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IoT Based Automated Greenhouse Monitoring System

Conference Paper · June 2018

DOI: 10.1109/ICCONS.2018.8662911

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 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2018)
IEEE Xplore Compliant Part Number: CFP18K74-ART; ISBN:978-1-5386-2842-3

IoT based Automated

Greenhouse Monitoring System
M. Danita, Blessy Mathew, Nithila Shereen, Namrata Sharon, J. John Paul
School of Electrical Sciences
Karunya Institute of Technology and sciences, Coimbatore, India
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]

Abstract— Greenhouses are climate controlled structures hard to control manually inside a greenhouse so there is a
with walls and roof specially designed for offseason need for the automated system [5]. Many smart irrigation
growing of plants. Most greenhouse systems use manual systems have been proposed and devised through
systems for monitoring the temperature and humidity Evapotranspiration (ET), thermal imaging, capacitive
which can cause discomfort to the worker as they are methods, and neutron scattering method and gypsum
bound to visit the greenhouse every day and manually blocks are some of the technologies that enable moisture
control them. Also, a lot of problems can occur as it sensing. Capacitive sensors, however instantaneous are
affects the production rate because the temperature and costly and need to be calibrated often with varying
humidity must be constantly monitored to ensure the temperature and soil type [2] [3]. G. Parameswaran et al.
good yield of the plants. Internet of Things is one of the proposed “Arduino based smart irrigation system using
latest advances in Information and Communication Internet of Things” [11]. Kim et.al published a work on
Technologies, providing global connectivity and control of irrigation with distributed wireless sensor
management of sensors, devices, users with information. network [7]. K S. Nemali et al. Proposed irrigation
So the combination of IoT and embedded technology has systems which are also automated through information on
helped in bringing solutions to many of the existing volumetric water [9]. Chandankumar Sahu et al. proposed
practical problems over the years. The sensors used here a system on “A Low Cost Smart Irrigation Control
are YL69 moisture sensor and DHT11 (Temperature & System” where the sensors are integrated with ESP8266
Humidity sensor). From the data’s received, Raspberry and the data received by ATMEGA-318 microcontroller
PI3 automatically controls Moisture, Temperature, which is on the ARDUINO-UNO development board [8].
Humidity efficiently inside the greenhouse by actuating Internet of things is a growing technology of the hour
an irrigating pipe, cooling fan, and sliding windows which enables us to access different data’s from any
respectively according to the required conditions of the remote location as well.
crops to achieve maximum growth and yield. The
recorded temperature and humidity are stored in a cloud In this paper, our proposed system receives three
database (ThingSpeak), and the results are displayed in a parameters from the sensors and activates the actuators if
webpage, from where the user can view them directly. the actual values are more than the threshold values and
also stores these values in the cloud database enabling
Keywords-IoT, Raspberry PI3, Greenhouse, ThingSpeak them to be accessed from anywhere, anytime. This paper
also sheds light on the automatic control over the climatic
conditions inside the greenhouse. There are different
seasonal crops which can be grown only under certain
I. INTRODUCTION conditions. Onions, garlic, shallots etc. are the winter
crops which require cold conditions for their growth.
Cucumbers, melons etc. are the summer crops which
A greenhouse can be defined as a closed structure which
require moderate or hot climatic conditions.
is used to protect the plants from external factors such as
climatic conditions, pollution, etc. It offers a sustainable
and efficient development of the plants throughout the The prototype we used comprises of moisture sensors,
temperature & humidity sensors, Raspberry PI and water
year. Basic factors affecting plant growth are sunlight,
pipes to supply water from tank controlled by DC motors.
water content in soil, temperature, humidity etc.
Moisture sensors (YL 69) are installed near the roots and
Numerous researchers have worked with water sprinkling
temperature & humidity (DHT11) sensor is installed
and irrigation system. They opted for different methods
for determining the soil moisture condition. An article on further away to detect the temperature and humidity.
the automated water supply system for urban residential These sensors send their data to the Raspberry PI to
analyze the results. The Raspberry PI will turn the inlet
areas showed that their system can be used to effectively
value on, to water the spinach, until the soil moisture
manage water resource. Required physical factors are
value becomes greater than the threshold value. Inside the

978-1-5386-2842-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1933

 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2018)
IEEE Xplore Compliant Part Number: CFP18K74-ART; ISBN:978-1-5386-2842-3

greenhouse, if the temperature and humidity values are

above the reference value (calculated according to the
crop – spinach),to maintain them to be within the
threshold levels, sliding door will be opened and fan will
be switched ON.

