Doctoral Thesis
Advancing Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponic in Urban Agriculture
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Murdoch University
2024
Abstract
The micro indoor smart hydroponic (MISH) system artifacts developed in this thesis combine commodity-grade IoT sensors with novel design techniques to replace expensive lab-grade sensors required for effective hydroponic system management. The first of these systems accurately measures photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) light to reduce the power added by hydroponic light systems. The results significantly reduced power consumption while producing a yield with no significant difference from a normal lighting regime.
Nutrients used in hydroponics are predominantly measured using electrical conductivity (EC) to measure the overall nutrient salt content, not individual nutrients. These sensors have a limited lifespan and are prone to interference. Another sensor, usually a lab-grade spectrometer, is needed to measure individual nutrients. This work builds and tests a novel spectroscopic transflective sensor system to replace EC measurements and eliminate the need for a lab spectrometer. When deployed, the system produced significant models predicting the nitrogen amount in the solution. A variation of the system was then deployed in a MISH nutrient management system. The results produced a significantly greater yield compared to the control group.
The work outlined in this thesis, lowering the cost of measuring PAR light and improving the ability to measure nutrients in a hydroponic water solution, will bring advanced hydroponic management techniques into the domain of the home user.
Details
- Title
- Advancing Micro Indoor Smart Hydroponic in Urban Agriculture
- Authors/Creators
- Joseph Stevens
- Contributors
- David Murray (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, School of Information Technology
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Identifiers
- 991005707257507891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Information Technology
- Resource Type
- Doctoral Thesis
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