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Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504

International Workshop on Edge IA-IoT for Smart Agriculture (SA2IOT)

International Workshop
Auguston Edge
9-12, IA-IoT
2021, for Smart
Leuven, Agriculture (SA2IOT)
Belgium
August 9-12, 2021, Leuven, Belgium
Hydroponic and Aquaponic Farming: Comparative Study Based on
Hydroponic and Aquaponic Farming: Comparative Study Based on
Internet of things IoT technologies.
Internet of things IoT technologies.
Ibtissame EZZAHOUIa,a,*, Rachida AIT ABDELOUAHIDbb, Khaoula TAJIcc,
Ibtissame EZZAHOUI *, Rachida AIT ABDELOUAHID , Khaoula TAJI ,
Abdelaziz MARZAKdd
Abdelaziz MARZAK
a,b,c,d
,Hassan II University of Casablanca-Faculty of Sciences Ben M’sik, Laboratory of Information of Technology and Modeling, Cdt Driss El
a,b,c,d Harti,
,Hassan II University of Casablanca-Faculty of BP 7955 Ben
Sciences Sidi M’sik,
OthmanLaboratory
Casablanca, Morocco of Technology and Modeling, Cdt Driss El
of Information
Harti, BP 7955 Sidi Othman Casablanca, Morocco

Abstract
Abstract
Hydroponic farming and aquaponic farming are the most innovative methods in the agricultural sector; hydroponic is the
Hydroponicoffarming
cultivation and aquaponic
plant off-soil, farming
but aquaponic is theare the most
junction innovative
between methods
hydroponic in the agricultural
and aquaculture, which issector; hydroponic
the cultivation is the
of fish.
cultivation
Because of plant
more off-soil, the
one criterion but no
aquaponic is the
soil-borne junction
disease, between
reducing hydroponic
insect infectionand
andaquaculture,
pest, furtherwhich is the of
elimination cultivation of fish.
the pesticides used
Because more one system
in the monitoring criterionreduce
the no the
soil-borne
toxicity,disease,
the time reducing insectplants
of growing infection andhydroponic
in the pest, furthersystem
elimination of the
are less pesticides
compared to used
crop
in the monitoring
grown system reduce
in the conventional method.the toxicity,
Finally, the the time of
nutrients aregrowing
availableplants in plants.
only for the hydroponic system are less compared to crop
grown in the conventional
The aquaponic method. Finally,
system is beneficial even inthea nutrients are available like
critical environment onlydessert,
for plants.
heat and cold. The system is not affected by
climate
The change and
aquaponic more
system is stable in alleven
beneficial seasons.
in a This is the
critical principal criteria
environment to successfully
like dessert, heat andadapting in system
cold. The the home is and
not commercial
affected by
climate
domain;change and more
the system can be stable in all seasons.
automatically This with
operated is thethe
principal criteria to successfully
IoT technologies. The paper atadapting in the home
hand proposes and commercial
a comparative study
domain; the system can
between hydroponic and be automatically
aquaponic farming.operated
to havewith the IoT
a global visiontechnologies. The paper at hand proposes a comparative study
of both methods.
between hydroponic and aquaponic farming. to have a global vision of both methods.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2021
This The
is an Authors.
open accessPublished by Elsevier
article under the CC B.V.
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
This is an
Peer-review open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
Peer-review under responsibility of the ConferenceProgram
under responsibility of the Conference license
Program (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Chairs.
Chair.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.
Keywords: Hydroponic;Aquaponic;Agriculture;IoT; environment;economic activity;plant;fish;sensors,
Keywords: Hydroponic;Aquaponic;Agriculture;IoT; environment;economic activity;plant;fish;sensors,

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +21-267-778-5820.

* Corresponding i.ezzahoui@gmail.com
E-mail address:author. Tel.: +21-267-778-5820.
E-mail address: i.ezzahoui@gmail.com
1877-0509 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open
1877-0509 access
© 2021 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under
This is an open responsibility
access of the Conference
article under CC BY-NC-NDProgram Chairs.
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.

