PSZ 19:16 (Pind.

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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF THESIS/ UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT REPORT AND COPYRIGHT

Author's full n a m e : SYAHIRAH BINTI MUDA

D a t e of Birth : 03-11-1991

Title : SMART I N D O O R G A R D E N I N G

A c a d e m i c Session : 2013/2014

d e c l a r e that this thesis is classified a s :

CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret

Act 1972)*

RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information a s specified by the

organization w h e r e research w a s d o n e ) *

OPEN A C C E S S I a g r e e that my thesis to b e published a s online o p e n

a c c e s s (full text)

a c k n o w l e d g e d that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows:

1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to m a k e copies for the

purpose of research only.

3. The Library has the right to m a k e copies of the thesis for a c a d e m i c e x c h a n g e .

Certified by:

Z 3
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE fo¥i
O f SUPERVISOR

911103-11-5044
DR. M O H D AZHAR ABDUL RAZAK
(NEW I C NO/PASSPORT) NAME OF SUPERVISOR

Date: 22 n d JUNE 2014 Date: 22*D JUNE 2014

NOTES: If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please a t t a c h with the letter from
the organization with period a n d reasons for confidentiality or restriction.
" I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is

sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical-Electronics)".

Signature

Name of Supervisor

Date
 iv

SMART INDOOR GARDENING

SYAHIRAH BINTI MUDA

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical-Electronics)

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JUNE 2014
 ii

I declare that this project entitled "Smart Indoor Gardening" is the result of my own
research except as cited in the references. The report has not been accepted for any
degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature : .
Name : SYAHIRAH BINTI MUDA
Date : 22 JUNE 2014
ND
 iii

To my beloved

parents

Muda bin Said and Sakiah binti Jusoh

siblings,

Dedicated in thankful for your supporting, encouragement and best wishes.

 iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, Alhamdulillah and thanks to Allah S.W.T give me a

strength and to finish my studies in UTM. In this opportunity to express my
appreciation to the wonderful people that always around me that continuously give
me support, advices, knowledge, understanding and contribution towards the
successful completion of my Final Year Project.

A special thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Mohd Azhar Bin Abdul Razak, who
had continuously for the guidance and enthusiasm given throughout the progress of
this project.. It would be difficult to finish this project without his understanding and
tolerance.

Besides, a millions thanks to both my parents for their support me in my

studies at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.. To my siblings and my colleagues,
Hanum, Bariah, Shakela, Muzalifa and Fatihah who are always there for me in times
of difficulties and happiness and lastly to those who are helping me directly or
indirectly during this project.

Last but not least I would like to thank my friends especially to my classmate,
Farah and Amir. Millions of thanks to all who include to give encourage, support and
help me in completing this project successfully.
 v

ABSTRACT

Indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of houseplants within a

residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. In the urban area, the
people are living in a house like apartment, condominium and flat as the land
property is very expensive and the house land space is limited. Smart Indoor
Gardening (SIG) system provides smart garden devices for indoor gardening
systems, where the system is capable to grow indoor plant similar like outdoors. This
project is developed to offer low cost and limited space concept of smart indoor
gardening. This system consists of lighting and watering part that is most important
factor to grow a healthy plant. For the lighting part, the LED bulb is used to replace
sunlight while for the watering part, a pump will start irrigating the plant when the
soils dry. The sensors connected to a microcontroller (Arduino) are soil moisture,
temperature and light intensity sensor. The information send by the sensors are then
analysed by the microcontroller to control healthy grow environment for the plants.
LCD screen is used to display the condition of soil, light and temperature. One of the
advantages of this system is that it can create the greenhouse concept. In conclusion,
the SIG system was successfully implemented using Arduino Software to control the
grow of healthy plants in closed building.
 vi

ABSTRAK

Berkebun tertutup adalah menanam tumbuhan di dalam kediaman atau

bangunan, di konservatori, atau dalam rumah hijau. Pada masa kini, manusia lebih
meilih untuk tinggal di rumah seperti apartment, kondominium dan pangsapuri yang
mepunyai ruang tanah yang terhad. Smart Perkebunan Dalaman (SIG) pula memberi
peranti taman pintar untuk sistem berkebun tertutup, di mana sistem itu berupaya
untuk berkembang tumbuhan dalaman yang sama seperti di luar rumah. Projek ini
dibangunkan untuk menawarkan kos rendah dan konsep ruang yang terhad berkebun
tertutup pintar. Sistem ini terdiri daripada siste lapu and siraan automatik yang
menjadi factor penting untuk menanam tanaman yang sihat. Untuk bahagian lampu,
mentol LED digunakan untuk menggantikan cahaya matahari manakala bagi
bahagian air, pam akan mula mengairi tumbuhan apabila tanah kering. Sensor
disambungkan kepada pengawal mikro (Arduino) adalah untuk mengawal
kelembapan tanah, suhu dan intensity cahaya. Maklumat yang dihantar oleh sensor
kemudian dianalisis oleh pengawal mikro untuk mengawal persekitaran tumbuh sihat
untuk tumbuh-tumbuhan. Skrin LCD yang digunakan untuk memaparkan keadaan
tanah, cahaya dan suhu. Salah satu kelebihan sistem ini ialah ia boleh membuat
konsep rumah hijau. Kesimpulannya, sistem SIG yang telah berjaya dilaksanakan
menggunakan Arduino Perisian untuk mengawal berkembang tumbuh-tumbuhan
yang sihat di dalam bangunan tertutup.
 vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION OF THESIS ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENT vii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES xv

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 Objectives 2
1.4 Scope of Project 3
1.5 Thesis Outline 3

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 5
2.2 Indoor Gardening 5
2.3 Requirement of Plant Growth 6
7
 viii

2.3.1 Water 7
2.3.2 Light 9
2.3.3 Temperature 9
2.3.4 Space 10
2.3.5 Oxygen
2.4 Sensor 10
2.5 Light Spectrum 11
2.6 LED Bulb 14
2.7 Microcontroller 15
2.8 Effect of Indoor Gardening
2.8.1 Effect on Indoor Gardening to Older 17
People at Nursing Homes
2.8.2 Effect on Indoor Gardening to 18
Dementia Patients
2.9 Soil Moisture and Irrigation System 18

3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 20
3.2 Project Planning 20
3.3 Project Overview 22
3.4 Hardware Development
3.4.1 Arduino Uno
3.4.1.1 Features of Arduino board 24
3.4.1.2 Power to Arduino 25
3.4.2 Liquid Crystal Display 29
3.4.3 Type of Sensor 31
3.4.3.1 Soil Moisture Sensor 31
3.4.3.2 Humidity and 32
Temperature Sensor
3.4.3.3 Light Sensor 33
3.4.4 Real Time Clock (RTC DS1307) 36
3.4.5 Relay 37
3.4.6 Water Pump 39
3.4.7 LED Bulb 40
 ix

3.5 Software Development 40

3.5.1 Arduino Software version 1.0.5 41
3.6 Testing 44
3.7 Project Demonstration 44

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction 45
4.2 Hardware 45
4.3 Software 48
4.4 Result 50
4.5 Discussion 54

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction 55
5.2 Conclusion 55
5.3 Recommendations 56

6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
6.1 Introduction 57
6.2 Project Schedule 57
6.3 Cost Estimation 59
REFERENCES 61
APPENDICES 63
 x

