Remote Humidity and Temperature Real-Time Monitoring System for the Study of the After-Ripening Process in Seeds
Thiruparan Balachandran, Saleh Sbenaty, Jeffrey L. Walck · 2020
Abstract REMOTE HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE REAL-TIME MONITORING SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF THE AFTER-RIPENING PROCESS IN SEEDSThe current paper discusses the design, prototyping, and testing of a remote monitoring systemthat is used to study seed germination under various controlled conditions. The research willhelp biologists in determining the optimal conditions for after-ripening in seeds, which arenecessary for successful seed storage and germination. Seed biology is an important branch ofplant science. Many seed germination experiments are carried out under controlledenvironmental conditions and seed scientists have experienced difficulties to maintain andmonitor relative humidity inside closed containers. The common practice is the use of super-saturated solutions of different chemicals to provide relative humidity measurements. However,these super-saturated solutions are not accurate and require continuous (manual) checking by theresearcher. The current paper will discuss the development of a remote monitoring system thatcan be used to accurately monitor and measure the relative humidity and temperature of theclosed containers used for after-ripening. What makes this task especially challenging is that theclosed containers are housed in an incubator that maintains a desired temperature. The incubatoris not permeable to Wi-Fi signals required for the proper communication with the monitoringsystem.The system under discussion allows the monitoring the relative humidity and temperature of five(can be expandable to more than five) different closed containers remotely and in real time. Thesystem functions as a server that is connected to Internet using Wi-Fi technology. When a clientrequests for data, the system will read the sensor values and pass them wirelessly to the client(s).A client can see these data on a web browser and will be able to study and plot the data. A timeand date stamp is provided with each measurement. Application-specific software is created toimplement data logging and facilitate data transfer into Microsoft Excel for further analysis.The system uses multiple sensors, a microcontroller, and a Wi-Fi module. SHT 75 fromSensirion is used to sense the relative humidity and temperature. This sensor is factory calibrated.Its RH response time is 8 sec, power consumption is 80 μW, and has an operating range from -40to +125 °C and from 0 to 100% RH for temperature and relative humidity, respectively. Theprocessor used is an Ardunio microcontroller that has an AVR 8-bit 2 microcontroller on it. Thisdevice is connected to Internet using Microchip MRF24WB0MA Wi-Fi module using IEEE Std.802.11b/g/n wireless networks protocol. Figure 1 illustrates the basic block diagram of thesystem. The full paper will provide complete details of the system and results. The research isbeing performed through collaborative efforts between the Engineering Technology and BiologyDepartments at _______ . SHT 75 1 SHT 75 2 Wi-Fi Microcontroller Shield Board MUX SHT 75 3 SHT 75 5 Figure 1 Block diagram of the system