Team Name

Earthwise

Timeline

Summer 2020 – Fall 2020

Students

• Duy Nguyen
• Walter Mkpanam
• Chris Jones
• Andrea Rivera
• Paras Shrestha

Abstract

The vision behind this project is to create a simple environment for plants to thrive with little or input from the user (farmer in this case). Tending to plants even on a small scale can require a substantial amount from the user. From constantly monitoring the environment to ensuring sufficient water intake, farming is an arduous task for an everyday user. Our project aims to remove (or reduce) that burden by utilising technology to perform several tasks with little to no inputs from the user. Our aim is to allow users embrace more subsistence farming practices while ensuring their plants are grown under the best conditions.

Background

Keeping plants alive is a challenge for most people, especially new plant owners, it requires monitoring, care, and discipline for plants to thrive. It can be tricky for plant-owners to know how much water, sunlight, and fertilizer each plant needs to survive. Learning all the information needed for properly nurturing a plant may seem complex, as the information that is readily available is riddled with vague terms such as “part shade” and “full sun” which are difficult to quantify. People can grow overwhelmed and frustrated when the beautiful plants they bought at the store start to dry-out and wither. Discouraged plant owners will usually convince themselves that they lack a “green thumb” and give up on gardening all-together. In recent years, there has been a growing distrust toward the produce that is readily available at food markets due to the chemicals that are commonly used to alter their size and make them ripen faster. Furthermore, many people have become aware of the environmental footprint impacting the earth due to chemicals used by fruit and vegetable companies polluting the waterways. Added to all of this, are the growing concerns that these chemicals could be causing adverse effects in the health and well-being of the general population. This has created a market for people who want to be in charge of the fruits and vegetables they put on their tables; from picking the seeds and planting to harvesting. Currently, there are very few options in the market aimed at helping inexperienced gardeners successfully grow a garden. Scouring books and magazines in search for tips on how to grow a garden takes time and effort that many people lack. Earthwise can make the process of growing plants simple and intuitive for inexperienced gardeners and busy consumers interested in growing their own produce. Earthwise self-waters, schedules when to fertilize plants, as well as monitors the amount of sunlight the plant receives to ensure its optimal growth environment. Earth Wise also includes a mobile application that keeps customers informed about the environment inside the greenhouse and allows users to track the growth of their plants. Unlike other smart gardens available on the market, Earthwise can be temperature controlled so plants can grow indoors and outdoors. Earthwise provides a zero-effort way for gardeners of varying expertise to grow their own fresh organic produce.

Project Requirements

1. Greenhouse should be able to self regulate environmental conditions automatically using Arduino Uno WiFi Rev3.
2. Greenhouse must control 5 main systems; temperature, irrigation, lighting, fire extinguishing, and display system.
3. The watering system will activate when the soil moisture is too low.
4. The lighting system will activate the growth lights when below optimal light intensity.
5. The temperature system will activate the heater to heat the greenhouse and activate the fans to cool depending on the plant’s needs.
6. The display system will present all greenhouse information to an LCD display as well as update the android app to allow the user see greenhouse data.
7. The fire extinguishing system will notify the user of fire and taken action to mitigate potential damage.
8. Greenhouse environment data will be uploaded to a firebase database for each user.
9. An android application called “Earthwise” will be developed to allow users to make an account and monitor their greenhouse remotely.
10. User can designate desired greenhouse settings and create custom planting guides through the Earthwise app.

System Overview

The Smart Greenhouse will have six layers: Control and Communication, Irrigation, Temperature, Light, Fire Extinguisher, and Display. The main processor of the Smart Green House will be Control and Communication layer. The purposes of other systems, except the display system, are to provide useful values such as soil moisture level, light duration, etc. and be controlled by the control and communication layer based on users’ settings of an Android app. The Display layer has the responsibility to display the current status of the Smart Greenhouse.

Results

The results include a smart greenhouse system with an application to monitor and update its settings. This is the Earthwise Demo.

Future Work

• The automation algorithm will be improved for better performance.
• Solar power system will be implemented to provide a clean energy solution.
• A different approach to extinguishing electrical fire will be implemented.

Project Files

Project Charter (link)

System Requirements Specification (link)

Architectural Design Specification (link)

Detailed Design Specification (link)

Poster (link)

References

N/A