Hydroponics is becoming increasingly popular because it can be used in unconventional locations such as inside warehouses, marginal lands, and water-scarce regions. Hydrogen (pH), nutrient level, water level, temperature, and other parameters must be monitored on a daily basis in a typical hydroponic design. A hydroponic setup that is not dependent on the environment outside has been developed. The technology consumes less water and fertiliser as compared to a soil-based system. This system uses the idea of a relay and alarm connected to a microcontroller to make sure that nutrient solution is always available. The creation of an internet of things (IoT) network enabled remote parameter monitoring and control, which increased system stability. In addition to measuring and controlling the water level, pH, water stream rate, and EC at this time, the numerous sensors attached to the NFT framework support gathering fundamental system information.
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Hydroponics is a form of soil-free plant growth that uses mineral nutrient solutions in water. By automatically supplying nutritional solutions to the plant roots, the system will produce superior results. This research was carried out to develop an effective hydroponic tomato crop production method. In hydroponic methods, nutrients are fed directly to the roots of the plants while they are submerged in a growing medium. Plants can develop their roots in inert media or just nutrient solution. Plants can be grown more effectively and quickly using the hydroponic method than in soil. Without the use of soil or chemical fertilisers, hydroponic farming allows plants to grow without the risk of pest infestation. Compared to traditional soil gardening, hydroponic farming enables farmers to grow more food in a smaller area. It is possible to cultivate flowers, plants, and vegetables on roofs of houses. Multiple crops can be grown at once using a hydroponic system(Kumar et al., 2023; Sampath et al., 2023). Depending on the needs of the plant, nutrients are provided in the form of a nutrient solution that contains a precise combination of the necessary ingredients for plant growth. This stops the growth of algae in the fertiliser solution, which the crops are susceptible to. A method for overcoming these issues has been chosen by the developed system, which groups resources logically and prioritises their needs. The goal is to develop a hydroponic system based on NFT that anyone can use to grow their own plants. The user won't have to deal with tedious setup or ongoing maintenance thanks to this method. Through a mobile interface connected to the microcontroller powering the device, the user will be able to specify the plants they want to cultivate. This system will carry out all daily testing required, modify system levels, such as the nutrient solution and water level, as appropriate, alert the user of a problem that needs to be addressed, and log all testing data for analysis. This chapter covered the development of a mobile application for a smart phone that will collect data from numerous sensors and controllers. The Arduino Uno, sensors, and Internet of Things (IoT) technology will all be used to complete this assignment. The majority of hydroponic systems on the market today are either highly expensive or don't have complete control over all the factors required for healthy plant growth(Ezzahoui et al., 2022; Sathyanarayana et al., 2022). This newly created system offers total automation with monitoring and management of all plant growth-related variables, including soil moisture, pH, and temperature. Two Arduino boards are used by the system to analyse and regulate the data that is received. It also makes use of a mobile app to let users of Android-compatible phones and other smart devices monitor and operate the system. Various expansion boards (shields) and other circuits can be interfaced to an Arduino Uno microcontroller board's sets of digital and analogue input/output (I/O) pins. In this project, a Raspberry Pi and monitoring sensors are also utilised. The Raspberry Pi is a little single-board computer that has an inbuilt Internet of Things (IoT) architecture that enables it to communicate with sensors and actuators over the internet and exchange data with them. The hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique system that was discussed in the preceding chapter is automated with the aid of an embedded controller. With transparent plastic coverings on either side, the table has been erected inside of a tent. The integration of NFT systems with IoT technology, which configures the readings from numerous sensors to the Arduino microcontroller, is the main topic of this chapter. The NFT system was covered in the chapter before; in this one, we'll look at how these sensors communicate with one another online. These activities involve characterising the equipment, demonstrating programming, integrating the equipment and programming, conducting investigations, and accumulating data and results. A machine-to-machine (M2M) connection method uses an Internet of Things (IoT) network to link various devices, such as sensors, actuators, and other heterogeneous items/gadgets. The client's message or data is transported from one end to the other via the internet, for example, from a system to an online server where anybody can access the information. End users can view and even control the IoT framework in the cloud, or they can imagine the cloud acting as the IoT's central control hub.