978-1-4244-2328-6/08/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE

Remote Monitoring Using Sensor in Greenhouse Agriculture

Izzatdin Abdul Aziz Universiti Teknologi

PETRONAS izzatdin@petronas.

com.my

Mohd Jimmy Ismail Universiti Teknologi

PETRONAS wk_9850@yahoo.com

Nazleeni Samiha Haron Universiti Teknologi

PETRONAS nazleeni@petronas.

com.my

Mazlina Mehat Universiti Teknologi

PETRONAS mazlinamehat@petrona

s. com.my

Abstract This paper proposes a monitoring system that can remotely monitor and predict changes of humidity and temperature level in the greenhouse atmosphere. The objective of the research project is to implement an agro-environmental remote monitoring system using wired sensor and issue SMS notification. The system will includes active measurements, which capable of detecting degradation level for humidity and temperature; and be equipped with an alert mechanism to notify workers about the atmosphere quality in the greenhouse so that precaution steps can be taken promptly. Hypothetical –Deductive method will be used as development methodology because it serves as the typical method in similar research field. With development of this Remote Monitoring System, it is hope that it will benefit farmers in term of bringing new technical innovation in collecting data and monitoring greenhouse. 1. Introduction

Concern by lots of Malaysian consumer for quality

of agriculture products has stimulated awareness on the farmer to increase their products in the market by implementing new technologies. First thing that came into the farmers’ mind was how to control used of natural resources and environment which are the main factors in agriculture. The problem has captured farmers’ interest to implement agro-environmental remote monitoring in agriculture industry. The agro-environmental remote monitoring can be achieve in various situations such as in monitoring qualities of soil and qualities of water, but for this research project, focus will be on monitoring level of humidity and level of temperature in greenhouse remotely. With proper

tools involve in daily agriculture activities, the natural environment and resources that are very important for crops can be monitored effectively. As a result, quality and quantity of the crops can be produced more efficiently.

During the good old days, human labors play a very important role in monitoring farm and crops in this industry. For some critical plantation such as vegetables and flowers, they need 24 hours human attention in ensuring the efficient control of the crops’ quantities and qualities. With a proper management of the collected data and information, farmers will be provided with strong foundation for future development and growth of their crops. However, because of increasing size in farming areas, this type of manual practice is considered time consuming and labors intensive. Due to the improvement of management in agriculture techniques, modern telecommunication technologies can provide a great assistance for the industry[1].

Inline with the rapid development in telecommunication technologies, wireless communication is the best practice for remote sensing in the agriculture industry. This research project will fully utilize Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and Short Message Service (SMS) to relay data from the sensors to computers or directly alert the workers through their mobile phone. It is a good practice because of it has eliminated the use of wired technology and improves old method of collecting data and information in the farming areas. This technology is also suitable for current situation because mobile phone becomes a need for everyone these days.

Nowadays, atmosphere and air quality in our environment are very important in a lot of industries especially in agriculture, bakery, fruits and vegetables cold storage, wood storage and in rooms’ environment likes warehouse, museum, galleries and server room.

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All of these industries depend critically on level of humidity and temperature in their daily business operation. If the humidity and temperature level is not monitor properly, it will affect the production of their products and may cause them lost on everyday profits. Therefore, numbers of technologies have been created to control level of humidity and temperature in various business situations. However, the technologies still require human to trigger the switch before operation can take place. For that reason workers that involved in the industries need to be alert about humidity and temperature level so they can take precaution steps to control it by trigger on all the necessary humidity and temperature control technologies.

Apart from that, current technology for level of humidity and temperature detection worked based on reactive measurement where it only alert workers when the levels reach at certain values. It is much better for them to have a proactive system which can predict possible changes of humidity and temperature level so that early precaution steps can be taken effectively.

The aim of the research project is to implement an agro-environmental remote monitoring system via SMS in Cameron Highlands farms, which able to actively measure decrement and increment of humidity and temperature level as well as to alert workers about changes in the atmosphere quality in the greenhouse in order to act on early precaution steps.

The system would concentrate on monitoring atmosphere and air quality for environment in green house agriculture, which caters two important environmental criteria, humidity and temperature.

