Solar Powered and Arduino-Based Egg Monitoring System

Based on Internet of Things

A Research Proposal Presented to the

Bulacan State University

In partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

By:
Alvaran, Carlo James B.
Ortega, John Arvin
Parungao, Jose Victor
Pinca, Grace Anne A.
Reyes, Joshua James
Villajuan, Hannah Maris V.
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Background of the Study

Technology, throughout the years has been a great help in making everything easy and

efficient, and that includes the farming and or the poultry industry. Poultry farming has been

going on relentlessly despite Asia’s preference for pork, current trends indicates that global

consumption of chicken meat will surpass that of pork, making it the most popular meat

worldwide, and it will continue to thrive since it is accepted by practically all nations and

religions. Poultry farms needs to be cleaned and sanitized, eggs must either be collected or

monitored, and birds must be checked frequently, which makes it a tedious, time-consuming task

(Connolly, 2018). To ensure that the poultry industry continues to thrive, it should start with the

mortality rate of these poultry animals to lessen, such that success during egg incubation should

be a success, and that’s where technology takes place.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most uprising technologies to date. It is a

technology that is beneficial for many industries thanks to its automated processes, reduced labor

costs, waste reduction, enhance service delivery, and more, and the agriculture industry is no

exception. To improve the health and growth of poultry animals, an IoT-based poultry farm

continuously monitors several environmental factors. IoT has the power to completely transform

old farming practices and transform them into contemporary, automated poultry farms (Lerner,

2018).
Statement of the Problem

Poultry owners, either in small or big farms, may it be for their business or taking care of

chickens as a hobby, worry about the mortality of the eggs once the mother has laid them. This is

due to certain factors that are not limited to; the mothers not wanting to incubate the eggs, the

tendency of them breaking during the process of natural incubation, being harmed by wild

animals or of them getting wet. The eggs are placed in an inconsistent environment, which then

compromises the success of the eggs from hatching.

If eggs aren’t incubated properly, such as not being turned after a long period of time, the

yolk will then eventually touch the inner shell membranes which causes the embryo to die. A

controlled environment is also beneficial to ensure proper moisture and temperature for the egg

during the incubation process.

Smart incubators have been made that all run through electricity, and depending how big

and small these incubators are, affect the amount of electricity usage, and can pile up to financial

costs. Therefore, the researchers opt to create an incubator that is powered by solar energy to

save up a few, but still present successful hatching results.

Objectives of the Study

General Objective

The researchers aim to create a device that will help poultry

farmers/agriculture industry in increasing the productivity in poultry production.

Specifically, the proposed study aimed to answer the following questions:

• How to design an egg monitoring system/incubator that will ensure

that the eggs reach its hatching state?

• How to develop an interface that can help monitor and control the

machine’s features such as humidity and temperature for

thermoregulation, reminders for its owners, and egg turning feature

through the user’s devices via IoT?

• How to design the machine that it may be powered or charged through

solar energy?

• How to test the machine’s effectivity in lowering the egg’s mortality

rate?

• How to evaluate the acceptability of the device in terms of:

• Functionality

• Reliability

• Usability

• Efficiency

• Maintainability and

• Portability
Significance of the Study

The results of this study will be of great benefit to the following:

Farm/Poultry Owners. The primary beneficiaries of the outcome of this project are for farm

and chicken owners. It will ensure that the number of eggs expected to hatch are the same as

those that were laid by the hens. It also provides them full control in monitoring these eggs

which will put them at ease.

Business Owners. For those whose business relies on the meat industry or in selling the animals

once they hatch and grow, making sure that all the eggs hatch avoids having all the efforts in

taking care of these poultry animals be put to waste, and for the eggs to be put to waste.

Researchers. Since this project is composed of different components and is a product of

technology, it will be able to help them when it comes to writing and making their own research.
Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The scope of this study covers designing a machine that will help in egg monitoring and

ensuring that the eggs hatch after being put in a controlled environment.

This project will be conducted within the Municipality of San Rafael, and the materials

needed such as microcontroller-Arduino/ESP32, batteries, AC-DC converters, solar panels for

generating electricity out of solar energy, and temperature and humidity sensors for the

machine’s thermoregulation will be bought in different hardware stores and online shops.

The machine will be programmed such that the user is able to control these features with

their devices, hence its IoT capabilities. These features include humidity and temperature

regulation so that the environment of the eggs will be controlled and consistent, and the ability to

turn the eggs after a certain time. Alongside this, external outlets for filling water are also

implemented so that there will be no need for the user to open the incubator, and it will have a

viewing window.

