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World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium & Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban
Energy Joint Conference, WES-CUE 2017, 19–21 July 2017, Singapore

Smart
The 15thAquaponics Systemonfor
International Symposium Urban
District Farming
Heating and Cooling

Assessing the feasibility

Thu Ya Kyawof a
using Keong
, Andrew the heat Ngb,demand-outdoor
*
temperatureUniveristy
function of Glasgowfor
a
a long-term
Singapore, 43 Woodlands Avenuedistrict
9, Singapore heat demand forecast
737729, Singapore
Singapore Institute of Technology, 10 Dover Drive, Singapore 138683, Singapore
b

I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc

Abstract
a
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
c
Food security and sustainabilityÉnergétiques
Département Systèmes is a majoretconcern
Environnement - IMT Atlantique,
for Singapore due to its4 rue Alfred
rapid Kastler, 44300
urbanization, landNantes, France
scarcity, and low local
food productions of fish and leafy vegetables. This paper attempts to design and develop a smart aquaponics system that can
synergize fish farming and plant growing. Various sensors, actuators, microcontroller, and microprocessor were employed in the
system to monitor and control water quality, light intensity, and fish feed. To ensure healthy growing environment for fish and
Abstract
plant, early warnings in form of email, short message service, and push notification are automatically sent to the user when the
District
sensor heating
detects anynetworks
abnormalare commonly
condition. addressed inthethe
Concurrently, literatureactuator
respective as one will
of the most effective
intervene solutions
and rectify for decreasing
the abnormal conditionthe
greenhouse
without human gasinterference.
emissions from the building
Moreover, sector.
fish feed These systems
is dispensed at the require hightimings
user preset investments
of thewhich aresystem
day. All returned throughand
activities the live
heat
sales. measurements
sensor Due to the changed climate
are securely conditions
stored andstorage
in a cloud buildingforrenovation policies,
data analysis. heat demand
User-friendly in the
web and future
mobile could decrease,
applications were
prolonging the investment return period.
also created to provide graphical user interfaces between the aquaponics system and the user. Additionally, the user can monitor
Theaquaponics
the main scopefacilities
of this paper
live isfrom
to assess
web the feasibility
application of usinga the
through heat demand
camera module –ofoutdoor temperature
the system. function
As such, for heat demand
the proposed smart
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
aquaponics system has demonstrated to be a self-sustainable, cost-effective, and eco-friendly urban farming that can attract
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
commercial farmers and home gardeners.
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
©The
2017 The Authors.
results showed thatPublished by Elsevier
when only weatherLtd.
change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
Peer-review under responsibility
(the error in annual demand was lowerof the scientific
than 20%committee of the World
for all weather Engineers
scenarios SummitHowever,
considered). – Appliedafter
Energy Symposium
introducing &
renovation
Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
Keywords: Urban farming; Aquaponics; Food sustainability; Internet of things
decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Cooling.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +65-6592-8509; fax: +65-6592-1190.
E-mail address: Andrew.Ng@SingaporeTech.edu.sg
Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium &
Forum: Low Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the World Engineers Summit – Applied Energy Symposium & Forum: Low
Carbon Cities & Urban Energy Joint Conference.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.12.694
 Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 342–347 343
2 Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

Due to rapid urbanization, land resources for agriculture has been decreasing [1]. Rapid growth of human
population has also increased the demand for food. Traditional agriculture methods for growing plants require huge
land space, time, and manpower. Consequently, there is an increasing concern for safe and sustainable food sources,
which leads to the need for new agriculture methods. Singapore shares similar concerns because it is highly
urbanized and has limited land for traditional agriculture. Singapore's land area is about 719.1 km2, with an
estimated population of 5.399 million people [2]. Attributable to its low local food production, Singapore imports
most fishes and leafy vegetables as statistically shown in Table 1 [3, 4]. A possible solution to food security and
sustainability is the use of aquaponics [5].

Table 1. Statistics from Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (2015).