2. Related Work 2.1.Wireless Network in Control and Monitoring

Nowadays, embedded processors, sensors, and

networking hardware are becoming increasingly cheap and pervasive, enabling the development of increasingly complex, intelligent and autonomous systems for monitoring and control. In networked control systems, for example, strong interest in wireless solutions is driving the development of this technology as a potential replacement for the current generation of wired industrial networks [2]. 2.2. Remote Sensing in Agriculture Remote sensing is an observation of an object without actually being in physical contact with it. Detail identification from the earth and atmosphere

will be made based on the measurement or observation gathered from the sensor. Those digital data were analyzed more efficiently (display, enhance and manipulate) using a computer [3]. 2.3. Remote Monitoring in Agriculture Current monitoring devices and sensors are effective but have two important limitations: lack of an easy user interface and, more importantly, high price. Most farmers in Portugal cannot afford currently practiced prices of in-field monitoring devices. Regional automated environment monitoring networks [8] are another possible source (usually free) of environmental monitoring data, yet they do not give enough spatial resolution for variables such as soil water. Therefore there is the need for an affordable and easy to use environmental monitoring device that would allow farmers to have easy access to variables such as air temperature, precipitation, soil water, relative humidity, etc [4]. Currently, remote sensing techniques can be widely found in applications such as change study, earth surface environment, and resource survey. But considering the high expenses of the methods and the climate effects on acquiring agricultural information, a more efficient mechanism is needed. Also, since the period of crop growth to harvest is short, accurate and instant information about environmental changes and soil conditions would help the farmers to take care of their crops. For huge rural fields, field data transmission via hard-wired systems and the Internet might not be appropriate. Consequently, a ubiquitous wireless system to collect and transmit field data is a more suitable choice for precise farming applications [1]. The wireless industrial networking alliance (WINA) sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Industrial Technology forecast that widespread use of wireless sensors could improve manufacturing production and energy efficiency by 10%. WINA stated: “Wireless technology and wireless networking systems hold great promise to help US industry use energy and materials more efficiently, lower systems and infrastructure costs, lower production costs and increase productivity” [5].

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Figure 1. Projected Price Reduction For Remote Monitoring Sensor Products [5].

It was also predicted that the cost for wireless sensor products would decline sharply over the next four years as depicted in Figure 1. The price will fall by over 50% every 18 months at any given volume [5]. 2.4. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) For the best use of mobile communication technology, this research paper will utilize GSM and SMS to conduct field data acquisition and proceed to investigate the corresponding feasibility compared with a research done in Taiwan. There are four advantages in this solution: (1) simple power solutions. Since most farm fields are located in remote rural areas where power is not easily accessible, GSM, with its low power transmission requirements, will definitely be a workable choice. (2) GSM system covers a wide range of areas in Taiwan, which is also a plus for large, remote production areas since Taiwan has a good cellular phone penetration rate after many mobile operators implemented base stations there. (3) Using GSM–SMS service, if the host server is out of service, the user data can be kept in the GSM service centre for 24 h and the data can be received once the server is repaired. (4) Group broadcast functions can be enabled easily to send real-time alerts to workers for immediate attention when any monitoring device is not functioning properly [1]. Hence, by using a standard terminal (such as a mobile phone) as a remote control, the VCR manufacturer would achieve both significant cost savings and reduce time to market. Also, the end user would benefit from being able to use a familiar device, of his/her own choice, that could potentially be used to control a multitude of different devices [7].

2.5. SMS in Data Field Acquisition A study was done on the SMS performance. A total of 915 SMS data were sent for a performance test. As indicated in Table 1, for these data transmissions, 25 SMS data encountered retransmission and after this retransmission, all SMS data could be sent correctly. Data loss rate is defined as the lost SMS data that cannot be received after 24 hours in terms of the total sent data count during the considered time period. In this test, 25 counts of SMS data are resent because of transmission interruption and six counts of SMS data cannot receive any response after sending its SMS data. In sum, the accuracy of data transmission via SMS achieved can be up to 915/915 = 100%, retransmission rate is only 25/915 = 2.73% and the total data loss rate is 6/915 = 0.66% [1]. Table 1: Summary for SMS Data Transmission

Performance Evaluation

GSM–SMS service can be utilized for data transmission in field data acquisition application with this test record of 100% data accuracy rating [1]. 3. Methodology 3.1. Hypothetical –Deductive Method Hypothetical –Deductive method was used in order to complete development of this research project because it serves as the typical method in a research field. This deductive method involves the process of falsification. It involves stating some output from theory in specific and the finding contrary cases using experiments and observations. If the objectives and research questions are not meet, the works need to go back to early phases and start the process all over again. Figure 2 depicts the overall method.

