copy of the lighting, irrigation, air conditioning and ventilation values set and controlled by the server offline and continues to provide the appropriate environmental conditions for plants even if there is no internet access. In this way, temporary internet interruptions are prevented from causing unexpected financial damages.

The optimum environmental conditions for each plant type are determined by ForFarming agricultural engineers. The conditions of the plant growing environment are monitored regularly by sensors and transmitted to the servers instantly. If the measured ambient conditions deviate from the ideal conditions, the ForFarming server controls the water pumps, LED lights and air conditioning/ventilation systems via the automation system and remains active until the ambient conditions are corrected.