1877-0509 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chair.
10.1016/j.procs.2021.07.064
500 Ibtissame Ezzahoui et al. / Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000

1. Introduction

Agriculture has always been an essential part of human life and has always been one of the pillars of economic
activity. Issues related to this area are grouped into: food sufficiency for a high-growth population and climate
change are of major concern. We begin with a global rise in the earth’s temperature, which involves droughts,
floods, and other events that are more random than frequent. Because of climatic conditions and lack of rain, the
reduction in the amount of water intended for watering is of significant importance; hydroponics consume 20% of
water compared to traditional agriculture.
Production of food all year round to reduce the hunger rate. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition
in the World 2018, the number of hungry people is 821 million, or 1 in 9, the enormous numbers in Asia: 515
million and in Africa: $256.5 million. The Internet of Things has integrated the agriculture sector; its main purpose
is to organize the different sensors like the temperature sensor, the pH level. The architectures proposed in this
context differ according to their components and their level of complexity. We will define hydroponic and aquaponic
systems present some architectures in the hydroponic and aquaponic system to pull the different sensors and
actuators proposed that constitute the hardware part and the software part.

1.1. Hydroponic farming

According to the research of (B.P. Kulkarni et al.), the majority of us believe that the soil is the source of food for
plants, but the plants require nutrients, the soil itself is only a structure for the roots, the food comes from the
fertilizer, the waste from full. For hydroponics, the soil is replaced by the gravel, the wool of roses, the clay stone, or
the nutrients inserted into the water. Add [1]; traditional agriculture requires a high quality at ground level with
natural minerals; it also relies on hard work to remove weeds and a large amount of water, reducing productivity.
Hence, hydroponics with control of temperature, humidity, water level, a controlled system with a microcontroller
kit connected with a wireless sensor network. Precise [2],70% of the population will live in urban areas; there is an
estimation to the year 2050.to ensure a healthy population, with the fresh produce and more criterion in
transportation and storage, ensure not losing quality and nutrition values of plants.

1.2. Aquaponic farming

Aquaponics a new solution to the most critical problem in the world, food’s demand. The increasing number of
habitants needs nontraditional farming for food security and sustainability. The aquaponic solution is a junction
between hydroponics and aquaculture to generate both fish and plants and produce organic food. In this system, the
nutrients produced by fish in aquarium farming are circulated to the plants to grow. This system most by controlled
to protect both plants and fish. For this objective, we use the Internet of Things (IoT) to controlling and monitoring
this environment, such as the perfect range of pH to protect plants (from root or damage) and all equipment utilized
in the Aquaponic system. However, it is not enough to have the ideal plant development.

2. Related works

2.1. Hydroponic farming

The hydroponic technique is one of the most popular agriculture techniques [3]. The hydroponic method is clean
and easy compare to the traditional method. According to [1], hydroponic is the miracle solution of growing plants
in all type of areas like arid deserts. It can help people explore urbanized land and the rapid rate of cities. Also,
space can be a good source of food because the conventional method needs such complex soil.
In India and like popular countries, agriculture is the heart of economic activity.[4] propose a fully automatic
hydroponic system in design and construct based on IoT technologies to improve productivity, profitability and
quality of greenhouse technology. Added a smart artificial light and IoT system by) [5] can involve the production
 Ibtissame Ezzahoui et al. / Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504 501
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 3

in the hydroponic system and optimize the plant’s monitoring. These technologies attested beneficial in the urban
areas with a real-time system. To achieve the high accuracy and low cost in the sensors used in the hydroponic
system, [6] proposed a signal device equipped with a ribbon cable to measure water level, electrical conductivity
(EC electrodes), and the temperature sensor. Also, CO2 concentration, [7] developed an Intelligent Plant Care
Hydroponic Box based on IoT with configurable software. The system is easy and quickly add/remove/exchange in
the sensors and actuators according to our needs.

Table 1:Comparative table of different hydroponics system.

REF Architectures Protocols Technologies Advantage Limit

[1] Hydroponic GSM -Arduino Uno R3. - Automation using different hardware Lack of
farming -Raspberry Pi 3 Model B components security.
- pH meter. No-
- Litmus paper. pHarmBot: to have a nutrient level and interoperable
- Electrical Conductivity Sensors. controlled pH architecture.
-BreadBoard Lack of
-Waterflow Sensor Counter Meter(1- hydroBot:To control the hydroponics temperature
60L/Min,DC 5-24V). system and humidity
- DC 12V Electric Solenoid Valve. . sensor.
- 620 GPH Submersible Pump.
- 2 Channel Relay Module Shield for
Arduino.
- Analog PH Meter Kit.
- 12V DC Peristaltic Dosing Pump.