Year 2015 Fish (tonnes) Leafy vegetable (tonnes)
Produced food 6,536 11,420
Imported food 99,185 80,911

Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (plant growing without soil). It is a
closed-loop recycling fresh water system between fish and plant. Wastes generated by the fish become nutrients for
the plants after nitrification process. The process, which acts as biofilters, cleans the water before recirculating it
back to the fish tank [6]. Although aquaponics can address the issues of food security and sustainability, its operation
can be challenging because constant monitoring of aquaponics facilities for healthy growth of fish and plant is
necessary [7, 8].
This paper, therefore, attempts to design and develop a smart aquaponics system that can synergize fish farming
and plant growing by continuously gathering data from various aquaponics sensors, monitoring the sensor
information, and controlling the system accordingly. In addition, the proposed system can notify the user if any
abnormality occurs in the system and can automatically rectify the problems. Moreover, it can present the acquired
data using graphical user interfaces (GUI) through web and mobile applications.

2. System architecture

The smart aquaponics system was developed by integrating seven modules: data acquisition unit, alarm unit,
system rectification unit, central processing unit, web application, mobile application, and cloud server, as depicted
in Fig. 1.

2.1. Data acquisition unit

The data acquisition unit continuously collects data using five sensors. Water temperature sensor gathers water
temperature of the fish tank. Water flow rate sensor measures water flow rate from the fish tank to plant grow beds.
Digital light sensor quantifies light intensity of the environment. pH level sensor detects water pH level in the fish
tank. Ultrasonic ranger measures the plant height.

2.2. Alarm unit

The alarm unit consists of a green LED light, a red LED light, and a buzzer. This unit displays green light when
the system is healthy, but displays red light with buzzing sound to alert the user when the system is unhealthy.
344 ThuKyaw
Thu Ya Ya Kyaw
et al. et al. / Energy
/ Energy Procedia
Procedia 143 (2017)
00 (2017) 342–347
000–000 3

Fig. 1. Design diagram.

2.3. System rectification unit

The system rectification unit automatically intervenes and rectifies the system abnormality by activating
respective actuator. Decision to activate or deactivate the actuators is determined by the central processing unit
based on the collected data and user preset values. This unit comprises four actuators. Water heater provides
additional heat source when the water temperature falls below a healthy range. Secondary water pump ensures water
flow from the fish tank to plant grow beds in the event of primary pump failure. LED grow light supplies stable blue
and red light to boost plant growth when the ambient light intensity enters into an unhealthy range. Fish feeder
dispenses fish feeds at the user preset timings of the day to increase fish growth.

2.4. Central processing unit

The central processing unit has two sections. The first section contains an Arduino Mega, a Grove-Mega shield,
and a relay board. Arduino Mega, with 54 input/output pins, is used to communicate with the sensors and actuators
from the data acquisition unit and system rectification unit. Grove Mega Shield was mounted on Arduino Mega to
reduce the number of connections on the breadboard. Relay board enables Arduino to control the actuators by
switching on and off the respective electric circuits.
The second section consists of a Raspberry Pi 3 model B and a camera module. Raspberry Pi was configured as a
central control unit for the entire system because it has a fast processor, as well as built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
modules. Moreover, it has a high-definition multimedia interface port that can be connected to visual display
devices. Camera module v2 enables live streaming feature for Raspberry Pi. This camera module was chosen
because it is easy to use and can record high-definition video after integrating with Raspberry Pi.
4 Thu YaThu
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(2017) 342–347 345

Fig. 2. (a) Web application; (b) Mobile application.

2.5. Web application

The web application was developed and hosted on Raspberry Pi to provide GUI for the system. The GUI displays
and compares live and historical sensor values, as well as records system events. It also allows the user to timely
monitor the aquaponics facilities and remotely control the actuators.

2.6. Mobile application

The mobile application was created on Android platform. It displays live sensor values and enables user to
remotely control the actuators by using services from the cloud server. Moreover, it permits the user to modify the
threshold values for each sensor with real-time latency.

