A Novel IoT Photovoltaic-Powered Water Irrigation Control and Monitoring System for Sustainable City Farming

Abstract

In Singapore’s limited land space, hydroponics, a soil-free method of that uses irrigation gained popularity for urban farming. Vertical farming can be made more sustainable by integrating Internet-of-Things (IoT) and solar photovoltaic (PV) as an intelligent system. This study aims to conduct a feasibility study on using PV cells to reduce energy consumption in IoT-enabled irrigation control and monitoring systems. In the experiment, an intelligent water irrigation system was designed for data collection including energy harvested from PV, climate conditions, and water quality. It was observed that a 45 Watt peak (Wp) solar PV was able to produce up to 460-watt hours of stored electricity in a day which can power a standalone hydroponic system that consists of a 19 W water pump and light emitting diode (LED) grow lights rated at 14 W/m. The climate monitoring system matched meteorological data from online sources proving to be applicable in the prototype. Water conditions such as water temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) also correlate to readings taken from traditional handheld water quality testers. Based on the fabricated prototype, integration is deemed to be feasible using power harvested from the sun.