Greenhouse Monitoring with Wireless Sensor Network

In modern greenhouses, several measurement points are required to trace down the local climate parameters in different parts of the big greenhouse to make the greenhouse automation system work properly. Cabling would make the measurement system expensive and vulnerable. Moreover, the cabled measurement points are difficult to relocate once they are installed. Thus, a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consisting of small-size wireless sensor nodes equipped with radio and one or several sensors, is an attractive and cost-efficient option to build the required measurement system. In this work, we developed a wireless sensor node for greenhouse monitoring by integrating a sensor platform provided by Sensinode Ltd. [1] with three commercial sensors capable to measure four climate variables. The feasibility of the developed node was tested by deploying a simple sensor network into Martens Greenhouse Research Foundation's greenhouse in Narpio town in Western Finland. During a one day experiment, we collected data to evaluate the network reliability and its ability to detect the microclimate layers, which typically exist in the greenhouse between lower and upper flora. We were also able to show that the network can detect the local differences in the greenhouse climate caused by various disturbances, such as direct sunshine near the greenhouse walls. This article is our first step in the area of greenhouse monitoring and control, and it is all about the developed sensor network feasibility and reliability. Data analysis, control solutions and more complex network setups will be left to be the main directions of our future work.