Smart Greenhouse Monitoring System Using IoT

Yohanes R. Laberto Kelen1 Arief Rais Bahtiar2 Suyoto3

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University
Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281 Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281 Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281

Abstract—Every year, so many plants are damaged and information farmers can determine what decisions must be
wasted due to the weather. Proposes paper is the design of a made. The greenhouse function is to monitor the plants to
smart green home monitoring system that controlling the grow up as well [5]. Here, we propose a smart greenhouse
environment with precise science. Plant in special ways without monitoring system design using Iot. This propose system is
relying on outside weather. Ardunio microcontroller
designed with Blynk which is designed for IoT. Supported
implemented in this system design is integrated with multi-
sensors such as temperature sensors, soil moisture, ultrasonic with an Arduino microcontroller and multi-sensor.
sensors, and light sensors. Designing the Graphical User
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Interface using the Blnyk application, can activate the watering
activity, adjust the light intensity, and turn on the fan and water Kodali, Jain, and Karagwal in their paper explained that
pump switch. Blynk itself is equipped with a library for push The Smart Greenhouse can be further upgraded in many ways
notifications so that it can send measurement information and can be used in wide agricultural applications. It can be
detected by the sensor via a mobile phone connected to the placed and operated in any of the environmental conditions to
internet.
grow any kind of vegetation [3].
Keywords—Arduino, Blynk, Greenhouse, Internet of Things, Singh, Zaware, and Nandgaonkar use Blynk for a robot
Mobile Application, Monitoring System. control project, further increasing its efficiency and
introducing IoT in it. Controlling the Robot through Blynk in
I. INTRODUCTION the future will be much easier. It's more developed to interact
Extreme climate change and weather anomalies are with more than one sensor at a time. We no longer need cables
blamed for disrupting agricultural system stability. As a to control robots [6].
result, there is a decline in agricultural production and losses
due to land damage. Food crops and horticulture fields often Ishak et al. Smart Home Garden Irrigation System was
suffer from prolonged damage and droughts in several regions successfully developed with the Raspberry Pi. All sensors
in Indonesia. High rainfall during the rainy season causes have a good function for conducting experiments [1].
floods to be submerged. When the dry season arrives, drought The system proposed by Dedeepya et al. Can monitor land
occurs. change factors and integrate them with sensors. Then the
Although the government has given intensive attention, sensor values entered in the database on the Raspberry Pi are
such as regulating the planting period, improving agricultural used to analyze agricultural data. [7].
infrastructure and normalizing irrigation. This topic continues Durani explained in the paper that by pressing the virtual
to be a polemic. Therefore a new idea is needed in a farming button on a smart phone, home appliances can be controlled
system that is independent of the weather. Green house green from a remote location. With the Blynk application historical
is an interesting idea to be developed with environmental data can be obtained from anywhere in realtime [8].
engineering processes. So that various environmental
conditions can affect plant growth in the garden [1]. This Saokaew, Chieochan, and Boonchieng explained their
greenhouse is definitely not going to know the weather that research that the increase in internet was applied to the second
occurs outside because of its independent nature. version of the photovoltaic system. Internet technology is
applied to measure humidity and control irrigation
Now a day the internet of things plays a vital role in automatically using internet cloud services [9].
agriculture management [2], one of which is by using IoT [3].
Agricultural applications with IoT integration can be easily Lee et all, provides a device called the Smart Power-Strip.
operated in one of the environmental conditions for growing With a device in the form of a socket adapter, we can turn a
any type of vegetation [3]. This allows the application to be standard house into an automatic home. So that the Smart
able to control everything in the greenhouse via a smartphone. Power Strip can control home automation without high costs
because it is controlled by a programmable microcontroller.
The monitoring and controlling system for remote In addition, it can be controlled by smart phones using the
activities is very good also to be implemented in agriculture. Blynk application. Thus, the Smart Power-Strip makes it
Farming activities can be more efficient and profitable. Smart possible to bring each IoT outlet to power [10].
Greenhouse itself has a bright future in agriculture if it has the
right system design [3]. Of course the design of this system
will have to be compared with agricultural science.
ICT began to develop offering significant potential for
managing information at the farm level [4]. So that with this
 III. PURPOSE METHOD capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor to
measure the surrounding water. This sensor is cost
A. Flowchart Design
effective, because it provides low power
consumption and up to 20 meters of transmission
signal is possible [12]. In designing this system we
can only use temperature and humidity sensors. if
using a temperature sensor that is separate from the
air humidity sensor, the layout design at Blynk in
this design is not appropriate.
b) Soil Moisture Sensor : The soil moisture sensor
measures volumetric water content indirectly by
using several other properties of the soil, such as
electrical resistance, dielectric constant, or
Fig. 1. Block Diagram interaction with neutrons, for moisture content as a
proxy [14]. The sensor converts the physical
The proposed system consists of several important parameter into the electric signal. The output of
microcontroller components and sensors. The microcontroller sensor is analog signal; the signal is converted into
component is the Arduino Uno and Wi-Fi module. Sensors digital signal and then fed to the processor [15].
needed are soil moisture sensors, light sensors, ultrasonic c) Light Sensor : Light sensor is a device used to
sensors, air temperature sensors and soil moisture. There are convert light quantities into electrical quantities.
also solar cells, batteries that are used as electrical power we use this sensor to detect light conditions,
sources. whether the light around is dark or bright. This
In each phase of plant life is influenced by environmental sensor is capable to detect the brightness of
conditions including soil, water, temperature and light that environment because there is a Light-dependent
helps the process of plant growth. The multi-sensors Resistor (LDR) provided in the module [1].
component will read in real-time the state of the surrounding d) Ultrasonic Sensor : HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor:
environment for the survival of the plant. This sensor uses sonar and capable to determine the
distance of object, which is not easily affected by
If the verified value exceeds the specified threshold, the
sunlight. It is also packaged with a transmitter and
system will notify the user through the Blynk application to
a receiver [1]. The water tank will be equipped with
determine the action of turning on the water pump if the water
an ultrasonic sensor. the goal is that the water level
content in the soil is lacking, turning on the fan if the air in the tank can be measured in realtime.
temperature exceeds normal, and turning on the lamp as an
alternative if the sun does optimal. In this design, if plants e) Relay : A relay is an electronically operated switch
planted in a greenhouse need sunlight for photosynthesis. We that has two switch positions ON OFF and
can use UV lights. processes two AC and DC currents [2]. In
designing this system, contact switches are used for
B. Component Description lights and water pumps.
In this paper, our design system essentially consists of four 4) Communication module
modules:
It provides the ability to embed Wi-Fi capabilities
1) Controller module within other systems. It is standalone application
having lower cost and less space required. Here it used
Arduino company that designs and manufactures
for realtime data transfer to the server from controller
microcontroller kits to build digital devices and
side [16]. Each ESP8266 module comes pre-
interactive objects that can sense and control objects in
programmed meaning, it can be simply hooked up to
the real world [11]. UNO is a program for Arduino
Arduino device to get Wi-Fi ability [12].
software [12]. Because it is easy to understand Arduino
is widely developed by electronic application C. Hardware and software requirement
professionals and beginners to learn robotics. Requirement hardware and software to develop Smart
2) Power module Greenhouse such as:

