Chapter 1

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Introduction

The key source of the world's primary important consumption is FOOD. Agriculture

involves the cultivation of livestock (farming), aquaculture and forests. As the demand for food

strengthens and habits change, the composition of meals increasingly changes. Consumer

demand drives what agriculture produces, and shifts in consumer tastes have an effect on needs.

In view of the effect of the pandemic on the food and agricultural sector, timely action is

required to guarantee that food supply chains are kept intact in order to minimize the risk of

major tremors that have a severe impact on all, especially the poor and the most helpless. A new

way of technology in agriculture will help most of the people in many areas that a combination

of growing plants and fish at the same time even in a limited land area. This technology is the

Aquaponics system which can provide sustainability of food without going out and taking risk.

However, while ensuring a sufficient supply of food on the market, the agriculture sector,

which accounts for the majority of food production, must also recognize food safety and security.

On the one side, food safety and security have a significant effect on the United Nations

Development Program’s (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Aquaponics system

is a bio–integrated system that re-circulates water from fish tanks through hydroponics systems

to produce high value horticultural crops. In other words, ammonia from the effluent produced

by the fish will undergo nitrification process in which it will break down to form nitrite (NO2 ‐)

and then the nitrite (NO2‐) is converted to nitrate (NO3‐). This water that contains nitrate is then

fed to the hydroponics system and it will act as fertilizer for plants. Finally, the treated water

(which is nitrate – free) will flow back to the fish tank (Nelson 2008).
 The aquaponics system is extremely beneficial to environmental sustainability. When

compared to traditional farming, this approach can save water. In this arrangement, water is

wasted owing to evaporation and transpiration of the plant. Thus, the water in the fish tank is

only replenished with fresh water at a rate of five percent to ten percent of the recirculation water

volume daily, resulting in an eighty to ninety percent reduction in the amount of water consumed

in the traditional method. Furthermore, unlike traditional farming, this approach grows crops

without the use of chemical or synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. This will

considerably lessen environmental damage (Nelson RL, et al 2007).

Water consumption in agriculture is tremendous. Sixty-nine percent of the world’s

freshwater withdrawals are committed to agriculture. The industrial sector accounts for 19%

while only 12% of water withdrawals are destined for households and municipal use. Hence, an

integrated system of agriculture and aquaculture which is known as aquaponics system was

introduced to reuse the water and reduce or even avoid the use of chemical fertilizers (Schlosser

et al. 2014).

Since aquaponics is becoming more common, the main challenge is to make it feasible

and reliable on a commercial scale. Precision farming, which is normally implemented in a

conventional farming context, is now being introduced, necessitating the use of sensing, smart,

and IoT systems to track and manage its automated processes. The next step in feeding the

world's rapidly growing population involves self-driving tractors, precision farming, and Internet

of Things sensors to quantify agriculture in vast new ways. Technology is changing the world,

and farming is catching up. The introduction of everything from automated farm equipment to a

wide array of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors that measure soil moisture and drones that keep
track of crops have changed the business of agriculture. Some experts even call this movement

"Agriculture 4.0"--a term used by the World Government Summit.

As a result, this paper aimed to develop and deploy an IoT-enabled device/ or mechanism

integrated with aquaponics that continuously collect data from various monitoring sensors. In

addition, if an abnormality is detected by the sensors, the prototype device automatically respond

to the problem and display the readings on the 20x4 LCD screen. It also display the acquired

data using a graphical user interface (GUI) via the Web.

Project Context

Aquaponics technology that is integrated with smart farming is a cultivation of both

gardening and raising fish. This project could inspire people in Dumingag to adapt this kind of

new way in planting vegetables and growing fish in their backyard because it does not need to

take much time in monitoring the water level of the fish tank and growth of the plants. The

system automatically monitored the water level of the fish tanks, the acidity of the water in the

tank, and checked the plant growth. The data collected by the sensors were saved and can be

accessed and viewed in the web.

Purpose and Description

The study focused on the Iot-Enabled Monitoring System for Smart Aquaponics new way

of integrating crops without using soil and fish farming using the fish feces to fertilize the grown

crops. The system provides new transformation in agriculture in Dumingag and produce plants

and fish without using chemicals for growing. The Iot-Enabled Monitoring System for Smart

Aquaponics is designed to monitor the growth of the plants and water level in the fish tank using

the ultrasonic sensors, pH value sensor to check the acidity and basicity of the water fish tank.
The data collected by the various sensors is saved and can be viewed in the web through the use

of Wi-Fi module.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective is to develop an IoT enabled device used in monitoring the status of

the aquaponics.

Specific Objectives

 To monitor the water level of the fish tank and plant height using ultrasonic sensor.

 To monitor the acidity and basicity of water using the PH level sensor.

 To send data readings to ThingSpeak.com using the Wi-Fi module.

 To create a webpage where data from the monitoring system are displayed and viewed.

 To generate report on the water level, plant height and pH value.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The following were the features of an Iot-Enabled Monitoring System for Smart

Aquaponics: it has ultra-sonic sensors to monitor the growth of the plants, pH sensor to monitor

the acidity and basicity of the water in the fish tank and the second ultrasonic sensor for the

monitoring of the water level of the fish tank. The data in the system was monitored in real time

based using the internet. The limitation of Aquaponics was that it has some limited types of plant

that can be grown since most crops requires soil to survive. The fish wastes or feces was used as

the nutrient source of the plants to grow organically but the growth of the fish cannot be

measured and monitored by the system. The plant is only monitored by its height. The best fresh

water fish to use for aquaponics is tilapia.

Definition of Terms
 Aquaponics. It is a combination of aquaculture, which is growing fish and other aquatic

animals, and hydroponics which is growing plants without soil.

Arduino Uno. Is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and

software. This micro-controller are able to read inputs – from the light on a sensor the provides

light to the plants, ultrasonic sensors the monitors the height of the plant and the water level of

the fish tank, pH sensor that reads the acidity and basicity of the water, Wi-Fi module that sends

data through ThingSpeak.com.

Breadboard. Is a way of constructing electronics without having to use a soldering iron. It is

connection device used to power on all the sensors and devices that is connected in the Arduino

micro-controller.

DIY Water filter. Use to filter the water, remove bacteria to make it clean again and back to

the fish tank.

Jumper Wire. A wire that have connector pins at each end, allowing them to be used to

connect two points to each other without soldering. Jumper wires are used with breadboards and

other prototyping tools in order to make it easy to change a circuit as needed.

LCD Display. A flat-panel display that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals

combined with polarizers. This is used to display text information for the user.

Submersible Pump. Is a primary equipment necessary to create the bubbles we see in fish

tanks and its purpose of making bubbles to sustain the oxygen level in the water.

Wi-Fi Module. The ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module is a self-contained SOC with integrated TCP/IP

protocol stack that can give any microcontroller access to your Wi-Fi network and sends data

online and viewed through Thinkspeak.com