Market: Greenhouse Monitoring
Location: Taiwan

Project Introduction:
In order to rejuvenate agriculture, it has become necessary to advance and adopt agricultural technology and refine agricultural products with the adoption of modern technologies and the operation of new management models. In accordance with this ever changing process of agricultural development, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has been contributing to agricultural production and bringing about sustainable rural economic growth through the development of new varieties and technologies. Recently, TARI introduced a new model of greenhouse tomato development by using an advanced monitoring system to automatically control the plant growth environment. As a result, it not just improves the tomato’s overall flavor but also helps them have greater availability.

System Requirements:
For the refinement of agricultural products, and since most of the plants are highly sensitive about temperature, humidity and sunshine intensity during their growth period, TARI intends to implement an automated greenhouse management system to carefully monitor the important environmental factors. Therefore, the greenhouse needs a complete solution that includes a computer, IO modules and software to monitor and automatically control the various equipment, like turning fans on at higher temperatures, pumping water to the plants when soil moisture is too low, using the sun shade mesh whilst the sun is at its strongest, in real time,. Meanwhile, the related data has to be remotely accessed no matter what terminal devices are used such as smart phone, Notebook, desktop PC, or tablet computer so that supervisors can track the conditions of the greenhouse.

System Description:
Advantech’s monitoring solution integrates the TPC-1070H, ADAM-6024, ADAM-6050, ADAM-6060 devices and WebAccess software in a machine cabinet next to the farmland. Connecting with various sensing devices, ADAM-6000 modules are able, in real-time, acquire the environmental data and control the switching of the facilities to ensure that the greenhouse is in an optimal environment for plants growth. Thanks to Advantech’s specific feature - Graphic Condition Logic (GCL), users can define their own control logic rules and download those rules to the ADAM-6000 Ethernet I/O modules, and then the modules will automatically execute the logic rules just like a standalone controller. Another feature - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) leverages the most open and flexible Ethernet network to not only simplify the implementation process without controller but also to save system hardware costs.

All of the acquired data is then transmitted, via Ethernet, to a TPC-1070H touch panel computer. With a fanless cooling system and IP65 compliant front panel, the TPC-1070H is a robust and compact design to fit with the changeable operating environment and its powerful computing capability is able to process large amounts of data. To manage the devices, Advantech WebAccess enables engineers or managers to view, control and configure the monitoring system over an intranet or the Internet by using an ordinary Web browser from any device including tablets and smartphones.

Project Implementation:

System Diagram:

Conclusions:
With increased pressure from the competition, many industries, including the agricultural sector, are turning towards automatic control applications,. Taiwan's agricultural production structure has gone through many changes. Instead of the mechanical improvements of the early days, modern greenhouses are now focusing on greenhouse environment control and sensing technologies. Advantech’s real-time monitoring system can assist farmers or researchers to create an ideal growing environment in any greenhouse. TARI's success in growing improved varieties has shown that our solution is really a good aid for its tomato breeding programs.