[4] Hydroponic GSM -Arduino Uno Atmega 328 -automated the hydroponic farm -Very
farming microcontroller. -the system uses pH and EC of expensive cost
-Solar Panel. nutrient. in the
-Battery rating is 12V DC with 1A. -check the values of pH and EC beginning.
-LM35 Air temperature sensor. automatically and inform the user by -no security for
-DS18B20 Water temperature. GSM . the data
-LDR -limited the deplacement to the farm. collected and
-Water/Nutrient solution level sensor. -automated the maintain of pH and transmitted to
-pH sensor. EC. the farmer
-EC sensor. -using Solar panel to solve energy
-LCD: input problem.
-LED strip -using coolin fan if the temperature
-Fan for cooling. above the correct range.
-Motor for Water and nutrients supply -the oxygen pump for Aeration
-Arduino programming environment. problem
-Proteus 8.1. -Using LED strip for the low light in
-Eagle 5.7. winter season.
[5] Convetionnel Wireless -Arduino Mega 2560 -Simple and precise architecture. -Security
hydroponic sensor -NodeMCU -The integration of additional blue -no indication
with LED networks -2-channel relay module LEDs has a positive effect on growth, of the energy
(WSN) -Pump /-Camera/-Nutrient sensor. morphology and content. consumption
ESP8266 -Red and blue LED strips. -Real-time display and access through
WIFI -A metrological map the IoT system.
-LED lighting photoperiod
- (SHT15).
-ML8511 sensor for solar energy.
 502 Ibtissame Ezzahoui et al. / Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504
4 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000

[6] Hydroponic Wireless -ATMega328P Microprocessor - Low cost. The next step:
farming sensor module -Water level. -Efficiency of production of a single mobile
with Arduino -Electrical conductivity. vegetable in a large plant. terminal
-Temperature sensor -Photovoltaic production. software and
-TI TMP20. -A simple and economical module communication
tools

[7] Hydroponic Wi-Fi -Arduino Program (ATmega32u4) -Effectively develop control of

box -LED lighting different methods
-Water pump -Add, remove, modify easily.
-Server IoTalk -Modulate detection-response
-MCU Card (Arduino Yun) functions for the plant care system
-Temperature sensor.
-Humidity sensor.
-CO2 sensor, O2
-Water level sensor, Water filter

2.2. Aquaponic farming

The least 30 years ago, specific importance was accorded to aquaponic farming. The different nature of species
and their adaptation in the environment propose a considerable difficulty to the research in the academic sector and
the commercial. Several conditions exist to be harmony and equilibrium in the system, like biological and
physicochemical [8].
Basically, aquaponic farming is an alternative agricultural method. According to [9], this method referred to use
water, a specific quantity of fertilizers, to make the aquaponic system green and sustainable. Thorough research for
commercial solutions by clarifying the liaison between sensors and every parameter serves to supervise and
automate the system. Propose [10] a cloud-based IoT to measure the different parameters and upload the data
treatments to ThingSpeak™ through Wi-Fi. The benefit added by them is a real-time alarm system for indicating
abnormalities also a periodic regression analysis. The rapid urbanization in global countries over the low local food
and land scarcity like Indonesia, [11] propose a Smart Grorwbox; their objective is optimizing the agricultural
product by applying the various technologies the system can be work into modes automatic and manual. In another
research [12], with a smartphone mobile application applied by using the Internet of Things (IoT), the farmer can
control the level of ammonia, temperature, pH and nutrients. For the home environment [13], propose an innovative
and sustainable system, including various sensors and actuators and a microcontroller with internet connectivity to
monitor and control all systems. The mobile application is created with Blynk, which is an IoT platform for
hardware control and data analysis.

Table 2:Comparative table of different aquaponics system

REF Architectures Protocols Technologies Advantage Limit

[9] Introduction of GSM -pH / -Water T / -Water Level -create a bridge between No introduction in
fully and semi- biological and electrical the security system.
Cloud servers -Dissolved Oxygen
automated engineering knowledge.
system. -Electro-Conductivity
-Propose a technical knowledge
Based sensors, -Total Dissolved about automation, IoT and smart
smart -Water Hardness /-Alkalinity system.
approaches and -The biological processes in the
IoT technology. -Total Ammonia-Nitrogen
aquaponic system.
-Nitrites / -Flow /- CO2
-Accelerate the contribution in
 Ibtissame Ezzahoui et al. / Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504 503
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 5