Total Transmitted Data

Percentage Value

Accuracy of data transmission

915/915 100%

Retransmission rate 25/915 2.73%

Total data loss rate 6/915 0.66%

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Figure 2: Research Method and System Development Lifecycle for Remote Monitoring

in Greenhouse Agriculture 3.1.1. Observation. Only several develop country like United States and Japan widely integrate remote monitoring and sensing technology with their agriculture industries. Compared to Malaysia, integrating the communication technology in the agriculture industries is still at an infant stage and it is crucial for future development of this industry 3.1.2. Theoretical Framework. From the observation, gathered information and also conceptualized problem, theories for this project are populated. The theory in Figure 3 indicate that the relationship of using SMS in remote monitoring can provide effective way to monitor greenhouse and also effective alert system for farmers if degradation of air quality occur in the greenhouse.

Figure 3: Diagram of relationship between independent and dependent variables.

3.1.3. Generation of Hypothesis. The hypothesis for this research project is that remote monitoring in greenhouse using SMS will ease the farmers in monitoring their crops and provide them effective alert system to notify if degradation of air quality occurs in the greenhouse. 3.1.4. Establishment of Guidelines. Several system engineering tools are used in this phase to help the establishment of guidelines for the projects. With creation of project framework, system architecture, flow chart and data flow diagram, it eases up the process to structure development of the project. Every detail of the developed guidelines needs to be fully understood to ensure successfulness of system development.

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4. System Model

Figure 4: System Component for remote monitoring in greenhouse

4.1 System Components Figure 4 is best to represent the overall system components. 4.1.1. Sensors. For both sensors, custom weather sensor will be used to sense level of humidity and level of temperature in the greenhouse. The reason in customizing the sensor is to make it compatible with the SCADA board and decreases its price. 4.1.2. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA Board). SCADA Board is a data acquisition device used to perform data collection and control the system at the supervisory level. It enables data to be collected from the remote site. The board consist of 8 digital inputs, 4 analog inputs and 4 digital inputs and able to support 8 sensors at one time. 4.1.3. GSM Modem. A GSM modem is needed to enable GSM wireless network occur between input and output of the system. The modem will be connected to SCADA board to send data captured by the sensors. This research project will utilize Siemens MC35i GSM modem which used RS232 serial port to connect with SCADA Board. 4.1.4. Mobile Phone Two mobile phones will be used in the research project, one is to be use as GSM modem to connect with computer and another one phone as client to receive alert from the system. To enable the phone act as GSM modem, a mobile phone with GSM enabled is required to be connected with computer installed with SMS gateway so that the system will be able to send and receive message.

4.1.5. SMS Gateway. SMS gateway is needed to establish connection between the system and GSM modem. It will enable the system to send/receive SMS messages to mobile devices with the computer. Ozeki SMS gateway will be used because of its user friendly interface, and an excellent internal architecture. The application can use a GSM mobile phone attached to the computer with a phone-to-PC data cable to transmit and receive the messages. 5. Result and Discussion

5.1. Important Air Quality Control in Greenhouse

Figure 5: Mind map diagram about effect of

humidity and temperature to vegetables.

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5.2. Comparative Study 5.2.1. Wireless Network Communication. Comparative study was done to choose wireless network communication involve in the project. Three types of wireless connections were chosen for comparisons, which are GSM, Bluetooth and 3G; and the comparison is represented in Table 2.

