Environmental Monitoring and Control of Vertical Farming Installation

Vertical farming is a relatively young but rapidly growing industry that is believed to be a solution to meeting growing food demands, the ever-decreasing availability of arable land, and unpredictable climate conditions.

 

Application

Vertical farming is an agricultural method that enables plants to be grown in vertical, controlled environments. Rather than growing flat on the ground using horizontal roots, vertical farming encourages plant roots to grow vertically. This allows plant propagation and growth to be managed closer together than in traditional greenhouses. These factors enable a more compact farm with increased production output per square foot. 

Challenges

Aeroponics and hydroponics are enabling technologies for vertical farming. Aeroponics is a plant cultivation technique in which the roots hang suspended in the air while a nutrient-rich solution is delivered to them in the form of a fine mist. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in a medium, such as sand, gravel, or liquid with added nutrients, but without soil. Both require monitoring and control to ensure that the correct levels of nutrients are reaching each plant. Some of the environmental factors that affect vertical farmers include temperature, lighting, and humidity. An imbalance in any of these factors can lead to a loss of product and profitability.

The challenge for this end-user customer was the lack of a method to gather and monitor the necessary data efficiently. This end-user relied on operators to periodically monitor the vertical farming environment and respond to alerts if any parameter deviated from the desired conditions. However, the inability to quickly respond to an anomaly resulted in damaged crops and wasted costly resources.

Yokogawa was called upon to help this end-user collect and view the data necessary to reduce resource waste and provide confidence in the health and predictability of the crops.

Solution

Yokogawa partnered with the vertical farming end-user and determined that, based on the number of data points to be managed and the diverse types of measurement required, this was an ideal application for supervisory monitoring and control solutions.

A combination of IoT sensors, including the Yokogawa Sushi sensor and third-party sensors, was installed to gather real-time data on temperature, light, nutrient levels, and humidity. That data is now collected by a supervisory monitoring and control system, STARDOM, which holds the parameters for each measurement and enables operators to make changes instantaneously to keep parameters within their appropriate ranges. The deployment of Yokogawa’s CI Server allows remote access for operation owners to view their assets and understand their overall production status within a single, consolidated user environment.

Key Advantages

Sushi Sensor

• Long-lasting battery life up to four years (based on a one-hour refresh rate)
• Easy configuration with an Android smartphone
• IP66/ 67 rated with FM Approval

STARDOM

• Hot swap modules and live battery replacement
• PC-less maintenance via SD card
• Online download & maintenance

CI SERVER

• Systems, equipment, and devices can be integrated across multiple facilities