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

NO.
2.1 Moisture Sensor Reading on 21/01/2011 19

3.2 Arduino Uno board Pin Connection 29

3.3 Pin Description of LCD Module. 33

3.4 Approximate Analog Voltage based on The Sensor 35

Light/Resistance
4.1 The Actions Each Component that Used 52

6.1 Project Gantt Chart (Semester One) 55

6.2 Project Gantt Chart (Semester Two) 55

6.3 Cost Estimation of Electronics Component 59

6.4 Cost Estimation of Other Items 60

6.5 Cost Estimation of The Plant 60

6.6 Total Cost Estimation of SIG system 60

 xi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

NO.
2.1 Distance Incandescent Lamp with Small Plant 8
2.2 Distance Incandescent Lamp with Tall Plant 8
2.3 Indoor gardening using A 3 Tube Fluorescent Light 8
2.4 Light Intensity of The Solar Spectrum 12
2.5 Light spectrum of Incandescent Bulb 13
2.6 Light spectrum of Fluorescent Bulb 13
2.7 The Sunlight Spectrum Penetrate on The Plants 13
2.8 The LEDs Bulb with Different Colour, Shape and Size 14
2.9 Spectral photon distribution of a complex gallium- 15
nitride (GaN, InGaN, AlGaN) light emitting diode
(LED) having a peak emission at ~445 nm.
2.10 Spectral photon distribution of a gallium-aluminum- 15
arsenide (GaAlAs) light emitting diode (LED) having a
peak emission at ~660nm
2.11 Microcontroller that consist all the function. 16
2.12 Soil Moisture sensors 19
3.1 Project Methodology 21
3.2 Overall Design of the System 22
3.3 Arduino Uno Rev3-Main Board 24
3.4 16x2 Characters LCD with Blue Backlight. 30
3.5 Pin Connection of LCD Display to Arduino Uno 31
3.6 Soil Moisture Sensor YL-69 32
3.7 DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor 33
3.8 DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor 33
 xii

3.9 Light Sensor (Photocell with LM393 Driver) 34

3.10 Plastic Coated Photocell 35
3.11 RTC DS1307 36
3.12 Connection between Arduino Uno Pin and DS1307 37
3.13 1 Channel 5V Relay Module 38
3.14 The Schematic of the 5V Relay Module 38
3.15 Emperor Submersible Water Pump 39
3.16 38W Led Light 40
3.17 Arduino Software 1.0.5 Version 41
3.18 Software Flowchart 43
3.19 Plastic Box 44
4.1 Main Controller of the System 46
4.2 Overall View of the Circuit 46
4.3 Full Schematic diagram of the SIG System 47
4.4 Programming for Soil State 48
4.5 Programing for Light Intensity and Temperature 49
Condition
4.6 Programming for Real Time Clock 49
4.7 Messages Received when done uploading the Coding 50
4.8 Overall View of the Project 51
4.9 Spectral of T5 Fluorescent Bulb 52
4.10 Spectral of Yellow LED blub 53
4.11 Spectral of White LED Bulb 53
 xiii

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

o
C - Degree Celsius

Ω - Ohm

SIG - - Smart Indoor Gardening

R - Resistor (ohm)

USB - Universal serial Bus

V - Voltage (volt)

Vs - Voltage source

VCC - IC power supply

 xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

1 Arduino Programming for Smart Indoor 63
Gardening
 1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss about the background of the project, problem
statement, objective, scope of the project, and thesis outline.

1. 1.1 Project Background

Nowadays, indoor gardening has several advantages of application such as

reducing the saving space, saving time and faster in performance in growing beside
can cut costly. Actually, the plants need light, water, carbon dioxide, appropriate
temperatures, nutrients, oxygen and time in order to grow. This project provides the
system growth the plant healthier and more nutritious. The embedded of the smart
indoor gardening system capabilities to control soil state, temperature and
surrounding humidity and supplemental light to produce health plant.
Our project focuses on the busy people who stay in town who has not much time
to spend on their hobby, gardening. The automated gardening system came to help
 2

this people to solve this problem. In terms of human effect, this project also can help
the people to reduce their loneliness in life and promoting activities of daily living
life satisfaction

1.1 Problem Statement

In the urban area, the people are living in a house like apartment,
condominium and flat as the land property is very expensive and the house land
space is limited. To grow healthy plants is difficult due to limited house space and
sunlight source problem. Therefore, a smart gardening system is proposed to grow
healthy plants within the enclosed building. The system will be developed by
integrating sensors, LEDs bulb and water pumps controlled by Arduino board. The
system will control the temperature, watering and lighting system, in a limited
building space to produce high quality agricultural products. As the advantages, the
vegetables produced are safe plants with less energy.

1.2 Objective of the project

The main objective of this project is to implement and design automated

smart indoor gardening system with the following characteristics:

i. The system is a low –cost and automated control for enclosed building.
ii. Arduino Uno board was used as brain of the system to monitor lighting and
watering system on the plants that assists by Arduino software to trigger any
faulty.
 3

1.3 Project Scope

In the effort to achieve the main objectives of this project, there are several
scopes need as follows. The project needs to accomplish the right way to achieve its
intended objectives.

i. The soil moisture sensor is used to measure the volumetric water in soil and
turning on LED bulb in approciate condition helping by RTC module,
temperature and light sensor.
ii. The ATmega328 micro-controller was used in software development and the
programming is done in C language.
iii. Lastly, implementation process between hardware and software design to
create a prototype of indoor gardening system.

1.4 Thesis Outline

This thesis split into five chapters. In chapter 1 discussed the introduction of
smart indoor gardening (SIG) system along with the objective, scope of the project,
synopsis of the project and the application of the project are presented.

Chapter 2 discusses on the literature review and what other research have
been done in the related project to automated indoor gardening, the requirement of
the plants and the components that was used.

The methodology and procedures implemented in the project are explained in

Chapter 3. The design includes the algorithm, the hardware and the software. The
methodology and approach of this project have been divided into four phases. First
phase is to determine the concept and requirement to design the system. Second
phase is to design the architecture of the system. Third level is to implement the
 4

design of the system. Fourth is to verify the validity of the design via testing to
ensure the system meets the required specification.

Chapter 4 presents the results obtained from the designed system. All results
and explanation regarding the system will be discussed. The server and client
interface will be provided.

Conclusion and recommendations of future improvement are concluded in

Chapter 5. Related information is attached in the appendix.

Lastly, in Chapter 6 is discusses about the project management of the system.

It involves of project schedule and cost estimation of the project.
 5

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the review of past project that relate of this project. The
information based on thesis, reference books, journals and articles from internet and
library.

2.2 Indoor Gardening

Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of

horticulture while indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of houseplants
within a residence or enclosed building in a conservatory or in a greenhouse [1].
Sometimes it can incorporate as part of air conditioning or heating systems. In
gardening, people can grow herbs, vegetables or flowers. However, high class people
prefer decorative gardens just for enjoys their leisure time. Indoor gardening suited
for people who live in city where has limited space for gardening. In addition, it easy
 6

to protect as long as using right equipment and tools beside follow the right criteria
that the plants needed to grow up. The main requirements should be taken such as
water, light, space, temperature and mineral. All the requirement will be discusses in
next section.

There are lots of advantages of the garden but there are even more advantages
and benefits associated with indoor gardening. Some plants were growth up in a
garden then it can change the atmosphere according to the requirements of those
particular types of plant that would be growing within the indoor garden. Besides
that, indoor gardening can prove helpful to the person who has some physical
disability but loves gardening. They can easily take care of the garden from the
comforts of their wheel chairs and enjoy all the funs which are associated with
outdoor gardening. Moreover, for the new starter in gardening the indoor garden is
the best option to start. It is recommended by professional gardeners that a beginner
must start off with indoor gardening and on a limited scale as well. With the passage
of time you would learn many different aspects of gardening and that will surely help
when beginner will go to next step which is outdoor gardening or gardening on a
larger scale that would need more knowledge, experience about gardening that will
surely help a lot in the long run.