The existing system [6] consists of Manual Monitoring of

the agricultural field parameters and the use of the GSM
technology will take more time to get the required results.
So in order to overcome that we have proposed more
organized and automated monitoring of the crops by
controlling different parameters inside the greenhouse.
The Internet of Things is regarded as the third wave of
information technology after Internet and mobile Fig 1.3 PIN DIAGRAM OF RASPBERRY PI 3
communication network, which is characterized by more
thorough sense and measure, more comprehensive II. MODULES DESCRIPTION
interoperability and intelligence. From the above figure 1.1 we can see the hardware required
for this project a) Raspberry PI 3, b) moisture sensor YL69,
c) DHT11 Temperature and humidity sensor, d) Motor driver
IC l293d and e) Coolers and sliding windows.

A) Raspberry PI 3
The heart of our project is the Raspberry PI 3 which is a
single board computer which contains SOC. Raspberry PI 3
serves as a budget desktop and the core consists of the Arm
processor. Some of its features include 40 GPIO pins, CPU
speed of 1.2GHZ, 1 GB RAM of memory, Inbuilt Wi-Fi
[1][12]. The Raspberry PI 3 will cost the same as its
antecedent, but with an additional feature of Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi. With its built-in wireless connectivity, the new
Raspberry PI 3 is clearly placed as a low-cost hub for Internet
of Things (IOT) devices, or flexible, low-cost basis on new
types of connected gadgets [10]. To run the PI on a PC, we
need to install Noobs OS on the SD card. Python
programming is done on the putty software which is located
on Windows platform so in order to run the putty software and
FIG 1.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM Raspberry PI Linux platform simultaneously, we require
XMING software.

B) Moisture sensor (YL69)

The YL69 is an inexpensive soil moisture sensor used to
detect the amount of moisture content present in the soil. The
operating voltage is 3.3v to 5v and current is 35mA.This
sensor consists of two electrodes which when comes in contact
with the soil the voltage fluctuates i.e. the output voltage
decreases when the moisture is present and the output voltage
increases when the soil is dry [4].

Fig 1.2 FLOWCHART

Fig 1.4 YL69 MOISTURE SENSOR

978-1-5386-2842-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1934

 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2018)
IEEE Xplore Compliant Part Number: CFP18K74-ART; ISBN:978-1-5386-2842-3

C) Temperature & Humidity sensor (DHT11) III. METHODOLOGY

DHT11 is one of the basic affordable digital sensors which can
measure temperature and humidity. It has an operating voltage To always sustain a suitable climate inside the greenhouse and
of 3 to 5 volts & max-current of 2.5mA.The temperature range to retain appropriate moisture content in the soil we have
lies between 0°C to 50°C, while the humidity percentage designed an automatic temperature control and irrigation
ranges between 20% to 80%. It consists of a thermistor which system by monitoring the parameters temperature, humidity
employs Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) and a and soil moisture content using the temperature & humidity
humidity sensing component to detect the moisture in the air. sensors (DHT11) and moisture sensors (YL69).
The Whole Area inside the greenhouse is divided into multiple
sections and one moisture sensor is placed in each section. The
output of these moisture sensors is given to GPIO pins 2, 3, 4
of Raspberry PI. The output from PI is given to the driver IC
which in turn operates the motor ON or OFF.

The experimental plant used is Spinach.

