Electronics
With the developments in electronics and software, smart applications steeply increased in the last 10 to 15 years. [] Hydroponic systems have a huge potential to include electronics and some systems even require some sensors in order to keep certain environmental parameters within the desired limits. Hence, especially in CEA and hydroponic, more and more systems include smart controlling, increasing efficiency and yield while decreasing running costs [17, 30]. In the past decade, these electronics were very costly and therefore limited to big farms able to invest such sums. But this changed and it may be interesting even for home growers to look into sensors and controllers nowadays. As electronics may stand for a nerd's project for some and an awesome piece of handicraft for others, it will definitely change the way you grow your own food; thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) you may be able to connect your system to other devices you use or even include it in your smart home! There are literally no limits and you are able to achieve a lot even without any previous experience.
In the following, you will find sensors (measuring instruments), controllers (all electronics necessary to process or even react to the sensors' data), artificial lighting (all you need to know about the current technologies on the market and what to look out for) and IoT (what is it exactly and how may it be used in your system).
Sensors
It doesn't matter if you need to measure acidity, conductivity, radiation, or even specific ions within your hydroponic solution, all is possible with the right sensors. You may even measure whatever you always wanted to monitor in your own walls like temperature, humidity or carbon dioxide / oxygen levels.
Learn in this section more about each sensor, the complexity to program and maintain or calibrate them, and where to get them.
Controllers
Sensors are good and fine, but nothing without controllers like – only micro computers, modules, boards and actuators enable to run the sensors, to fetch their data and to properly process these information.
The list of controllers seems endless, therefore this section has no attempt of delivering a complete picture! Nonetheless, if you are interested in this topic, get to know some possible platforms, modules, boards and actuators to use.
Artificial Lighting
Especially in indoor farming, the very hydroponic system's location may not receive a lot of sunlight. Hence, additional radiation in form a artificial lighting is required to keep the plants healthy. You may wonder why it is worth to open a whole section on artificial lighting alone: well, it is a rather new realm of agricultural science, which is just starting to realize the importance and capabilities to effect the plants' development. And as there are more than one technology on the market and many terms you may never have heard of, let's dive into the basics and learn for what to look out for.
IoT
As mentioned above, the possibilities are endless and the technologies further improving. Let us discover some approaches already used to monitor or automatize your very own hydroponic system at home. And because it is fun, let us also philosophize and dream about what is theoretically already possible to realize at home, in case you have enough time and knowledge about the electronics and programming needed.
Link to References