Table 2: Comparison between 3 types of wireless communication channels

GSM Bluetooth 3G

Range 35 KM 10 M 20-30km

Data Rate 9.6 Kbps 700 kbps 2 Mbps

Media Digital Data Digital data Mainly Digital Data

Security Moderate level

Moderate level

Moderate level

As a result, GSM communication is chosen as the network connection because of several benefits that are important to the research project;

Cover wide range of area in Malaysia Coverage is excellent at research targeted

area (Cameron Highland) Acceptable data rate transferred Cheap and easy to implement ( Maxis to

Maxis only cost 1 cent to send SMS) Able to send real time alert faster to farmers.

5.2.2 Type of Sensors. Second comparative study was between wired sensor and wireless sensor to be implemented in this system. Below was the comparison that has been made. As a result from the comparison, the author has chose to implement wired sensor because of a lot more benefits the system will get compared to wireless sensor. All of the benefits are important in order to develop a system with a low cost production and also provide high processing capabilities.

Table 4.2: Comparison between types of sensors

Network Sensor

Massive data can be generated

Limited data can be generated

Fast data transferred Slow data transferred

Security issue can be control.

Security issues need to be resolved; the WLAN security

Low cost and easy to implement

Complexity and high cost for coverage in large crops prevent fast adoption

Powered form wired connection

Power supply is always a great concern for wireless systems.

5.3.Flow Chart Diagram Figure 6 explains the whole process of development of this project. Development of this research project will follow from one stage to another in order to create successful system. Every stage needs to be completed to proceed to another stage and if not, the tasks in the early stages need to be revised.

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5.4. System Architecture The system architecture in Figure 7, indicates the whole operation of the system. Starting from captured data by humidity and temperature sensors which connected to the SCADA Board, the data then will be transferred to the computer (data presentation part). The transferred data will be sent using SMS whereby the GSM modem work as communication tools between the SCADA Board and computer. The data sent by the SMS was in text form; therefore developed software in the computer will represent the data in proper graphical user interface and stored in the database. Apart from that, the data also will be evaluated to send alert to the farmers if the reading is below dangers value. 6. Conclusion and Recommendation As a conclusion, all planned work has been successfully completed and the system development can be put in place. Looking at the current study, the system can be improvised with several ideas below;

• Improve security of the system. • Implement Artificial Intelligent concept or

Expert System • Reduce cost of hardware. • Add more sensors to monitor other

environmental element which important for greenhouse plantation

Figure 6: Flow Chart Diagram The System

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Figure 7: System architecture for Remote Monitoring in Greenhouse Using SMS

7. References [1] ] C. L. Tseng, J. A. Jiang, R. G. Lee, F. M. Lu, C. S. Ouyang, Y. S. Chen, and C. H. Chang , ‘Feasibility Study On Application Of GSM–SMS Technology To Field Data Acquisition’, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 53 (2006),pp 45–59. [2] G.W. Irwin,, J. Colandairaj, and W. G. Scanlon, ‘An Overview of Wireless Networks in Control and Monitoring’, Computational Intelligence, Volume 4114/2006, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg,pp 1061-1072. [3] D. Amenozima, A. Ismail and K. Jusoff, ‘Geospatial Information Technologies for Malaysian Agriculture in the Next Millennium’, http://www.amesremote.com/education.htm [Accessed at 18-6-2008] [4] S. Correia, V. Realinho, R. Braga, J. Turégano, A. Miranda, and J. Gañan ‘Development of a Monitoring System for Efficient Management of Agriculture Resources’,2004 www.esaelvas.pt/docentes/ricardo_braga.asp [Accessed at 18-6-2008] [5] N. Wang, N. Zhang, and M. Wang, ‘Wireless sensors in agriculture and food industry—Recent development and future perspective’, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 50 (2006), pp 1–14 [6] L. Cai, W. Zhang, E. Li, Z. Liang, Z. G. Hou and M. Tan, ‘Design and Implementation of a CDMA-Based Remote Monitoring and Controlling System’, SICE Annual

Conference 2007, Sept. 17-20, 2007, Kagawa University, Japan. [7] Dr. Mikael Sj¨odin, ‘Remote Monitoring and Control Using Mobile Phones’, Whitepaper- Newline Information, November 2001. [8] B.H. Chojnicki, and G. Hoogenboom. 2002. “Automated meteorological network as a source of agrometeorological information.” Acta Agrophysica 60, pp 39-44.