The Design and Implementation of a Hydroponics Control System
Griffiths, Mark (2014)
Griffiths, Mark
Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu
2014
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014101414741
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014101414741
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was born out of the idea to make hydroponic food growing easier and cheaper, hydroponics is essentially the growing of plants without the use of soil. The idea of it being open source is also in keeping with the general community feeling surrounded by the hydroponic movement.
The objective of the thesis was to create a working hydroponic controller, which is cheap and simple enough to build. It will monitor and control the key environmental ingredients needed for successful hydroponic growing, chiefly the pH, EC, air and water levels. Visual alarms will be raised if these go outside of predefined ranges. The controller will also be able to control external HW, such as lights, water heater and a water pump.
A circuit board was developed, which will act as a shield for an Arduino 2560 board. The circuit board will help in the ease of building the system. It acts too, as a way of keeping the HW more stable, as wires will not come loose and interference will be minimised. The SW and HW design will be available for everyone to download.
Knowledge of what is important in hydroponic growing was considered and these factors were used as inputs into driving the SW and HW requirements. UI usability studies were carried out to ensure that the controller would be enjoyable to use. Software design and software patterns were taken into use to make the SW more module and expandable. Investigation into any third party SW libraries was done and consideration into licensing was carried out.
This thesis details the HW and SW and why certain design decisions were made. The design of the SW classes are also described as well as the overall functioning of the SW. An explanation of how to build the system is also given.
The objective of the thesis was to create a working hydroponic controller, which is cheap and simple enough to build. It will monitor and control the key environmental ingredients needed for successful hydroponic growing, chiefly the pH, EC, air and water levels. Visual alarms will be raised if these go outside of predefined ranges. The controller will also be able to control external HW, such as lights, water heater and a water pump.
A circuit board was developed, which will act as a shield for an Arduino 2560 board. The circuit board will help in the ease of building the system. It acts too, as a way of keeping the HW more stable, as wires will not come loose and interference will be minimised. The SW and HW design will be available for everyone to download.
Knowledge of what is important in hydroponic growing was considered and these factors were used as inputs into driving the SW and HW requirements. UI usability studies were carried out to ensure that the controller would be enjoyable to use. Software design and software patterns were taken into use to make the SW more module and expandable. Investigation into any third party SW libraries was done and consideration into licensing was carried out.
This thesis details the HW and SW and why certain design decisions were made. The design of the SW classes are also described as well as the overall functioning of the SW. An explanation of how to build the system is also given.