EPICS Expo is an intimate, invitation-only event to showcase student-led, technological solutions-based projects, designed from the engineering labs of San José State University (SJSU) and Santa Clara University (SCU).

Our team has been selected to receive a grant from IEEE and we will be one of the presenting teams at tomorrow’s 2019 Silicon Valley IEEE-EPICS Expo. We will also be having a poster session where we will be seeking design feedback on our project. We are looking forward to receiving feedback and continue our journey through the project.

We presented a design process update to the Bio Lab Studio Staff  at the Tech museum in San Jose, CA on February 7th 2019 for final design approval. Tech Museum Presentation

Image1: Approved design for SMART aquaponics system

Sustaining life

In order to sustain life on the system the team will be installing grow lights to help plants grow. The water tank on the middle of the system will hold a mixture of Glofish and Sucker fish.

Image2: Glofish and Suckerfish

IoT sensors and interactive exhibition

One of the most important aspects of this project is to demonstrate, through collected data, that it is possible to grow plants through a self-sustaining system. Furthermore, our exhibition must show the general audience of the Tech technical data in an interactive and intuitive manner, to accomplish this task the team leverages the Kijanigrows microcontroller to upload and display the current state of the aquaponics system in real time. The image below shows the average light and temperature collected over a span of 2 days.

Image3: Web application showing recorded data. 

https://api.kijanigrows.com/app/#/trends/TechAquaponics/

Image4: Kijanigrows Microcontroller used to collect and upload data

The team is finalizing on the design for the shelves. This new design differs from old design in that the frame has to be built solid to hold the aquarium and the plant beds. Keeping all of that in mind, we came up with the following design below. The metal frames with wooden planks for base and retractable plant beds will be easy to maintain and hold good for a long period of time. The retractable beds will offer the staff members at The Tech Museum a convenient way to access the plants without them having to tamper with the shelving structure too much. The new design is a near final design that will be reviewed by our community partner at The Tech Museum.

The group has decided to use a micro-controller designed by Kijani Grows. This linux/arduino controller platform allows the user to detect and respond to physical environments remotely. The controller is a smart IoT board with hardware and software features that makes it suitable for critical and industrial graded supervisory applications such as smart aquaponics.

The connections for the controller to the relay module and connectors to sensors is shown in the schematic below.

The decision to use this specific micro-controller was made after the team took a trip to Kijani Grows’ Farm in Oakland. We saw that this was the board they recommended and used in their own farms.

The team has updated the model of the shelves. The idea of the design is to have the aquarium at eye level so the lights cannot hurt small children that will be looking at the system. The tank cannot be at ground level since adults would not be able to see the fish properly. Therefore, we have added a bottom shelf that will house succulents, which will require little maintenance and make the overall display more attractive for visitors. The upper shelves will still hold the plants that the Tech Museum wishes to use for research.