2.3 Requirement Plant Growth

In order to produce health and quality of the plants, some factors affecting
plant growth such as water, light, temperature, humidity, space and minerals.
 7

2.3.1 Water

Watering frequency will depend on the conditions under the plants are
growing [2]. Water will give to the plant when they were thirsty. But when the plants
given excessive water caused they receive excessive alkalinity or salt content
affected on a nutrient imbalance and poor plant growth. Softened water may contain
harmful amounts of sodium. Water that tests high in total salts should not be used.

2.3.2 Light

The plants need sunlight for do their photosynthesis process. Besides,

artificial lighting from light bulbs indoors also can be used to start seedlings in
provide supplemental light to replace sunlight. The main aspects to consider when
providing light for plants indoors is the quality, quantity, and duration of the light.
Plant with the lack received of light have smaller, lighter green leaves while plants
with received sufficient light have a dark green leaves and short internodes and
rapidly produce new leaves [3].

Beside natural light, artificial light like incandescent and fluorescent also can
be used as light source depend on the amount of natural light it normally receives by
the plants. For flowers buds, basically the plants need to exposure to 14 or more
hours in per day of light. Incandescent light have between 100 until 150 watt bulb
and for medium plants the distance light at least 4feet and above from the plants
while for tall flower the distance lamp and flower between 8 until 10 feet
 8

Figure 2.1 Distace Incandescent Lamp Figure 2.2 Distace Flouresent

with Small plant Lamp with Tall Plant

Another type of artificial light is fluorescent light which is has 2 and half time
much light per watt than incandescent bulb [4]. It produces heat output, but large
area in spread out of light. There are two types of fluorescent light, cool and daylight
tube types. The distance light from the plants commonly in range 6 until 7 inches
and at least 12 hours in requirement of light each day. Lately, the latest technology
by using LED bulb is easier, low cost and better quality. LED bulb and its spectrum
will be discusses in next section.

Figure 2.3 Indoor gardening using A 3 Tube Fluorescent Light

 9

2.3.3 Temperature

Temperature is one of the most import requirement that needed by the plant.
Like the mankind, plant also have ideal temperature for their own survival,
temperatures that are too high or too low will give dangerous and unhealthy in
growing of the plant. In fact, temperature and light can be thought as ‘yin and yang’
of the plant life [6]. They are linked through the processes of photosynthesis and
respiration. Photosynthesis is the process to produce sugars and starch and then
broken down it by respiration process in order to develop new tissues and
maintenance of existing ones[5].

So, for indoor gardening , the normal temperature in that required by the
plants in between 20’C until 28’C and at night in range 15 until 20’C

2.3.4 Space

The plant needs adequate space to ensure that each plant receives sufficient
light in photosynthesis process. Most of plant needs their own spacing to ensure their
growth in respectively as recommended for a garden. An example tomato plants
should be allowed 4 square feet per plant [5].
 10

2.3.5 Oxygen

Plants require oxygen for respiration to carry out their functions of water and
nutrient uptake. In soil adequate oxygen is usually available, but plant roots growing
in water will quickly exhaust the supply of dissolved oxygen and can be damaged or
killed unless additional air is provided. A common method of supplying oxygen is to
bubble air through the solution[5].

2.4 Sensor

According to the definition, the sensor is a device which detects or measures

a physical property and record, indicates responds to it [6]. It measures a physical
quantity and converts it into signal. A good sensor need sensitive to the measured
property only and does not influence the measured property. Besides that, it designed
be linear to the mathematical function of the measurement.

The output of the sensor can be analog or digital. For an analog sensor signal
to be converted to a digital signal, need using an analog to digital converter. Variety
of sensors nowadays such as temperature, light force, pressure and so on. These
properties act as the stimulus to the sensor, and the sensor output is conditioned and
processed to provide the corresponding measurement of the physical property.

For example, a mercury thermometer converts the measured temperature into

expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated glass tube. A
thermocouple converts temperature to an output voltage which can be read by a
voltmeter. For accuracy, all sensors need to be calibrated against known standards. A
light sensor generates an output signal indicating the intensity of light by measuring
the radiant energy that exists in a very narrow range of frequencies basically called
"light", and which ranges in frequency from "Infrared" to "Visible" up to
 11

"Ultraviolet" light spectrum. The light sensor is a passive devices that convert this
"light energy" whether visible or in the infrared parts of the spectrum into an
electrical signal output.

2.5 Light Spectrum

The plants need a suitable light of spectrum to making photosynthesis

process. Actually, photosynthesis process has two stages which are in light reaction
and dark reaction. In light reaction, the energy from the sunlight is absorbed and split
into hydrogen and oxygen while carbon dioxide from carbohydrates and hydrogen
from the light reaction will combine to form dark reaction

When the sunlight is passed through a prism it will reflect into a spectrum of
colour. Figure2.4 shows light intensity of the solar spectru
 12

Figure 2.4 Light Intensity of The Solar Spectrum

For artificial light, there are different of the light intensity spectrum between
incandescent and fluorescent bulb. Light spectrum of incandescent bulb as shown in
Figure2.5 more to left because it has a low relative temperature compared to the sun.
It emit much of their energy in the invisible infrared part of the spectrum as heat.
Although have inefficient source of light but it cheaper and easy to produce.

Fluorescent light are much more efficient and quite different shape at
producing light compared to incandescent light. When the light emitted from hot
object, the coating to glow (fluorescent) producing a bright whitish coloured light
[4]. Figure 2.6 shows the light intensity of fluorescent bulb.
 13

Figure 2.5 Light spectrum of Figure 2.6 Light spectrum of

Incandescent Bulb Fluorescent Bulb

The scale of visible light in nanometers of wavelength between 400nm

(violet) to 700nm (red). Photosynthesis where is the process the plants absorb the
lights. As Figure 2.7 shown red light in 650 until 675 nm while blue light range 475
nanometers (nm). The blue light uses for development of plant leaf is penetrate water
better than red light and is give benefit to small plant like algae. Red light uses for
elongation of stem and colour. For the green plants, lighting peaks that are most
important where Chlorophyll-a in range 430 until 662nm, Chlorophyll-b is 453nm
until 642nm and carotenoids is 449nm until 475nm.

Figure 2.7 The Sunlight Spectrum Penetrate on The Plants

 14

2.6 LED Bulb

Led or light emitting diodes is one of the artificial light they give a lot of
advantages to the plants growth. LED light is low energy, high energy efficiency in
producing the light and long life longer. There are many type and colour of this bulb
type with different colour, different shape and sizes as shown in Figure2.8. To emit
white light from LEDs requires mixtures light using a phosphor to convert its colour.
Figure 2.9 and 2.10 shows light spectrum of LED bulb.

Figure 2.8 The LEDs Bulb with Different Colour, Shape and Size.
 15

Figure 2.9 Spectral photon distribution of a complex gallium-nitride (GaN,

InGaN, AlGaN) light emitting diode (LED) having a peak emission at ~445 nm.

Figure 2.10 Spectral photon distribution of a gallium-aluminium-arsenide

(GaAlAs) light emitting diode (LED) having a peak emission at ~660nm

2.7 Microcontroller

Microcontroller is as small integrated circuit that function like computer and

as the brain in control the certain system. It can get in very low prices but able to
control complicated system via input and output devices such as switch, push
buttons, relays, sensors and LCD displays. This chip is used in everywhere and can
 16

be found at each electronics board as the controller. In addition, microcontroller

enables to operate at high speed

Figure2.11 shows all functions in microcontroller that consists Read only

memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable
ROM (EEPROM), special function registers (SFR) , program counter, Input and
Output port, bus system, timer and central processor unit (CPU)[7]

Figure 2.11 Microcontroller that consist all the function.