Solar power is the alteration of energy from sunlight 1) Hardware device

into electricity, either directly by means of In this project, we use Arduino Uno as microcontroller,
photovoltaic (PV), or indirectly by means of intense Wi-Fi module such as ESP8266 module or NodeMCU,
solar power [13]. Solar power provides sufficient relay module, water tank, water pump, fan, lamp/UV
amount of power to drive the system. To overcome the lamp, bread board, jumper and wires. Multi-sensors
necessity of electricity, the propose model can be a that have been described previously are also used
suitable alternative. 2) Software application
In this project, the development requires to use
3) Input module Arduino IDE, Blynk application for android.
a) DHT11 Sensor : The DHT11 sensor is used to
measure temperature and humidity. It uses a
D. Cloud Blynk server For energy efficiency, we recommend solar panels as power
Blynk is designed for the internet. This makes it a remote modules.
hardware control. At the same time it functions to display
data, store data and do many other things [6]. This application
can be downloaded for free and is available for all types of
modern smartphones. With this application the user can create
a series of reading devices, buttons, switches, etc. to control
the devices that have been installed. This application runs the
Button and switch control functions virtually [10].

send data read data

Blynk Apps Blynk Cloud Server Microcontroller

And Wifi

Fig. 2. Architecture of Blynk

The Blynk application platform that connects Wi-Fi

modules and mobile applications. There are 3 main services
for Blynk. First, cellphones are used to monitor data from Wi-
Fi modules. Second, cloud services, are used to store
ESP8266 data from modules and historical information can be Fig. 3. Layout design of Smart Greenhouse
retrieved in the mobile application. Finally, the Library, it
First, designing the application where the designer can
provides connections for ESP8266 modules and Blynk cloud
select the widget for their apps [17]. Through the design of
services [9].
this apps, all information also will be display. There will be
Figure 2 show the communication between value display widget to display the level indicator (light
microcontroller and Wi-Fi, Blynk cloud server and Blynk condition, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture). Next,
application. Blynk applications are used to display the value display will display the water tank level sense by
information and take action from the user. The information is ultrasonic sensor. Slider widget will control the light intensity
sent by sensors through cloud services. Then the Blynk cloud inside the greenhouse. Lastly the button will control the fan,
server which is used to store the Blynk library, becomes an watering action and water pump. Figure 3 shows the layout
intermediary between the Arduino module and Wi-Fi. Actions design of Blynk used in this work.
from users who operate the Blynk application are also sent
Blynk provides the widget component energy needed to
through this service. The action will move the sensors ordered
design layouts. Each widget has its own amount of energy.
through the microcontroller.
When widgets are added to the layout project, the energy
IV. DISCCUSSION stock will decrease. If the energy has run out, we can no longer
add widgets. We have to pay to increase the stock of energy.
There are 2 points to be discussed in this study. First,
designing a smart greenhouse monitoring system using a In the layout design in Figure 3, it does not require
microcontroller. Second, use a cellphone to control sensors additional energy, because it has been designed with the right
with the Blynk cloud service. This idea can be implemented number of energy widgets. Detailed widgets and their
with the components described earlier. With cellphones as a functions can be seen in Table 1.
controller and monitoring tool, it can make it easier for users
to access smart greenhouse control remotely. Design of this TABLE I. BLYNK WIDGET DETAILS
system, we can do watering activities, control the light Widget Description
intensity, and turn on the fan and water pump switch using a A Notification Send notifications to mobile
cellphone. Measurement information taken from the sensor B Value label Displays temperature and humidity measurement
module via ESP8266 can be easily displayed on cellphones information
