Wireless Greenhouse Monitoring and Control

CAS DataLoggers Provides the Intelligent Automated Solution

A fruit crop experiment station needed to remotely monitor and control its climate systems in a number of greenhouses.  The proposed system needed to monitor soil moisture content and temperature and actively control irrigation and airflow by opening and closing windows to ensure that the appropriate temperature was constantly maintained.  Full automation was required to minimize the manual workload, up to the point where data collection had to be automated. The customer contacted CAS DataLoggers to find a wireless network-capable system which needed to include the ability to control relays and solenoids, large data storage, and perform automated data download.        

4 dataTaker DT80 Intelligent Data Loggers were used to monitor and control the customer’s 4 respective greenhouses.  Each logger was connected to several environmental sensors including soil water content, temperature and humidity.  The loggers also preformed calculations internally, which algorithmically determined whether to open or close the greenhouse windows for temperature control and when to drive the solenoid valve for irrigation. Each data logger took several measurements every 15 minutes and sent its data to wireless computers while also controlling the ventilation system via the same wireless link.

Each DT80 was connected to a wireless LAN module/access point, which provided wireless network access to data and control systems.  All data, both current and historical, was accessible by a main computer connected to the same computer network. Live data from each greenhouse was visible via the DT80’s internal web server, whereas historical data had been scheduled to automatically download to the computer at regular intervals. It was also possible to control each greenhouse from the main computer using the included dataTaker software enabling configuration, real-time data viewing, trend/table generation and analysis. This built-in software ran directly from a web browser and could be accessed locally or remotely, anywhere that a TCP/IP connection was available including globally over the Internet.

The dataTakers’ rugged design and construction protected them despite the greenhouses’ high humidity and heat, providing reliable low-power operation. A cost effective model expandable to 100 channels, 200 isolated or 300 single-ended analog inputs, the DT80 also featured digital channels for connection to most sensors and data measurement sources. Each data logger also included USB memory stick support for easy data and program transfer and could also store as many as 10 million data points in its user-defined memory, offering independent control of schedule size and mode so that users could log only as long as needed.

Using the dataTaker DT80 data loggers, the customer was able to wirelessly monitor the 4 greenhouses while simultaneously controlling their ventilation, demonstrating how these systems could be used for both monitoring and control via a wireless network. This solution also proved to be more affordable than purchasing several differing systems, all with incompatible software.