 17

2.8 Effect of Indoor Gardening

2.8.1 Effect of indoor gardening to older people at nursing homes

This study is about the indoor gardening for older people who live in nursing
homes toward their activities of daily living and psychological well-being. Besides
that, check whether it can reduce loneliness and promoting activities of daily living
or not in enhancing socialization and life satisfaction. Actually, life in nursing homes
is very limited in doing social activity physical activities. So that it leads to further
decline in function for many older people.

In this experiment, old people from nursing homes was divided by two group,
first group were involved in doing indoor gardening in e eight week programs, while
another group were treated as the mastery group. They received regular care without
the eight week indoor gardening program. Demographic data, including age, gender,
educational level and financial situation were collected. In addition another
characteristic that was taken is life satisfaction, loneliness, physical activity and
social network situation, before and after experiment period. The details of
experimental group subjects’ experience of the indoor gardening program were
elicited using open-ended questions.

In the result of this experiment, there are some improvements toward old
people in eight week indoor gardening in life satisfaction and social network and a
substantial reduction in perception of loneliness compared to another mastery group.
Plus, the actions of everyday living were unchanged in both groups after the plan[8].
 18

2.8.2 Effect of indoor gardening to dementia patients

The paper studies the effect of indoor gardening on sleep, agitation and
cognition of dementia patients. This experiment running in five week study protocol
of one week of baseline and fourth weeks of treatment to 23 of dementia patients
who had sleep disturbance and/or agitation For the first and fifth week of the study
period, sleep patterns, agitation, and cognition were evaluated using a sleep diary,
Modified Cohen-Mansfield Agitation, Inventory and revised Hasegawa Dementia
Scale respectively. In the result, there are improvements in time of wake up without
changing total time sleep after indoor gardening. In conclusion indoor gardening was
found to be effective for sleep, agitation, and cognition of dementia patients [9].

2.9 Soil Moisture and Irrigation System

In this paper presents the design and implementation work of a low-cost,

automated irrigation management system for home gardens. The system uses an soil
moisture sensor monitoring by microcontroller to measure and the programmed data
to irrigate a desired area. Integrated GSM modules function as information to the
user during system failure by sending the SMS.

The soil moisture sensor consists of two probes (Galvanized Iron rods) is
placed at a fixed distance by some insulating material as shown in Figure 2.12.
Galvanized Iron was chosen compared than Copper because of corrosive type. The
current is passed through the probes. The current flows through the circuit only if
the soil is wet. The resistance of the soil varies with the soil state. This variation in
the resistance is taken [10].
 19

Figure 2.12 Soil Moisture sensors

One of the resistive probes is connected to Analog input. For software

development, moisture level was mapped using ADC output. The moisture sensor
readings values in between 0 and 255. Value 0 means the soil in totally dry while
when moisture sensor reading 255 means the soil is absolutely wet.

Table 2.1 Moisture Sensor Reading on 21/01/2011

 20

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses about the methodology approach to solve the problem
and the system design has been implemented in this project. This process flow of the
project, electronics and system design, software development and testing will
explained in detail in this chapter.

3.2 Project Planning

Project planning is important to ensure the project successfully running. The

flow of project will guide by project planning to produce good product. Figure 3.1
shows the project methodology.
 21

Literature Review

Understanding Project

Hardware Design

Software Design

Testing

Product Demonstration

Figure 3.1 Project Methodology

There are step in this project towards to ensure the project done in
systematically. It started from literature review, do some revision on previous
research, making the design of the project, electronics design, software development
testing and finally, the presentation of final product prototype.

Literature review is needed to see others work so that we can learn from their
success and error with how far technologies available in this time. In advantage,
making this research can cut the costs when we do some testing and experimenting
with the component use in this project. While, project understanding is needed for
the success and mastering in choosing the right components to use for the hardware
design. Software design needs to be studied to ensure it has good communication
with hardware design. After completing hardware and software design, the system
needs to be test and making troubleshoot to ensure that the system can function
successfully due to active the output. Then, the overall steps are complete.
 22

3.3 Project Overview

In this section, the hardware implementation is discussed which are

consisting Arduino UNO Board, light bulb, Submersible Water Head and Pump with
SRD-05VDC-SL-C relay, RTC DS1307 module, DHT11 humidity and temperature
sensor , light sensor module and soil moisture sensor with LM393 Driver, buzzer and
LED indications. The overall project is shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2 Overall Design of the System

Figure 3.2 shown that 3sensors, DHT11 sensor, light sensor and soil moisture
sensor is used in this system as the input. The soil moisture sensor is used to measure
 23

the volumetric water content the soil. The DHT11 sensor will read temperature and
humidity depends on the surroundings while, light sensor is used to check light
intensity of surroundings.

Then, the data will be sent to the microcontroller and it start to read value of
the sensors. The microcontroller of Arduino Uno board which is ATmega328 has
been programmed as to process the data. The range of the soil moisture sensor has
been divided into three ranges which are dry, moisture and soggy condition.

The output devices such as water pump for watering system and LEDs Bulb
for lighting system. Red, blue and yellow LED as the LED indications for the case of
dry, moisture and soggy. In addition, buzzer as alarm alert when dry condition. In
order to display the output, LCD screen were used. Safety casing is used for safety
precaution of the user and protection to the electronics components from damage.

3.4 Hardware Development

3.4.1 Arduino Uno

The microcontroller in Arduino Uno board is ATmega328 is used as a brain of

this system. Without it, the data from the sensor cannot generate thus the output also
unable to perform it job. Therefore, DHT11, light and soil moisture sensor will attach
with analog pin at Arduino Uno Board to transmit the data while ATmega328 will
process the data and display the result on LCD screen. Then, the information of the
sensor will be interpreted and pass to the output components such as water pump and
LED bulb do their job.
 24

The Arduino UNO board in Figure 3.3 has 14 digital input/output pins which 6
can be used as PWM outputs, 6 analog inputs, a 16MHz crystal oscillator, a USB
connection, a power jack and a reset button. To make it operate, USB cable, AC to
DC adapter or battery (5V) is required and attach to the board.

Figure 3.3 Arduino Uno Rev3-Main Board

3.4.1.1 Features of Arduino board

Operating Voltage : 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) : 7-12V
Input Voltage (limits : 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins : 14 (6 pin for PWM output)
Analog Input Pins : 40 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin : 50 mA
 25

3.4.1.2 Power to Arduino

The USB connection is used to ON the Arduino Uno with an external power
supply. The power pins are as follows:
 VIN : The input voltage to the Arduino board when it's using an
2. external power source.
 5V : This 5V pin from the regulator on the board. The board can be
supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 - 12V),
the USB connector (5V), or the VIN pin of the board (7-12V).
 3.3V : A 3.3 volt supply generated by the on-board regulator.
Maximum current draw is 50mA.
 GND.: Ground pins.

14 digital pins (pins 0 to 13) on the Uno can be used as an input or output,
using pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate at 5 volts.
Each pin can provide or receive a maximum of 40 mA and has an internal pull-up
resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-50 kΩ.

Table 3.1 shows a function of each pin in the Arduino Uno :

Pin Descriptions

Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data is used
to receive.

External Interrupts: 2 and 3. These pins can be configured to trigger an

interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge,
or a change in value
PWM: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 Provide analogWrite() function with 8-bit PWM
output
 26

SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 The pins support SPI communication using the
(MISO), 13 (SCK). SPI library.

LED: 13. Pin 13: digital LED

When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on,
when the pin is LOW, the LED is off.

There a 6 Analog Input Pin with labeled A0 through A5, each of which
provide 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). The programs written for
Arduino are called sketches. There are two hardware related to Arduino Uno, there
settings need to make in the Arduino IDE which is Board and Serial Port.

