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Autonomous Watering System: The Botanical Butler
KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM).
KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM).
2022 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Autonomt Bevattningssystem : Den Botaniska Butlern (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

House plants need regular irrigation in order to survive, meaning that they can’t be left unattended for extended periods of time without a watering system. There are commercially available products, however these are generally rudimentary and don’t assess the moisture levels in soil, leading to a suboptimal watering routine. The aim of this project was to develop an autonomous watering system which measures the moisture levels in the soil, allowing an effective watering cycle, only watering when the moisture level in the soil reaches a threshold.

A working prototype was constructed connected via hoses to three plant pots, being able to dispense water to the plant in need of irrigation via a water dispenser powered by a servo motor. To determine if a plant was in need of water, soil moisture sensors were used and calibrated on an Arduino microcontroller, signaling to a water pump to fill the water dispenser.

During the project, tests were performed in order to explore resistive and capacitive soil moisture sensors and analyze their properties. Capacitive sensors were shown to be more reliable and gave consistent data compared to resistive sensors, whose output signal tended to vary in an environment with constant moisture levels. To account for these stochastic variables a calibration procedure was implemented in the software, effectively normalizing the output.

Abstract [sv]

Krukväxter behöver regelbunden bevattning för att överleva, vilket medför att de inte kan lämnas utan tillsyn över långa perioder utan ett bevattningssystem. Det finns kommersiella produkter, men dessa är ofta rudimentära och faställer ej fuktnivåer i jorden, vilket leder till en suboptimal bevattningsrutin.

Målet med detta projekt var att utveckla ett autonomt bevattningssystem som mäter fuktnivån i jorden, vilket tillåter en effektiv bevattningscykel som endast bevattnar då fuktnivån i jorden når ett gränsvärde.

Under projektets gång utfördes tester för att utforska resistiva och kapacitiva fuktsensorer och analysera dess attribut. Det fastställdes att kapacitiva sensorer är mer pålitliga och gav konsekvent data jämfört med resistiva sensorer, vars utsignal varierade i en miljö med konstant fuktnivå. För att ta dessa stokastiska variabler i beaktande implementerades en kalibreringsprocedur i mjukvaran, vilket effektivt normaliserar utdatan.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. , p. 76
Series
TRITA-ITM-EX ; 2022:00
Keywords [en]
Arduino, irrigation, mechatronics, moisture sensor, soil science
Keywords [sv]
Arduino, bevattning, mekatronik, fuktsensor, markvetenskap
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-320954OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-320954DiVA, id: diva2:1708223
Presentation
2022-05-22, 00:00 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2022-11-03 Created: 2022-11-03 Last updated: 2022-11-03Bibliographically approved

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