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Phase 1

This phase will be focused on developing the hardware side of the hydroponics system

Table of Contents

About

The general goal of this stage is to implement electronics (sensors and actuators) into the system. This is a continuation of Phase 0, and the hydroponics system built during Phase 0 will be improved and developed more throroughly. Below are some of the tasks that will be carried out at this stage:

  • Update the design of control panel casing and extensible grow light holder
  • Conduct a research on both sensors and actuators in terms of the design of it, how and where it should fit in the system
  • Conduct a research on how to power up and connect all the electronics the hydroponics system in a safe and secure manner
  • Conduct a research on the operation of Raspberry Pi camera, in terms of what lenses it should use, the location of it, and brainstorm on how it will fit into the overall software pipeline during Phase 2
  • Set up all the electronics based on the research that has been conducted

At this stage, the sensors and actuators that will be implemented in the system are shown below:

Sensors: pH sensor, EC sensor, camera

Actuators: Nutrient Pump, air stone

Progress

Week 1

Date: 10th Oct - 16th Oct

  1. 3D Printing Design - Control Panel

    2. The design of the control panel casing from Phase 0 is updated according to the advice given by UCL EEE workshop manager.

  2. PCB Design - Control Panel

    3. The design of the printed circuit board (PCB) is also updated due to the change of control panel casing design. Since the new casing design is more compact, the pcb is also designed to be more compact so that it can fit into the new casing.

  3. Literature Review (Grow Light)

    4. A brief literature review is conducted. The main focus of this literature review is to discover which part of the light spectrum is ideal for the growth of the plant, and to know and understand how much light a lettuce should be getting at each day along with some empirical evidence on the back.

Week 2

Date: 17th Oct - 23rd Oct

  1. Proposal

    2. Wrote a proposal which contains a specific goals and objectives of the project, a Gantt chart, along with a brief literature review for this project.

  2. PCB Soldering - Control Panel

    3. Four set of pushbuttons are soldered to the manufactured PCB.

  3. 3D Printing - Control Panel

    4. The updated design (control panel casing) has been sent to the UCL EEE workshop manager to be printed. Once the item has been printed, it will be assembled together with the PCB that contains 4 set of pushbuttons.

Week 3

Date: 24th Oct - 30th Oct

  1. Power Analysis

    2. Since the newly designed control panel is completed, the power consumption of the hydroponics system is measured and calculated. The motivation for this task is to get some number on how much power the current hydroponics system is actually using. Hopefully, this can be the baseline in comparing the future electricity usage of the future electronics system as the system gets more complex.

  2. PPFD Measurement

    3. PPFD measurement of the current grow light is taken by using a mobile-phone application called Photone.

    What is PPFD?

    PPFD is a measure of how much light in the PAR region (the region of light at which plant utilises during photosynthesis) falls on a particular canopy/surface per second. It is an essential measurement since it will provide an idea of how long a grow light should be turned on at each day.

  3. Documentation

    4. Setting up this page in general 🙂. I believe this page will be very useful in the future as it provides a way of looking at the past especially when it is time to do a critical assessment of this project.