This is the basic structure of the Arduino :

void setup()
{
//statements;
}
void loop()
{
//statements;
}
Where setup() is the preparation, loop() is the execution. Both functions are
required for the program to work. The declaration of any variables needed so that the
setup function can follow the beginning of the program respectively. Once the first
function in the program is run, and is used to set pinMode or initialize serial
communication.

setup()
The setup() function is called once when your program starts. It used to
initialize pin modes, or begin serial. It need be included in a program even if there
are no statements to run.
void setup()
{
 27

pinMode(pin, OUTPUT); // sets the 'pin' as output

}

loop()

After calling the setup() function, the loop() function does precisely what its name
suggests, and loops consecutively, allowing the program to change respond, and
control the Arduino board.
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(pin, HIGH); // turns 'pin' on
delay(1000); // pauses for one second
digitalWrite(pin, LOW); // turns 'pin' off
delay(1000); // pauses for one second
}

pinMode(pin, mode)
Used in void setup() to configure a specified pin to behave either as a INPUT or an
OUTPUT.

pinMode(pin, INPUT); // set ‘pin’ to input

digitalWrite(pin, HIGH); // turn on pullup resistors
Pull-up resistors would normally be used for connecting inputs like switches.

digitalRead(pin)
Reads the value from a specified digital pin with the result either HIGH or LOW.
The pin can be specified as either a variable or constant (0-13).
value = digitalRead(Pin); // sets 'value' equal to
// the input pin

digitalWrite(pin, value)
Outputs either logic level HIGH or LOW at (turns on or off) a specified digital pin.
The pin can be specified as either a variable or constant (0-13).
digitalWrite(pin, HIGH); // sets 'pin' to high
 28

analogRead(pin)
Reads the value from a specified analog pin with a 10-bit resolution. This function
onlyworks on the analog in pins (0-5). The resulting integer values range from 0 to
1023.
value = analogRead(pin); // sets 'value' equal to 'pin'

analogWrite(pin, value)
Writes a pseudo-analog value using hardware enabled pulse width modulation
(PWM) to an output pin marked PWM. On Uno, this function works on pins 3, 5, 6,
9, 10, and 11.

The value can be specified as a variable or constant with a value from 0-255.
analogWrite(pin, value); // writes 'value' to analog 'pin'

0 volts for 0 values and 5 volts for 255 values at specified pin. In the range 0
and 255, the pin rapidly alternates between 0 and 5 volts, the higher the value, the
more often the pin is HIGH (5 volts). Because this is a hardware function, the pin
will generate a steady wave after a call to analogWrite in the background until the
next call to analogWrite (or a call to digitalRead or digitalWrite on the same pin).
 29

Table 3.2 Arduino UNO board Pin Connection

Port/Pin name Description Connect to
D2 Output LCD
D3 Output LCD
D4 Output LCD
D5 Output LCD
D6 Output LED Bulb
D7 Output Buzzer Alarm
D8 Output Red LED (Dry)
D9 Output Green LED (Moist)
D10 Output Yellow LED (Soggy)
D11 Output LCD
D12 Output LCD
D13 Output Water Pump
A0 Input Soil Moisture sensor
A1 Input DHT11 sensor
A2 Input Light Sensor
A4 Input SDA RTC
A5 Input SCL RTC

3.4.2 Liquid Crystal Display

The LCD used to inform the user the status of the condition of the system. In
this project, LCD and a 16 column by 2 rows characters used as a LCD is able to
display condition of the sensors.
 30

Figure 3.4 16x2 Characters LCD with Blue Backlight.

Table 3.3 Pin Description of LCD Module.

Pin No Pin Name Description
1 Vss GND
2 Vdd +5V
3 Vee Contrast Adjuster (0-5V)
4 RS Register Select
0 = Instruction Input
1 = Data Input
5 R/W Read / Write
0 = Write to LCD module
1 = Read from LCD module
6 E Enable Pin
7 D0 Data bit 0
8 D1 Data bit 1
9 D2 Data bit 2
10 D3 Data bit 3
11 D4 Data bit 4
12 D5 Data bit 5
13 D6 Data bit 6
14 D7 Data bit 7
15 LED+ Backlight LED (+5V)
16 LED- Backlight LED (GND)
 31

Figure 3.5 shows LCD pin connection to the Arduino Uno Board. 10 pin of
Arduino Uno Board is used which is digital pin2, pin3, pin4, pin5,pin11 and pin 12.

Figure 3.5 Pin Connection of LCD Display to Arduino Uno

3.4.3 Type of Sensor

3.4.3.1 Soil Moisture Sensor

The Soil Moisture Sensor is used to measure the volumetric water content
based on the dielectric constant of soil. The sensor is inserted in the soil to sense the
existence of water. An electric current can easily pass through if there is moisture
and due to the fact that the level of moisture is hard to determine and to make sure
that the moisture sensor is very accurate and efficient.
 32

Figure 3.6 Soil Moisture Sensor YL-69

Figure 3.6 shows Soil Moisture Sensor YL-69. In this project, this
component is connected at pin analog A3 of Arduino Uno. One the characteristics of
soil moisture sensor YL-69, it has blue digital potentiometer adjustment as sensitivity
adjustable. Then it can operate at 3.3V-5V which red means power indicator green
for and digital switching output indicator. It also come very stable comparators
LM393 chip on mall board PCB size: 3cm * 1.6cm

3.4.3.2 Humidity and Temperature Sensor

In this project, DHT11 digital temperature and humidity sensor is used to

check the temperature of surroundings. It is a composite sensor that contains a
calibrated digital signal output of the temperature and humidity.. In this Arduino
board, it connects at pin analog A0. The others specification is attached in appendix.
Figure3.7 and 3.8 shows DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor and pin
connection with Arduino UNO board respectively.
 33

Figure 3.7 DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor

Figure 3.8 DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor

3.4.3.3 Light Sensor

The Light sensor module was shown in Figure3.9 comes with the basic
components for light detection. The light sensor module is used to detect the light
brightness in the environment. It comes with 2 outputs, digital and analog. The
threshold (sensitivity) of digital output may be adjusted by tuning the on board
variable resistor (potentiometer). On board it provides a LDR, high sensitivity and
 34

commonly being employed for light sensing. The module comes with power LED
and status LED as an indicator.

In this project, light sensor module is used to read light intensity for the
surroundings of the smart indoor gardening system. The data from sensor is sent to
microcontroller to process and thus give signal to LED bulb whether to ON or OFF
according suitable range of light intensity needed by the plant. The way it works is
that as the resistance of the photocell decreases, the total resistance of the photocell
and the pulldown resistor decreases. Table 3.2 shows approximate analog voltage
based of the light/resistance w/a 5V supply and 10K ohm pulldown resistor.

Figure 3.9. Light Sensor (Photocell with LM393 Driver)

Figure3.10 is shows plastic coated photocell of light sensor module.

Basically, photocell made of Cadmium-Sulfide (CdS) has resistors that will changes
its resistive value in ohm depend how much a light is shining onto the surface. The
resistance range between 200K ohm (dark) until 10K ohm (brightness). For the
sensitivity range, CdS cells will respond to light between 400n, (violet) and 600nm
(orange) wavelengths and peaking at about 520nm (green).
 35

Figure 3.10 Plastic Coated Photocell

Table 3.4 Approximate Analog Voltage based on The Sensor Light/Resistance

Ambient Photocell LDR + R Current through Voltage

light resistance (Ω) LDR+R across R
(Ω) (mA)
Moon light 70K 71 0.07 0.1
night
Dark room 10K 11 0.45 0.5

Bright room 1.5K 2.5 2 2.0

Overcast 300 1.3 3.8 3.8

day
Full daylight 100 1.1 4.5 4.5
 36

3.4.4 Real Time Clock (RTC DS1307)

The DS1307 Real Time Clock used as time clock in this system. Real Time
Clock module that keeps perfect time and has a battery backup so it would not reset
if the Arduino loses power. So in SIG system, RTC 1307 used to setting time of
lighting system of LED Bulbs. SDA of the RTC to analog4 pin while SCL to analog
5 pin of the Arduino UNO board. Figure 11 and Figure 3.12 shows the RTC Ds1307
module and pin connection to Arduino UNO board respectively.