2.7. Cloud server

The cloud server is used to establish communication between the central processing unit and mobile application.
The main goal for the cloud server is to store the collected data from the data acquisition unit, and to redirect
actions, such as activating water heater, from the mobile application to the central processing unit in real-time.

3. System implementation

All hardware components were integrated according to the final design diagram shown in Fig.1. Each component
was carefully inspected and tested before the integration. Subsequently, the implemented system was evaluated by
simulating different possible scenarios. For example, when the water temperature falls into an unhealthy range, the
system should trigger the alarm unit to alert the user, and activate the system rectification unit to rectify the problem
by turning on the water heater. Simultaneously, the system should send out alert notifications, such as email, short
message service (SMS), and push notification, as well as record the faulty event in the database. When the water
temperature returns normal, the system should automatically turn off the water heater and buzzer, notify the user
with updated system information, and record the recovery event in the database.
346 Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 342–347
Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

Different programming languages were adopted in the proposed system, for example, Python, PHP, JavaScript,
Node.js, and Java. Open-source libraries such as CircularGaugeView for Android, Bootstrap front-end framework,
and notification services like Amazon SNS service and Google Firebase were also utilized. Google Firebase was
selected because it can provide real-time database for storing data and offer push notification to the mobile
application. Amazon SNS was also used to send SMS notification.
Fig. 2 (a) shows the dashboard page of the web application, which presents up-to-date sensor values, threshold
parameters, and actuator status. It also allows the user to modify threshold parameters and interact with actuators.
Moreover, it can display the remaining time for next feeding attempt using a countdown timer. Fig. 2 (b) shows the
GUI of the mobile application, which was developed on Android platform using Java and native Android libraries.
The mobile-application GUI displays up-to-date sensor values and threshold parameters, and allows the user to
control actuators. Sensor values are displayed using CircleProgressView, an open-source Android library, whereas
threshold parameters are retrieved from Google Firebase real-time database. To increase cyber security, all sensitive
information in the proposed system, such as passwords, are encrypted using SHA256 hashing algorithm [9]. A
secure login page was also implemented for the web application to prevent from unauthorized access.

4. Results and discussion

The proposed smart aquaponics system was continuously tested for 28 days. All sensor values for water
temperature, water flow rate, light intensity, pH level, and plant height were acquired. Furthermore, manual
measurements of plant height and fish weight were made for data mining and analysis. The plants are Chinese water
spinach, also known as kangkong, and the fish is tilapia. Linear regression models were devised and their respective
R2 value (goodness-of-fit measure) were calculated. The linear regression model of yp = 0.8814x + 5.8796 with R2
value of 0.9732 was formulated for plant height over time, as evidenced in Fig. 3 (a), where yp is the plant height
(cm) and x is the number of days. In the same fashion, yf = 0.5916x + 57.7370 with R2 value of 0.9848 for fish
weight over time, as evidenced in Fig. 3 (b), where yf is the fish weight (g) and x is the number of days. Since both
R2 values are very close to 1, which represents a perfect fit, the two devised models can respectively describe the
relationships between the plant growth and the fish growth over time.

Fig. 3. (a) Regression analysis for plant height; (b) Regression analysis for fish weight.
6 Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
Thu Ya Kyaw et al. / Energy Procedia 143 (2017) 342–347 347

Fig. 4. Smart aquaponics system.

5. Conclusion

A smart aquaponics system was designed and developed by integrating data acquisition unit, alarm unit, system
rectification unit, central processing unit, web application, mobile application, and cloud server, as presented in Fig.
4. The proposed system can continuously monitor and control water quality, light intensity, and fish feed;
automatically send early warnings in form of email, SMS, and push notification; and rectify system abnormality
without human interference. Future work includes (1) adding a dissolved oxygen sensor and a nitrate sensor to
detect oxygen level and nitrate concentration level in the water respectively, (2) incorporating solar panels to
harness solar energy to power the actuators, and (3) providing live video streaming of the aquaponics system using
the mobile application. With a large-scale implementation, the proposed system can significantly reduce labour and
operating costs, while increasing livestock production and profitability, which contributes towards sustainable and
liveable cities.

References

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