Design and Prototype Development of Automated Greenhouse with Arduino and (IoT) Application

Abstract

A greenhouse is a steel-frame structure, covered by the anti-UV plastic sheet to protect the crops and environmentally controlled to maximize the crop's condition and productivity. Exposure to the extreme temperature during the hot season in Malaysia will affect the growth of the crops that influence the quality, yield, and profit per season. This paper highlight to fabricate a small scale of greenhouse with air ventilation design for seed germination, plant propagation or cloning. It also focusing on controlling and monitoring system, and testing the system operation to reduce the greenhouse temperature. Three farmers were interviewed to determine the greenhouse problem and the possible ways to solve the problem.  The 3D design is generated by Autodesk Inventor 2018 to visualize all the details regarding the greenhouse, and the Arduino software with Tinkercad simulation is used to simulate the coding and the system. The environment of the greenhouse can be monitored by the smartphone app include the temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse, the level of soil moisture and the level of water in the hydroponic tank. The system automatically executes the cooling, watering, lighting and warning notification features. The design and the system were tested, and the result was recorded to determine the temperature pattern. The result was then compared with the greenhouse at one of the farmers around Kuala Nerus, Terengganu that apply the greenhouse to maximise their productivity. The automated greenhouse with air ventilation design is 3°C lowered and 7°C can be reduced once all the cooling features operated simultaneously.

 Keywords: greenhouse, controlling system, monitoring system, design