IoT Based realtime fish pond water quality monitoring model
Date
2019
Authors
Obado, Steve Agono
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Fish farming contributes significantly to food security in developing countries throughout the world. It supplements income and is a source of protein in majority of rural and urban homes. Fish farmers however, are faced with numerous challenges during the production period and key among them is the monitoring and management of the production resources. Water is the main resource in the fish farming process. The lack of effective monitoring of water quality and timely intervention in instances where there are changes in the quality aspects such as temperature and water levels, has led to resource wastages and losses to the farmer due to low production. However, in Kenya most fish farmers are yet to adopt technology in their production processes. Most farmers rely on their experience when it comes to making decisions in control actions; which most of the time are susceptible to errors due to the complexities involved. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) is opening various ways in which farmers can rare fish by simply installing inexpensive sensors which are able to communicate with smartphones and provide a means of monitoring and managing the fish ponds.
This research proposes a solution which is a real time fish pond water quality monitoring model which utilizes a smartphone that shall be adopted by the farmers. The model utilizes IoT concept which enables information gathering about water quality through the corresponding sensors. The status of the water quality aspects shall then be relayed on a real time basis through a cloud platform via a microprocessor to a graphical user interface (GUI) on the farmer’s smartphone. The farmer can then act as per the information relayed or the model can automatically act on behalf of the farmer as per the predefined actions. The data gathered by the model can be extracted in various forms for analysis. The real time information shall enable timely intervention by the farmers which eventually helps minimizing or eliminate wastages. A rapid prototyping methodology was used where the requirements of the system were gathered and the components designed and tested throughout the process.
Description
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) at Strathmore University
Keywords
IoT, Fish pond, Water quality monitoring model