Figure 3.11 RTC DS1307

The specification of RTC DS1307 :

o Working voltage: 5v
o Two wire I2C interface
o Hour : Minutes : Seconds AM/PM
o Day Month, Date - Year
o Leap year compensation
o Accurate calendar up to year 2100
o Consumes less than 500nA in Battery-Backup
o Battery NOT included
o 1Hz output pin
o 56 Bytes of Non-volatile memory available to user
o Provides 32,768 bits(4KB) of serial electrically erasable and programmable
 37

o Read only memory (EEPROM)

o Embed DS18B20 temperature sensor interface with the pull-up resistor
o Dimensions: 28mm x 25mm x 8mm

Figure 3.12 Connection between Arduino Uno Pin and DS1307

3.4.5 Relay

The relay is one of the switch types which are electrically controlled. The
components in relay are inductor coil, a spring (not shown in figure), swing terminal,
and two high power contacts named as normally closed (NC) and normally open
(NO). Relay uses an electromagnet to move swing terminal between two contacts
(NO and NC). When there is no power applied to the inductor coil (Relay is OFF),
the spring holds the swing terminal is attached to NC contact.

In this project, two relay type SRD -05vdc-sl-c module was used to control
high voltage the LED Bulb and water pump while keeping them isolated from the
microcontroller. It was chosen because easy to use, with simple three line structure
while can be connected directly to the input/output port of microcontroller.
Figure3.13 is show the 5V relay module using relay SRD-05vdc-sl-c type.
 38

Figure 3.13 1 Channel 5V Relay Module

Figure 3.14 The Schematic of the 5V Relay Module

Figure 3.14 is show the schematic of the 5V relay module. In this project,
relay module is used for control LED bulb is connect to digital pin 6 while for water
pump at digital pin 13. One of the advantage used the relay module is cheap prices .
 39

3.4.6 Water Pump

The water pump in Figure 3.15 that used is emperor mini submersible power
head and pump where recycled from fish aquarium. It used for irrigation system to
generate water from reservoir or water tank to the plant through irrigation tubing.
The water pump is interfaced with the microcontroller through a relay since the
microcontroller output ports does not provide enough power to drive the pump.

Figure 3.15 Emperor Submersible Water Pump

The specification of water pump

 Electrical Input : 220- 240 V/50 Hz 1.8 watt
 Max. Flow Rate : 220 L/H
 Head. Max : 0.48 Meter
 40

3.4.7 LED Bulb

Led bulb is the most essential item in lighting part of SIG system, where it
provided supplemental light to the plant. In this project, 3 Watt 38-Led E14 (Non
Standard) Base Bulb was used. This is because beside it is frugal, LED bulb can
develop the plant to grow better with the good amount of lighting. Figure 3.16 show
the LED bulb used.

Figure 3.16 38W Led Light

3.5 Software Development

This topic will discuss on software development and debugging of the circuit
and developing an embedded system. In this project, the software has been
developed using Arduino Software by using C programming language.
 41

3.5.1 Arduino Software version 1.0.5

In this project, Arduino software 1.0.5 version as shown in Figure3.17 is used

to program the microcontroller. Arduino programs are written in C or C++. The
advantages of this version, firstly, it has new library import functionality to install
libraries directly from a.zip file in the IDE. Secondly, it already signed driver of
window. This means Window 8 will no longer prevent from installing Arduino
drivers.

The Arduino IDE comes with a software library called "Wiring" from the
original Wiring project, which makes many common input/output operations much
easier. Users only need define two functions to make a runnable cyclic executive
program:

Figure 3.17 Arduino Software 1.0.5 Version

The Arduino IDE uses the GNU toolchain and AVR Libc to compile
programs, and uses avrdude to upload programs to the board. As the Arduino
platform uses Atmel microcontrollers, Atmel's development environment, AVR
 42

Studio or the newer Atmel Studio, may also be used to develop software for the
Arduino.

In order to display the condition of the sensors using LED indications and
display on LCD screen, the DHT11 temperature, light and soil moisture sensor is
connected to Arduino UNO board as shown in Table3.2. The ATmega328
microcontroller was programmed in C to check and measure the sensors as Figure
3.18.

As the mention in Figure 3.18 that light intensity and temperature should be
lower than 900n.m wavelengths and 32 oC respectively. This is because it can give
damage on the growth of the plant.
 43

Figure 3.18 Software Flowchart

 44

3.6 Testing

Testing is important to determine the quality and functionality of the product

several testing already been done in this project to ensure its proper functioning.
Besides that, give a safety precaution to the components and the user.

3.7 Project Demonstration

The first impression the user will look the product presentation is the safety
of the system. For this project, it still in the prototype mode and the product
presentation would not be as suitable for commercialization. The circuit in this
project will be protected by the plastic box as shown in Figure 3.19.The front of the
box contains LCD screen, LED indications and Buzzer for alarm beep.

Figure 3.19 Plastic Box

 45

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction

Chapter 4 will explain about the result obtained from this project. It includes
how the programming works on reading t from the Arduino board to display on LCD
screen. Testing has been done and all the results had come out with the discussion.

4.2 Hardware

The Arduino Board can connect directly to DC/AD adaptor power supply so
that SIG system can start function. When the brain of the system, Arduino board
start function, the input such as temperature, soil moisture and light sensor with
RTC module, relay start working their job. The relay will start ‘ON’ the LED Bulb
according setting time. While the soil moisture sensor will start reading and the data
obtain will be sent to the system in voltage value. Since the microcontroller has the
capability of 10-bit analog to digital converter, it will convert and manipulate the
 46

data obtained to get the actual condition of humidity. After that, the conditions of the
system are displayed on the LCD screen. The microcontroller instruct the relay on
the water pump when ‘DRY’ condition. Figure 4.1 and figure 4.2 shows main
controller and circuit design of this system.

Figure 4.1 Main Controller of the System

Figure 4.2 Overall View of the Circuit

 47

Figure 4.3 shows the entire schematic of the circuit diagram for the smart
indoor gardening system consists of light, DHT11 and soil moisture sensor as main
input. Then, two relay is used to active LED bulb and water pump.

Figure 4.3 Full Schematic diagram of the SIG System

 48

4.3 Software

Software programming has successfully been done uploading on the SIG

system. The software flowchart already discussed in previous chapter, in this chapter
only the implementation of the algorithm of the software to the hardware or circuits.
The programming is written in Arduino C language and being compiled in Arduino
software. All the results have been snapped in the figures below. Full coding and
library of the system will be available in the CD at the back of thesis.

Figure 4.4 Programming for Soil State

 49

Figure 4.5 Programing for Light Intensity and Temperature Condition

Figure 4.6 Programming for Real Time Clock

Figure 4.4, 4.5, and 4.6 shows the software to generate the output on the LED
indicator. While the below Figure 4.7 shows that the programming was compiled and
successful uploaded in Arduino.
 50

Figure 4.7 Messages Received when done uploading the Coding

4.4 Result

Figure 4.9 overall system smart indoor gardening. Means when the sensor
start working their job and pass to, the microcontroller, the microcontroller will
process the data received. For the soil state, LEDs will change the colour according
to the soil moisture condition. Then, the microcontroller will again manipulate the
information and decide whether the pump will start operating or not. When the value
obtained from the sensor is below the moisture level needed by the plant, the plant
will start operating and the water will be supplied by those that is connected from the
outlet of the pump to the plant. The water source for the tank is can be from rain or
from the main pipeline. The floater inside the tank will control the level of water
inside the tank. The systems keep running the process continuously until the user cut
the power source.
 51

Figure 4.8 Overall View of the Project

 52

Table 4.1 shows the action each component that used.