Soil Humidity - 50%
Air Humidity- 14%
Temperature - 250c

Fig 1.5 DHT11 TEMPERATURE & HUMIDITY SENSOR To the GPIO pin 17 of Raspberry PI, the serial output of the
DHT11 sensor is connected. We have calculated a threshold
D) Motor driver IC L293D value by the formula given below.
L293D is a 16pin motor driver IC which has the ability to run (Threshold value) idx = Temperature+ (Humidity*0.1)
two DC motors on both directions concurrently. DC motors =25+ (14*0.1)
cannot run directly without the use of a driver IC. Hence =26.4
L293D crucially assists the motor to run. If the temperature and humidity value exceeds the threshold
value, then the cooling fan and sliding windows which are
connected to l293d IC are automatically turned ON, thereby
maintaining the humidity and temperature in the closed Green
House system. The collected temperature and humidity data’s
are sent to a ThingSpeak cloud through Wi-Fi connectivity.

IV. REMOTE MONITORING

Nowadays, billions of IoT devices, e.g., sensors and RFIDs,
arise around us providing not only computing intensive, but
also delay-sensitive services, ranging from augmented/virtual
Fig 1.6 MOTOR DRIVER IC L293D realities to distributed data analysis and artificial intelligence
[6].Internet of things is a concept where each device is
assigned an IP address and through that address, anyone
E) Coolers and sliding windows makes that device identifiable on the internet. Nowadays
Coolers and sliding windows are installed on the side walls of internet is an evolving entity which started as the internet of
a greenhouse to maintain the temperature and to regulate the computers. The major elements of IoT based greenhouse
airflow within the green house. monitoring and automation systems are Raspberry PI, Relay as
switch along with their driver circuits. This removes human
interaction with machines and makes it technically possible
and desirable in various domestic processes by replacing it
with programmed electronic systems. Ultimately it is a system
that aims to increase the quality of life with the automation of
appliances that may be controlled over the internet.

A) Communication With ThingSpeak

With the help of inbuilt Wi-Fi module, the data’s collected

are uploaded to the ThingSpeak Cloud platform. We can
Fig 1.7 COOLING FAN visualize the data’s in the form of beautiful charts which
features real-time updates. Using ThingSpeak IoT platform,
we can continuously upload and monitor real-time data which
will be very useful for the farmers.

978-1-5386-2842-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1935

 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2018)
IEEE Xplore Compliant Part Number: CFP18K74-ART; ISBN:978-1-5386-2842-3

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

B) ThingSpeak Cloud
A) HARDWARE SETUP
It is an IoT platform that is designed to enable meaningful
connections between people and things. It features real-time
data collection, data analysis, data processing, data
visualization using a connected Social Networking Service
(SNS) via an open source API to support various platforms. It
helps to easily transfer data from embedded devices such as
Arduino, Raspberry PI, NodeMCU, etc. Also, it supports
various languages and environments. Our proposed system
reads and sends sensor data using ThingSpeak. The main
objective is to design and implement an automated system and
to visualize sensed information as charts. The data obtained
can be seen globally anywhere, anytime.
Fig 3.1 HARDWARE SETUP

C) Presentation
To present the data in a useful form a webpage or APP can be
developed. In our proposed system we have developed a B) VISUALISATION OF RESULTS
webpage using HTML and CSS. To upload the data’s into the
cloud platform, we have the option of creating a separate
account in the ThingSpeak Cloud. When logged in, we created
a new channel by selecting Channels >My Channels and then
Create New Channel. The channel has its own unique API key
which is used to identify the channel while reading or
uploading data. The API allows making visualizations to be
updated in real time. Each channel has up to eight fields where
data can be stored as well as four additional fields for location
details. All entries are stored with a unique identifier and a date
and time stamp.

D) Web page implementation:

The whole setup is divided into two main segments first is the Fig 3.2 FIRST PAGE OF THE WEB PAGE
server side and the other is client or user side. The server can
be created with the help of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL,
and PHP). HTML is used create a webpage and CSS is used to
enhance the look of the webpage. Two HTML files are created
in the local host as Server. To make it available on the internet
these two HTML files are uploaded to the free server created
by 000webhost.com. One is Index.html which is used to design
the main page. If the sensed value goes beyond the threshold
value set in the program then automatically the data’s will be
uploaded on the webpage.

