VERTICAL AGRICULTURE SYSTEM CONTROLLED VIA SMART PHONE APPLICATION

Abstract

            The purpose of this study was to propose a prototype creation of a vertical cultivation system which could be controlled by a smartphone application. This prototype had been developed to have a water pump control for watering and feeding the plants in order to control the Electrical Conductivity (EC) and the pH values of water to be at the levels that the plants needed, and provide lightings for photosynthesis to substitute the natural light. The proposed system had controlled sensors to measure various values ​​through the microcontroller board and displayed values including controlling the system through a smart phone application. The result revealed that the system was able to control the watering, feeding and lighting for natural light replacement. In addition, in the experiment on planting green oak lettuces by the proposed system, the system was able to control the Electrical Conductivity and pH of the water to be within the suitable range for vegetables cultivation and made vegetables to grow well. It was found that during one week of the planting experiment the growth of the vegetable trunk was at the average growth of 1.68 centimeters or was at the average growth of 0.24 centimeters per day.