-Relative Humidity the commercial aquaponic

solution.
-Light Intensity/-Moisture.
-Raspberry Pi / Arduino
[10] A cloud-based Wi-Fi Module -IR sensor (GP2Y0A02YK) -Measure the fish activity with -Security
Internet of (ESP8266) the infrared distance sensor.
-DO (SEN0237-A) -no indication of
things
UART module -low-cost materials the energy
monitoring -pH. (SEN0169)
consumption
system Commercial cloud-based IoT:
- MSP430G2553
ThingSpeak™
-I²C (BME280 sensors)
Regression analysis / Real-time
cloud platform /ThingSpeak™
Reduce complexity and cost
Informe users with Twitter.
[11] Smart Ethernet Arduino with -Relative humidity Two testing mode: -Security /-Energy
aquaponic server
-digital temperature and - Automatic mode -Cost
Based on IoT humidity (DHT 22) - Manual mode -In manual control
(Smart internet -Soil Moisture Sensor FC-28 Minimize the human intervention response speed
Grorwbox) control depends on
-LED Growlight
network traffic and
-Android platform (App conditions
Inventor) using model-based
programming Block (Software -Experiments in
laboratories and
Block-Base Programming
don’t have idee in
Tool)
commercial
[12] The IoT to Wireless NRF24L01 -microcontroller: central -Reduce human intervention -No detail about
controlling and processing unit (CPU) security system
-More organization in the farm
monitoring the -Water level sensor - No energy
NFT aquaponic HTTP Protocol -the NFC Aquaponic are device
-Temperature sensor on source node with each source consumption
(DS18B20) have an id. - Test about
vegetable quality
-pH sensor -mobile application with real-time
only
information
-ammonia Gaz sensor (MQ-
-fish products are
137) -the possibility to configuring the
parameters not discussed
-peristaltic motor servo motor
-visualization history of data
-aquaponic coolant and heater
sensing
-KOH control motor
-Automatic control of the
-H3PO4 control motor component’s parameter with
-Atmega 328 microcontroller mobile application
integrated into Arduino nano -small error results in the
board connected serially with proposed device.
nrf24l01
-the proposed NFT aquaponic are
-Mobile application: better compare to NFT
-Based on android operation Hydroponic.
system
[13] Smart and Wireless Wi-Fi -DS18B20 waterproof digital -Automatic fish feeder/-real-time -Problem in the
sustainable NodeMCU Wi-Fi temperature sensor -Mobile application to control water reservoir if is
aquaponic for module low
-pH sensor hardware and data analysis
home based on
-Power
IoT -EC sensor/-DO sensor -Notification if any system
consumption
Port forwarding abnormality is detected.
- DHT11 temperature and
-No regular
humidity sensor - Linear regression analysis, for
predicate the growth of fish and determination for
-Arduino Mega 2560 healthiness of fish
plant
Mobile application: and plants

Using Blynk / JavaScript.

504 Ibtissame Ezzahoui et al. / Procedia Computer Science 191 (2021) 499–504
6 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000

3. Discussion

After this organization of all information about both architectures, we can determine the perfect architecture for
our future project, which is the Aquaponic system. This choice is after a comparative study between the two
architectures. Firstly, the hydroponic system is included in the aquaponic system, so the aquaponic architecture is
most global. We have more advantages in this method, such as generating fish and plants and producing organic
food. In this paper, all for solution implements sensors, actuators and more IoT devices to controlling and
monitoring their environment, but not all with the same materials that generally implies most diversity in the
agricultural sector but also problems in energy/power consumption, security of data collected by the system, the cost
for the elaboration of the architecture, interoperability of the system and quality of food (healthy food or not).

4. Conclusion and perspective:

This paper presents the details about the hydroponic and aquaponic systems; all solutions proposed implement
sensors, actuators, and more IoT devices to control and monitor the environment. Our objective is to define a smart
aquaponic architecture based on IoT technologies. Also, we propose diagrams and schemas to visualize the system
and give more details to establish the physical architecture in future. In order to propose a system of prediction using
Machine Learning Algorithms, his objective is to collect data from the IoT devices and analyses them.
However, it is not enough to have the ideal plant development; we propose implementing a depth camera
module in the system proposed and a mobile application to maintain the ecological balance of the environment.
With the artificial intelligence presented by machine learning technology, we can compare the growth condition and
the environment information to converge to the optimal environment, reduce human intervention, and improve real-
time data exchange.

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