using Blynk. C Value label Displays information light conditions (light or
dark)
As an IOT cloud service, Blynk has many libraries to D Button Take action to turn on / off the fan
connect with many connection modules. In this study, E Slider Slider to control the light intensity
ESP8266 Wi-Fi module was used, but other types of modules F Value label Displays information about soil moisture
can also be used as desired. Blynk has a lot of documentation, measurement
so it doesn't need a lot of basic programming activities. Just G Button Button to perform the action of watering
need good logic to apply to application design. Measuring H Value label Displays water tank level information
activities in realtime is admitted to consuming a lot of energy. I Button Button to turn on the water pump
 Ensure that measurement information by sensors is valid Arduino IDE. So the notification widget can respond to warn
and does not burden the Blynk server. The reading rate for the the user. If the status is hot, the system asks for confirmation
widget value label is rated 5 seconds. This value is sufficient of action to turn on the fan. If the status is cold, the user will
because as many as 5 Blynk value label widgets will read the be notified and ask for action to turn off the fan.
measurement information. This proposed model is expected
to be appropriate so that a comprehensive monitoring system TABLE V. STEP OF COMMUNICATION BLYNK WITH SOIL MOISTURE
SENSORS
will send and read multi-sensor data continuously in real time.
Steps Description
TABLE II. RULES OF PUSH NOTIFICATION S1 Microcontroller and Blynk are connected
Input Module Rule Status S2 The sensor reads the soil moisture values via the serial port
DHT11 Sensor Temperature 35oc and above; Hot S3 The measurement value is sent via the internet to the server
Humidity 35 and above S4 The label widget displays the value of the soil moisture
Temperature 20oc to 34oc; Cold S5 Blynk tells the user that the soil conditions are dry
Humidity 20 to 34 S6 User presses the button to do watering
Soil Moisture Soil moisture 100MA and above Dry S7 Microcontroller sends the action to do watering through the
Sensor Soil moisture below 100MA Normal relay module
Light Sensor LDR resistance of 1KΩ or less Bright S8 Plants are watered through sprinkled water
LDR resistance around 10 MΩ Dark Table 5 shows the sequence of steps the user receives
Ultrasonic Water level 26% and above Normal notifications from the soil moisture sensor through Blynk. If
Sensor Water level below 25% Low the status is dry, the system asks for confirmation of action to
This measurement is displayed on the label value of the do watering activities.
Blynk application widget. According to this measurement, the
TABLE VI. STEP OF COMMUNICATION BLYNK WITH LIGHT SENSORS
system will notify the user via push notification. The
following notification rules work automatically based on the Steps Description
reading in table 2. S1 Microcontroller and Blynk are connected
S2 The sensor reads the light intensity values via the serial port
TABLE III. STEP OF THE USER STARTS THE SYSTEM S3 The measurement value is sent via the internet to the server
Steps Description S4 The label widget displays the value of the light sensor
S1 User turns on the microcontroller S5 Blynk told the user that the LDR resistance was bright
S2 Microcontroller online and connect to the server S6 User uses a slider to reduce light intensity
S3 User runs Blynk S7 Microcontroller sends the slider value to the relay
S4 Blynk to connect to the server S8 The light dimmed
S5 Blynk notifies users that the application is online and S9 Blynk told the user that LDR resistance was dark
connected to a microcontroller S10 User uses sliders to increase the intensity of light
Table 3 shows the sequence of steps the user starts the S11 The microcontroller sends the slider value to the relay
overall design of this system. The possibility of the system not S12 The light becomes bright
running is that there are components that are not connected to The sequence of steps the user receives notifications from
the internet network, between microcontroller components or the light sensor through Blynk can be seen in Table 6. If the
maybe a mobile phone. status is bright, the system asks to reduce the light intensity.
If the status is dark, the user will be notified and ask to
TABLE IV. STEP OF COMMUNICATION BLYNK WITH TEMPERATURE increase the light intensity.
AND HUMIDITY SENSORS

