NFT-I technique using IoT to improve hydroponic cultivation of lettuce

Abstract

The significant decrease in agricultural land and the rapid development of hydroponic system technology have brought a huge challenge to farmers. This paper describes the NFT-I (Nutrient Film Technique based on IoT) hydroponic system, and it is a variant of traditional NFT and Floating Root (RF) systems. The system measures several parameters, such as temperature, water level, and acidity (pH). The system collects the information using sensors connected to Arduino microcontroller and Raspberry PI to store the collected data. The results show that this system can reduce the electricity consumption by 91.6%; on the other hand, it helps farmers to increase the effectivity and efficiency on monitoring and controlling NFT-I Hydroponic Farm. Finally, in these times of confinement due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in which the economy has decreased, and the needs are multiple, this NFT-I system could help people to create their vegetable growing system quickly and cheaply.