Prototype of a low-cost electronic platform for real time greenhouse environment monitoring: An agriculture 4.0 perspective

Abstract

The Internet of Things has a high impact on upgrade and transformation of the traditional greenhouse agricultural techniques. It is necessary to control the environmental factors for obtaining the optimum growth conditions for the crop and extend the production season to get the optimum yield. These aspects are fundamental for Agriculture 4.0, that uses technology not simply for the sake of innovation but to improve and address the real needs of consumers. In this paper, a prototype of a low-cost electronic platform for real time greenhouse environment monitoring has been designed, developed and built. The prototype has been developed with the purpose of firmware and software prototyping, in order to make the most of device performances. The electronic board is composed by a Main Board, a Green House Core, a Wi-Fi Module, a RS485 Module, an Analog-to-Digital Converter Module and a USB Module. The system permits to collect data by external sensors, elaborate and send them to external devices as laptop, smartphone and internet gateway, using both wired and wireless connection. These data concern to main greenhouse environmental parameters, such as air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, air velocity and CO2 concentration. A Web application has been implemented to allow users a consultation of greenhouse environmental state in a simple and fast way.