The machine is ran by electricity generated from the solar panels.

For the evaluation of this study, poultry owners will then check the efficiency and

effectivity of the project in terms of the egg’s hatch rate in the number of days they are required

to.

There are also limitations to this study. The components used for the project will not all

be designed by the researchers. The software used to control the IoT features of the machine is

limited only to the ones designed by the researchers, therefore unless the proponents or the user

have access to said software/UI, they will not be able to use the machine to its expected
potential. This study is also limited to the incubation of chicken eggs, which are the most

common poultry products.

Limitations when it comes to its IoT features involves having to connect the user’s device

and the machine to the same internet for it to work as intended.

Limitations regarding its power source since the solar system is not off-grid, the

incubator and solar system will not work in case of a power interruption, unless the owner has a

back up generator of their own.

Internet of Things (IoT) – refers to an entire network of physical dcvices, tools, appliances,

equipment, machinery, and other smart objects that have the capability to collect data about the

physical world and transmit that data through the internet.

Microcontroller – A small computer or circuit that is able to control some if not all of the

functions of an electronic device

Temperature – this is important for incubation as it determines the hatchability of the eggs

inside the incubator

Humidity – determines how moist the inside of the incubator depending on the amount of water

put into it

Broody Hen – describes the incubating hen or the chicken that sits and hatch eggs

Incubator – a device that has a controlled environment for incubating and hatching eggs
 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter provides local and foreign literature that presents information about some

features, capabilities of sensors, and related study about Touchless Technology. It also includes

Researchers that has direct and indirect relevance to the project.

Related Theory

Egg incubation is a must process, and occurs in a vast majority of birds (Drent, 1975).

Naturally, female birds select a nest site and lays at a clutch of eggs, usually 8 to 13 of them.

They then process on sitting on the eggs full time, leaving only for food and water. The hen turns

the eggs with her beak regularly. The hen’s body heats the eggs up to 100-101 degrees

Fahrenheit or about 37-38 degrees Celsius (4-H Virtual Farm). With artificial incubators, eggs

need to be turned for proper embryo development and to have a temperature similar to what a

broody hen provides. Turning the eggs help nourish the embryo by distributing oxygen and

nutrients, and it prevents the embryo from getting stuck to one side of the membrane inside the

shell (The Coop Team, 2020).

Related Literatures

What is Sensor? A sensor is a device that detects input of any kind from the physical

world and reacts to it. Light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure, and a variety of other

environmental phenomena can all be inputs. The output is typically a signal that is translated into
a display that can be read by humans at the sensor location or that is electronically sent over a

network to be read or put through more processing.

A crucial part of the Internet of things is played by sensors (IoT). They make it feasible to

develop an ecosystem for gathering information about a particular environment and processing it

so that it may be monitored, managed, and controlled more effectively. IoT sensors are employed

in a variety of situations, including homes, the outdoors, cars, airplanes, industrial settings, and

others (Sheldon, 2022).

Incubators and Effect of Temperature and Humidity. The number one use of an

incubator is to hold an ideal temperature and humidity round fertilized eggs for them to hatch.

An incubator is greater reliable because, it keeps this temperature always and ensures the

protection of these eggs during the 21 days when it is inside an egg incubator (Bobby A, 2022).

The egg incubator will ensure the safe hatching of an egg even if the hen did not hatch the egg

(Samuel, 2019).

For the embryo to develop properly, eggs inside the incubator must be flipped. As you

turn, oxygen and nutrients are distributed throughout the embryo, feeding it. Without turning,

one side of the membrane inside the shell may grow more favorably than the other, and the

embryo may become glued to that side. Additionally, turning enables the embryo to orient itself

in preparation for hatching. The egg must be turned 5 times a day (The Coop Team, 2020).

The incubator was created to take the place of eggs hatching simultaneously naturally.

The consistency of the incubator's temperature has a big impact on how well the hatching

machine works. Due to one of the challenges, namely the power interruption during the hatching
process, the use of small-scale hatcheries for native chicken hatching still has the issue of low

hatchability (Siti P. et al., 2021).

Temperature is one of the most important physical factors when it comes to incubation as

it determines the success of the incubation process itself. This concludes that setting an

environment with the ideal temperature is essential to promote hatch rate (Swan & Brake, 1990;

French, 1997) and hatching quality (Wilson, 1991) known as optimum incubation temperature.

