Food is just one of those things that we need to survive. Plants can grow on their own without human intervention but the quantity and quality of the crop will vary from year to year. Even elaborate farms can have good and bad years due to variables such as weather, disease, bugs, pollution and soil condition.
There is a system called Aquaponics that attempts to control those variables. Aquaponics combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals) with hydroponics (growing plants in water). The Aquaponic system tries to emulate what happens in nature without the variation; water-based animals eat plants and excrete waste and that waste is used as food for plants.
[Kijani Grows] has built an Aquaponic setup and added a smart controller that is made out a bunch of stuff you would not normally associate with a garden. Their are several sensors in the system that measure water flow, tank level, water quality and dissolved oxygen. An Arduino monitors these sensors and reports the information back to a $20 router running OpenWRT. All of the recorded data is also stored for review later. Software on the router determines what needs to be adjusted in the enclosed ecosystem. The router communicates this information back to the Arduino which in turn controls the water pumps, heaters, fish feeder and lighting. And as if that wasn’t enough, the control system can be set up to send out messages via email, SMS or social media.
Chakula ni mojawapo ya vitu ambavyo tunahitaji ili tuishi. Mimea inaweza kukua yenyewe bila uingiliaji wa binadamu lakini wingi na ubora wa mazao yatatofautiana kutoka mwaka hadi mwaka. Hata mashamba ya hali ya juu yanaweza kuwa na miaka nzuri na mbaya kutokana na vigezo kama vile hali ya hewa, magonjwa, wadudu, uchafuzi na hali ya udongo. Kuna mfumo unaoitwa Aquaponics ambao hujaribu kudhibiti vigezo hivyo. Aquaponics inachanganya aquaculture (kufuga wanyama wa majini) na hydroponics (kuzalisha mimea katika maji). Aquaponics ni mbinu ya kuiga mazingira ya asili, ambayo ni ya asili ya wanyama, ambayo huondoa taka na kuzalisha mimea. "Kijani Grows imeanzisha ""kuanzisha aquaponics"" na kuongeza kidhibiti cha akili ambacho ni pamoja na mambo mengi ambayo kwa kawaida huwezi kuhusisha na bustani." Vifaa vyao ni sensorer kadhaa katika mfumo ambao kupima mtiririko wa maji, kiwango cha tank, ubora wa maji na oksijeni iliyomwagika. Arduino inaweka data kwenye sensorer na kurudisha habari kwa router ya $ 20 inayoendesha OpenWRT. Takwimu zote zilizorekodiwa pia huhifadhiwa kwa ajili ya ukaguzi baadaye. Programu kwenye router huamua nini kinachohitaji kurekebishwa katika mazingira yaliyofungwa. Router inatoa taarifa hii nyuma kwa Arduino ambayo kwa upande udhibiti pampu za maji, heaters, samaki feeder na taa. Na kama kwamba haitoshi, mfumo wa kudhibiti unaweza kuanzishwa kutuma ujumbe kupitia barua pepe, SMS au vyombo vya habari vya kijamii.