Steps Description TABLE VII. STEP OF COMMUNICATION BLYNK ULTRASONIC SENSORS

S1 Microcontroller and Blynk are connected Steps Description
S2 The sensor reads the temperature and humidity values via the S1 Microcontroller and Blynk are connected
serial port
S2 The sensor reads the water tank level
S3 The measurement value is sent via the internet to the server
S3 The measurement value is sent via the internet to the server
S4 The label widget displays the value of the temperature and
humidity S4 The label widget displays the value of the water level
S5 Blynk notifies the user that the condition is hot S5 Blynk tells the user that the water level almost empty
S6 User presses the button to turn on the fan S6 User presses the button to open water pump
S7 Microcontroller sends the action of turning on the fan through S7 Microcontroller sends the action to the relay
the relay module S8 Water from the pump flows into the water tank
S8 The fan is on Table 7 shows the sequence of steps the user receives
S9 Blynk notifies the user that the condition is cold notifications from the ultrasonic sensor on the water tank
S10 User presses the button to turn off the fan through Blynk. If the water level is low, the system asks for
S11 Microcontroller sends the action of turning on the fan through confirmation of actions to turn on the water pump, so that
the relay module water enters the water tank. If the water in the tank approaches
S12 The fan is off the threshold, the water pump will automatically shut down.
Table 4 shows the sequence of steps users receive
notifications of temperature sensors and air humidity through
Blynk. Step 5 and 9 are conditions that must be coded in the
 V. CONCLUSION and T. Gnanesh, “Smart Greenhouse Farming based on IOT,”
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