Most poultry species have an ideal incubation period that ranges around 37 to 38 degrees

Celsius, and kind of deviation from this condition can significantly affect the egg’s embryo

development and hatch rate (Wilson, 1991). Incubators, wherein the environment is controlled

by the user promotes a higher success as it eliminates natural factors that affect the mortality of

the eggs including, hen broodiness, inconsistent weather conditions, egg breakage, and others

more. Due to poor performance in their hatcheries, which include humans monitoring and

directing incubation processes, farmers that have incubators experience low production (Obeng

& Peprah, 2022)

To make an egg healthy and away from the diseases, it should be placed on the proper

atmospheric environment (Vedantu, 2022) Chicken coops have to be heat and humid to facilitate

laying eggs. Nesting containers have to be heat and comfortable to create a welcoming

surrounding for the hens. This may be tough in bloodless climates. This is why many fowl farms

depend upon era to create a synthetic surrounding of heat and humidity. Fluid LED Lights

generate heat, assisting hens get cushty and lay eggs. They additionally preserve the hen coop

and the encompassing areas well-lit for permit higher surveillance (Edwards, 2022). Numerous

factors, including egg size (the smaller the egg, the greater the moisture loss), the porousness of

the shell (which increases with hen age), elevation, the length and conditions of egg storage,
weather, incubation temperature, air speed, and shell thickness (which decreases with hen age

and necessitates higher humidity), all of this have an impact on humidity (Victoria P., 2019).

Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has gained a lot of attention from researchers in this day

and age because of the effects it has shown in present day technology. It describes a future

Internet wherein real and physical objects will be connected to a network that will allow them to

actively participate in an exchange of information about themselves and their surroundings

resulting to having immediate access to information about the physical world (Bandyopadhyay &

Sen, 2011). IoT revolutionizes multiple industries, including both poultry and agriculture, and

with this it enables farmers to face challenges in the 21st century (Zhang, Dabipi & Brown,

2018). After the Internet and mobile communication networks, the Internet of Things is regarded

as the third wave of information technology. It is distinguished by greater interoperability and

intelligence. It was developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the

Electronic Product Code (EPC) Technology (Krishna, 2012) . We will be using IoT in this

project for the same purpose in mind, and in order for the proponents to be able to monitor and

control the egg incubation process from afar.

IoT is a huge network with numerous interconnected gadgets. These gadgets have sensors

embedded into them which can be able to sensing their surroundings. Moreover, those gadgets

consist of home equipment like cellular phones, air conditioners, cars, etc., and keeps an

information in a few shapes of data. (Lokhande, 2022)

Particular gadgets may even hit upon adjustments withinside the environment. There are

a couple of industries wherein IoT trackers can immensely enhance the performance of
companies. A malfunction in those merchandise can cause massive losses for the company. IoT-

based trackers should be dependable to offer the best services, such as realtime and data

analytics, secure communication and stable connectivity. (Zistemo, 2019)

Use of Solar Power and Energy is Worth It. There has been an increase in our carbon

footprint, therefore people are now looking for ways to gather sustainable renewable energy that

won’t harm the planet. One of them is solar energy, and it can provide you with the opportunity

to generate, store and trade electricity and save money, and at the same time using an energy

source that you know for sure is safe for the environment. Due to Africa’s low rate of electricity

availability and the grid’s unstable power supply. Smallholder farmers who own incubators find

it challenging to use them for egg reproduction, which limits their enterprises and forces them to

purchase day-old chicks from other continents (Obeng & Peprah, 2022).

Given that it never ends on a human time frame, solar energy is categorized as a

renewable energy source. In addition to being entirely free, it does not emit any dangerous gases.

(Conserve Energy Future, 2022)

Figure 1. The conceptual framework of the study for IoT-Based Egg Monitoring System.

The figure above represents the conceptual framework of the study that the researchers

will follow. This will serve as a guide for the researchers to finish the device.
Input

The researchers will research and identify potential problems. Though natural incubation

is done by broody hens, there are tendencies and factors that compromise the mortality of the

eggs, and these includes weather, other external forces such as predators eating the eggs when

the hen isn’t sitting on them, egg breakage, and changes in moisture, in which overall is

something that can’t be controlled. Which is why the researchers thought of a device that will

ensure a controlled environment to incubate multiple eggs for small poultry farms or for those

who either take care of birds, chickens for a living or as a hobby. It is a device that the users

would be able to monitor closely or from a distance.

Process

The researchers will follow a structured and schematic process, setting attainable goals in

order to progress with the system/device. They will gather all the necessary materials, and start

building the prototype, and will do trials and errors up until the device is ready for an evaluation

for its efficiency and effectiveness.

Output

The output of this study is a Solar Powered Arduino-Based Egg Monitoring System

Based on the Internet of Things.