Hardware and Components Actions
LED Bulb(Supplemental Light) 15 Hours (ON)
9 Hours (OFF)
Water Pump On when dry Soil
OFF when soggy soil
Buzzer (Alarm beep) On when dry soil
OFF when moist soil
LED Indicator (Soil Moisture) Red (Dry)
Green (Moisture)
Yellow(Soggy)
Temperature Sensor Temperature > Certain
value, LED Bulb (ON)
Light Sensor Alert Light intensity

Figure 4.9, 4.10 and 4.11 is shows result of the spectral of the T5 fluorescent
and white and yellow LED bulb by using spectrometer. This experiment was running
in room temperature and same distance between a device and the bulb. After making
decision, we choose to use LED bulb as supplemental light to replace sunlight as
light source due it more similar with sunlight spectrum.

Figure 4.9 Spectral of T5 Fluorescent Bulb

 53

Figure 4.10 Spectral of Yellow LED blub

Figure 4.11 Spectral of White LED Bulb

 54

4.5 Discussion

First, when the user on the power supply, the system will be working. The
microcontroller on the Arduino Uno interpreted the data sending by the sensor used
which in this case Atmega138 was used. The microcontroller in Arduino Uno was
already been programmed according to the desire output and it can communicate
with the hardware.

There will be three range of soil state which represents three condition that
are dry, moist and soggy. If the LCD display the output is dry in the range of more
than 800>1023, then the LED will turn to red colour. This meaning red alert and
water pump need to start ‘ON’ Second condition is moist. The range of resistance is
between 401-800. Once this range was detected, the LED will change to green colour
while the LCD will display moist with its range of soil state. Its means, in this
condition the soil enough water.

The last condition that will be discussed is soggy. The soil state during soggy
is in the range below than 400. If the data transmit is in this range, the output colour
will turn to the yellow. On the hand, the LCD will display the output soggy. While, it
means, the relay give direction to water pump from pumping the water from the tank.

For the lighting system, LED Bulb will be ON in 15 Hours and OFF in
9hours according time the plant outside needed. From the previous research, The
system will turns on the LED bulb to make sure the plants receive the right amount
of light (15 hours daily). The light sensor plus Arduino measure how much natural
sunlight is received and turn on the supplemental lights to make up any difference.
Temperature sensor used to take precaution and to make sure the plant is in the
normal condition not too high and not too low.
 55

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter concludes the overall system of this project. The

recommendations for future development that relate to the project will be discussed
in this chapter.

5.2 Conclusion

The first chapter stated that the two objective need to be accomplished. First
objective is to design and develop the system is a low cost and automated control for
enclosed building. Secondly, Arduino Uno board is used as brain of the system to
monitor lighting and watering system on the plants that assists by Arduino software
to trigger any faulty.
 56

The Smart Indoor Gardening system is completed by using RTC Module,

integrating sensor and Arduino Uno Board, which does the function of controlling
other output to generate lighting and watering system successful function.
Objective.

For the software design, Arduino has successfully developed as to read the soil
state. The colour will change according to the three range of soil state which is dry,
moist and soggy. If the soil is dry, then the red LED will on together with a buzzer. This
means red alert. Then, when the soil is in moist, green LED will turn on, the soil in good
condition. The last condition of soil state is soggy mean water pump needed to stop
pumping the water from water tank.

As a conclusion, this project is a success because all objective was accomplished

at the end of the research and automated control of home garden has successfully been
developed. In addition, the smart indoor gardening system has potential for
commercialization because it using low cost and reliable system

5.3 Recommendations

Although this project was a success, but there are some recommendations for
future employment in parliamentary procedure to make this more perfect system

 Fertilizer pump is added so that the system more complete.

 Error detection that can its own automatic fertilization in order to
maintain their healthy.
 Error detection via SMS if the system detect any error.
 Need to use approciate soil moisture sensor and exact in measurement.
 57

CHAPTER 6

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

6.1 Introduction

The objective of project management is to achieve all project goals with

effective project planning, organizing, and controlling resource within a specified
time period. Established on the stated constraints, project schedule had been
tabulated on Gantt chart which it presents a clear guideline in time management of
this task. Next, cost estimation of the components is performed to ensure minimal
project cost while keeping project to achieve the required requirement. In this
process, market survey on the different electronic supplier is carried out; components
price is then tabulated to compute the final cost.

6.2 Project Schedule

Table 6.1 and Table 6.2 shows project Gantt chart for semester one and
semester two respectively. Compare to Gantt chart semester one, Gantt chart in
second semester is progressing in planned.
 58

Table 6.1 Project Gantt Chart (Semester One)

Table 6.2 Project Gantt Chart (Semester Two)

 59

6.3 Cost Estimation of the Project

Table 6.3 shows the cost estimation of Smart Indoor Gardening system. The
most expensive components in this board are Arduino Uno Module. On the other,
RTC module also in range of expensive price of component.

Table 6.3 Cost Estimation of Electronics Component

Component Name Cost For 1 Module Subtotal
Unit Price ®
Range
Arduino Uno 1 80 80 80
Module
RTC Module 1 28 28 28
Light Sensor 1 15 15 15
Temperature & 1 15 15 15
Humidity DHT11
Sensor
Soil Moisture 1 15 15 15
Sensor
LCD Display 1 15 15 15
LED Bulb 2 10.50 21.00 21.00
LED 3 0.30 0.90 0.90
Relay SRD 5V 2 15 30 30
Water Pump 1 35 35 35
Male to Female 1 dozen 4.50 4.50 4.50
Jumper
Female to Female 1 dozen 6.00 6.00 6.00
Jumper Connection
Photo Board 1 13 13 13
Buzzer 1 3.00 3.00 3.00

Subtotal RM281.40
 60

Table 6.4 Cost Estimation of Other Items

Item Name Cost For 1 Item Subtotal
Unit range price
Protector Board 1 12.00 12.00 12.00
Irrigation Tube 1 3.00 3.00 3.00
Host Tube 1 8.00 8.00 8.00
Plastic Pipe 1 45.00 45.00 45.00
2 Pin Plug 1 4.00 4.00 4.00
UTP Cable 1 3.00 3.00 3.00
Socket Lamp 1 5.00 5.00 5.00
Subtotal RM80

Table 6.5 Cost Estimation of The Plant

Item Name Cost For 1 Item Subtotal
Unit Price
Range
Compose 2 3.00 6.00 6.00
Polybag 10 0.50 5.00 5.00

Bayam Seed 1 2.50 2.50 2.50

Subtotal RM13.50

Table 6.6 Total Cost Estimation of SIG system

Components Subtotal
Electronics RM281.40
Other Item RM80
Plant RM13.50
Total RM374.90

Table 6.6 shows total cost estimation of smart indoor gardening system. As a
complete system consists of electronics item, cost of plant and others item, the total
cost of this project is about RM374.90. The project still in budget and lower than
others out there.
 61

