IoT-based Solar Hydroponics Farming

Agriculture is the largest employment sector in India. It contributes a large amount to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our country. Traditionally, agriculture practices in India are highly dependent on external factors such as the weather. Slow manual agricultural techniques and the lack of awareness about efficient farming techniques results in high production cost. Hydroponics is a subset of agricultural practices to grow plants without using soil as the medium. Instead, water replaces it as the growth medium for transferring essential nutrients such as Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) to the plant-roots. The plants have their roots submerged in water. Water mixed with essential nutrients circulates around the system with the help of a water pump and provided to the roots of plants. Hence, approximately 10% water is required as compared to conventional farming methods. Our prototype incorporates Hydroponics techniques with a modern embedded system which includes various sensors and the ability to connect to the internet. This increases the growth rate of plants and provides an opportunity to the user to operate the system with the press of a button from anywhere in the world.