In the webpage developed, the sensed data’s are continuously

uploaded and the page gets refreshed every 16 seconds. As
shown in Fig 3.2 the first page of the webpage is entitled to the Fig 3.3 RESULTS DISPLAY ON THE SECOND PAGE
system name and images. One link is made available to the
end-user for which after pressing the link, opens up another
new page as shown in Fig 3.1 where the sensor values are
displayed in the graphical format. In that, First graph
represents the temperature values and the second graph
represents the humidity values.
GUI shows the present status of the system in terms of soil
moisture content, air humidity, temperature. From these
parameters, the environmental conditions within the
greenhouse are continuously monitored and maintained,
enabling the necessary climatic conditions are always Table 1. PRACTICAL CONDITIONS FOR SPINACH
maintained in the Green house for the Spinach.

978-1-5386-2842-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1936

 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2018)
IEEE Xplore Compliant Part Number: CFP18K74-ART; ISBN:978-1-5386-2842-3

Conference on Electronics and Communication System

From the above table, the Ideal threshold value for the spinach (ICECS), 2015.
crop is found to be IdX = 26.5 (Humidity and Temperature)
and for moisture it is 40%. [9] Krishna S. Nemali, Marc W. van Iersel, “An automated
system for controlling drought stress and irrigation in potted
1. If the value exceeds 26.5, Raspberry PI automatically plants”, Scientia Horticulturae, Vol. 110, no. 3, pp. 292–
opens the sliding window and turns ON the Exhaust 297,July 2006.
Fan.
2. If the value is less than 26.5, the Raspberry PI closes [10] Tanu Sahu, Ashok Verma, “Automated Smart
the sliding window and turns OFF the Exhaust fan. Irrigation System using Raspberry PI”, International
3. If the moisture content is greater than 40%, then the Journal of Computer Applications, Volume 172 – No.6,
Raspberry PI turns on the Sump motor, which in turn August 2017
turns ON the water pump.
4. If the moisture content is less than 40%, then the [11] Parameswaran, G., Sivaprasath, K, “Arduino Based
Raspberry PI turns OFF the sump motor, which in Smart Drip Irrigation System Using Internet Of Things”
turn turns ON the water pump. IJESC, Volume 6 Issue No. 5,2016.

From the above results, the Ideal conditions necessary for [12] Nikhil Agrawal, Smita Singhal, “Smart Drip
the growth of the SPINACH crop is maintained Irrigation system using Raspberry Pi and Arduino”, IEEE
automatically in a Closed Green House environment. sponsored International Conference on computing,
communication and automation, 2015.
VI. REFERENCES

[1] Tanu Saha, Ashok Verma, “Automated Smart

Irrigation system using Raspberry Pi”, International
Journal of computer applications, Vol 172-No.6, August
2017.

[2] D.Veera Vanitha, S.Nivitha, R.Pritha, J.Saranya,

T.Shobika “Automatic Drip Irrigation System using
Raspberry PI and Wireless Sensor Networks”. IJIRSET
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[3] F. S. Zazueta, and J. Xin “Soil Moisture Sensors”

Bulletin 292; University of Florida: Gainsville, FL, USA,
2004.

[4] Bhagyashree K.Chate , Prof.J.G.Rana “ Smart

Irrigation System Using Raspberry PI”, IRJET May,2016.

[5] N.B. Bhandarkar, D.P. Pande, R.S. Sonone, Mohd.

Aaquib, P.A. Pandit, and P. D. Patil, "Literature Review
for Automated Water Supply with Monitoring the
Performance System", International Journal of Current
Engineering and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 5, Oct 2014.

[6] P.S. Asolkar, Dr. U.S Bhadade, “An Effective method

of controlling the Greenhouse and Crop Monitoring using
GSM”IEEE sponsored International Conference on
Computing Communication Control and Automation,2015

[7] Kim, Yunseop, Robert G. Evans, and William M.

Iversen, "Remote sensing and control of an irrigation
system using a distributed wireless sensor network." IEEE
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vol. 57, No.7, July 2008

[8] Chandankumar Sahu, Pramitee Behera, “A Low Cost Smart

Irrigation Control System”, IEEE Sponsored 2nd International

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