REFERENCES

[1] Wikipedia,Gardening, available from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardening
[2] What Do Plant Need to Grow? (2007)California Foundation for Agriculture
in classroom.
[3] “ Indoor Gardening Under light”, Cooperative Extension Services of the
Northeast States, West Virginia University, Department of Floriculture and
Ornamental Horticulture
[4] Teacher guide,(2013), “Light and Photosynthesis”,
[5] Requirements for Plant Growth(2013)uiuc.edu/vista
[6] Sensor, Available from:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sensor
[7] Architecture and programming of 8051 MCU's,Miccroelectrika
[8] Mimi Mun Yee Tse , “Therapeutic effects of an indoor gardening programs
for older people living in nursing homes”, Kowloon, Hong Kong,School of
Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
[9] Lee S. Kim Y, (2008) “Effects of indoor gardening on sleep, agitation, and
cognition in dementia patients—a pilot study” Wiley InterScience,
(2007),Korea,Dep Nursing, Woosuk University, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY,Int J
Geriatr Psychiatry 2008; 23: 485–489
[10] Aravind Anil, Aravind R Thampi, Prathap John M and Shanthi K Jy, Chitra,
Trivandrum, Kerala (2012) “Project HARITHA-An Automated Irrigation
System for Home Gardens” Elect. & Com. Eng
[11] Correll N, A. N., Bolger A, Bollini M, Charrow B, Adam Clayton, Felipe D,
Kenneth D, Samuel D, Luke J, Huan Liu, Alexander P, Robertson T, Jeremy
S, Daniel S, Melissa T, Lauren W, Daniela R (2010). "Indoor robot
 62

gardening: design and implementation." inteligent service robotics 3(4): 219-

232

[12] Dilrukshi Hashini Galhena*, Russell Freed and Karim M Maredia, (2013),
“Home gardens: a promising approach to enhance household food security
and wellbeing” Galhena et al,BioMed Central Ltd.

[13] NC State university|College of Ag& Life Sciences,Temperature Effect on

Houseplants(2013), © ErvEvans, Consumer Horticulturalist.

[14] Bodie V. Pennisi, “Growing Indoor Plants with Success(B1318)” Available

from: http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=B1318
[15] Ho Son and Myung Oh(2013), “Leaf shape, growth and antioxidant
compounds of two lettuce ,cultivars grown under various combinations Blue
and red emitting diodes” Ki HortScience

[16] Lolander, (2010) “Indoor Grow Space Automation” Makezine magazine,

vol.13 , p91

[17] Dr. Leonard Perry, (2010), “Indoor lighting for plants”, Extension Professor,
University of Vermont

[18] A. Raja Gopal, D. Imthiyaz Ur Rahman, P.Nischal Reddy, Y. Siva Sai Krisha
Kumar Reddy,(2013) “Mobile Signal Jammer Using Arduino”, GOKARAJU
RANGARAJU INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,
Elect. & Electronics Eng Dept.
[19] "Mandi B, Shaney E, Robin S, .(2011) “What Makes Plants Grow?”
University of Florida IFAS Extension
[20] Gepffrey Morrison , (2013), “LED vs CFL Bulbs: Colour Temperature,
Light spectrum and more”
[21] R. J. Bula, D.J. Tennessen, R.C. Morrow, and T.W. Tibbitts. , “International
Lighting in Controlled Environments Workshop”.W.Tibbitts (editor) 1994
NASA-CP-95-3
 63

APPENDIX A
Arduino Programing for Smart Indoor Gardening

// libraries definition
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include "RTClib.h"
RTC_DS1307 RTC;
#include <dht.h>
dht DHT;

// frequency musical notes

#define NOTE_C6 1047
#define NOTE_C3 131
#define NOTE_G3 196

// pins definition
int DHTPin = A1;
int LightSensorPin = A2;
int SoilMoisturePin = A0;
int soggyLEDPin = 10;
int moistsoilLEDPin = 9;
int drysoilLEDPin = 8;
int BuzzerPin = 7;
 64

int LEDBulbPin = 6 ;
int WaterPumpPin = 13 ;

//Variables
int moistureSensorValue;
int INT;

// objects definition
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);

void setup () {
// serial initialization
Serial.begin(9600);

// LCD initialization
lcd.begin(16, 2);
lcd.clear();

// Wire initialization
Wire.begin();
RTC.begin();
RTC.adjust(DateTime(__DATE__, __TIME__));
if (! RTC.isrunning()) {
// date and time adjust as the PC computer date and time
Serial.println("RTC is NOT running!");
}
 65

// Arduino pins initalization

//soilmoisture sensor

pinMode(SoilMoisturePin, INPUT);
pinMode(soggyLEDPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(moistsoilLEDPin,OUTPUT);
pinMode(drysoilLEDPin,OUTPUT);
pinMode(BuzzerPin, OUTPUT);
//light sensor
pinMode(LightSensorPin, INPUT);
pinMode(LEDBulbPin,OUTPUT);
//waterpump
pinMode(WaterPumpPin,OUTPUT);
// pinMode(pumpLEDPin,OUTPUT);
}

void soil_state(){

moistureSensorValue = analogRead(SoilMoisturePin);
// check the moisture range
if (moistureSensorValue <=400){
lcd.setCursor(0,1); //2nd line
//if the soil is soggy
lcd.print("S:Soggy");
digitalWrite(drysoilLEDPin,LOW);
digitalWrite(moistsoilLEDPin,LOW);
digitalWrite(soggyLEDPin,HIGH);
digitalWrite(WaterPumpPin,LOW);
}
 66

if ((moistureSensorValue>401) && (moistureSensorValue <800)){

lcd.setCursor(0,1); //2nd line
lcd.print("S:Moist");
digitalWrite(drysoilLEDPin,LOW);
digitalWrite(moistsoilLEDPin,HIGH);
digitalWrite(soggyLEDPin,LOW);
digitalWrite(WaterPumpPin,LOW);
}

// in case of dry soil:

if (moistureSensorValue >= 800){
lcd.setCursor(0,1); //2nd line
lcd.print("S:Dry ");

// lights up the correct LED

digitalWrite(drysoilLEDPin,HIGH);
digitalWrite(moistsoilLEDPin,LOW);
digitalWrite(soggyLEDPin,LOW);
// plays the alarm sound401-80
tone(BuzzerPin, NOTE_C6, 100);
delay(200);
noTone(BuzzerPin);
//turn water on when soil is dry, and delay until soil is wet
digitalWrite(WaterPumpPin,HIGH);
}
else{}
}
 67

void light_decision(){
INT = analogRead (LightSensorPin);
if (INT>=680){

DHT.read11(DHTPin);
if (DHTPin<=32){
digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,HIGH);
}

else{
digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,LOW);
}
}

else{
digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,LOW);
}
}

void loop (){

// RTC parameters definition

DateTime now = RTC.now();
// DateTime myRTC = RTC.now();

lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(now.day(), DEC);
 68

lcd.print('/');
lcd.setCursor(3,0);
lcd.print(now.month(), DEC);
lcd.print('/');
lcd.setCursor(5,0);
lcd.print(now.year(), DEC);
lcd.print('/');
lcd.setCursor(10,0);

lcd.print(now.hour(), DEC);
lcd.print(':');
lcd.setCursor(13,0);
lcd.print(now.minute(), DEC);

// scroll 29 positions (string length + display length) to the right

// to move it offscreen right:
for (int positionCounter = 0; positionCounter < 29; positionCounter++) {
// scroll one position right:
lcd.scrollDisplayRight();
// wait a bit:
delay(200);
}

if((now.hour() >= 07) && ( now.hour() <= 22 )){

// if (( now.hour() <= 22 ) && ( now.minute() <= 50 )){
light_decision();
lcd.setCursor(8, 1); //set LCD cursor to be after AN:
lcd.print("INT:"); //display the ADC value from A2 of light sensor
lcd.print(INT);
 69

lcd.print(" "); //clear the previous printed value if have

lcd.setCursor(16,1);
lcd.print("H:");
lcd.print(DHT.humidity);
lcd.print("%");
lcd.setCursor(26,1);
lcd.print("T:");
lcd.print(DHT.temperature);
lcd.print("C ");
delay(1000);
soil_state();
// digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,HIGH);
// }
// else{
// digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,LOW);
// // delay(2000);
// }
}
else{
digitalWrite (LEDBulbPin,LOW);
// delay(2000);
}