Team 22

Aeroponic Growth Chamber

Team:

• Daniel Wright – CprE/EE

• Chris Reeve – CprE

• Mohammed Rahim – EE

• Zach Davis – CprE

Advisor/Client:

• Professor Tim Bigelow

Project Goal & Concept Scetch

A simple and affordable aeroponic plant

growth chamber to study the effect of sound

on plant healing and growth.

System Block Diagram

Model

Functional Requirements

Light radiation in the Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) spectrum (400 to 700 nm).

Air velocity between 0.3 and 0.7 m/s.

Optimum chamber temperature of 68F during light hours, and 77F during dark hours.

Use Hoagland solution Type I.

The pH should be maintained between 5.5-6.5.

Capability to administer sound (noise).

Sound level 90-100 dB.

Frequencies in the 1-16 kHz octave bands.

Capability to control and monitor various environmental parameters from a remote server.

Radiation (Light)

Temperature

Air velocity

Watering

Sound

Non-functional Requirements

Monitor, measure, and report the following parameters as required by NCERA-101:

Atmospheric moisture inside the chamber (Relative Humidity (RH))

pH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution

Substrate (air)

Chamber properties: Specifications (floor area, dimensions)

Barrier beneath lamps (whether present and its composition)

Air flow (whether up, down or horizontal)

To build a web interface to monitor and control various physical parameters.

Assumptions and Considerations

Humidity sensor accuracy of ±3%

Chamber ventilation of two air exchanges per hour

The roots of the plants should be kept in the dark

Air temperature, CO2 and relative humidity need to

be measured at the top of the plant canopy

A second “control” chamber would be desirable for

research, however the available budget is not

sufficient to build two chambers.

Market Survey

Current market solutions for plant growth chambers

are very expensive, upwards of $10,000.

Our solution will be used primarily for research, but

has the potential to be used in high schools as a

learning tool for both plant growth and for

engineering/programming.

Risks

1. Some of the existing components may not work

Resolution:

Allot money for this purpose only

Find more sources for money

2. Exceeding the project budget

Resolution:

Use wired server link rather than wireless

Build only one chamber instead of two

Cost

Item Cost

Sensors $40.00

Microcontroller $15.00

Microcontroller Board $20.00

Wireless adapters $75.00

Chamber Parts $100.00

Chemicals $50.00

Speaker $30.00

Power Supply $20.00

Total $350.00

Labor ($20/hour) $13,600.00

Fictional Cost $13,950.00

Real Cost $350.00

Schedule

Project Plan Design Implement Test Total

Chris Reeve 10 30 100 30 170

Zachary Davis 10 30 100 30 170

Mohammed

Rahim

10 30 100 30 170

Daniel Wright 10 30 100 30 170

System Decomposition

Microcontroller

Pump

Light

Sound

Heating Coil

Depth Gauge

Temperature

CO2

Humidity

Python server application

Communicates between user interface and microcontroller

Handles settings and periodic tasks

User Interface

Web application to view data and change chamber settings

Server application to change settings

Microcontroller State Diagram

Central Server Program

Web UI Specifications

Web app using ASP.NET AJAX and VB.NET in VS 2010

Master page will handle common items

Home/Welcome page as index

Data page for graphical presentation of gathered data

Alerts page to notify users of problems

Settings page with controls to view and set any modifiable chamber settings

Administrator page for user account operations and for the viewing of past settings changes

Server UI Specifications

Windows Forms app using VB.NET in VS 2010

Very minimal and simplistic

Successful login shows Settings view where any

modifiable chamber settings can be viewed and

changed

Users view to allow administrator to view, add,

modify, and remove user accounts

Users view can be seen by administrator accounts

only

Microcontroller Testing

Sound Generator

Expected Result Actual Result Tester Fix Needed Pass/Fail

Frequency selected.

Frequency played at set volume.

Daniel

Random # generated for frequency.

Random # is in the set bounds and changed at set interval.

Daniel

Test Completed on:

Central Server Program Testing

Build and test individual modules

Serial communication

Socket server

Task scheduler

Write „dummy‟ front-end to test with

Write „dummy‟ program to run on microcontroller

User Interface Testing

Web interface is very easy and straightforward to

test. Just need to make sure pages and controls

look and function like they are supposed to.

A dummy database will be made so that the tester

can see exactly what the web app is doing.

A dummy Python app will be made to print out the

commands that it gets from either of the UI‟s to

make sure it is getting what we expect it to.

Sound Design

Sound Generation

PWM Signal Fourier Transform

Implementation

Implementation

Individual Contributions

Zach Davis

Built chamber

Designed central server program

Sound generation

Mohammed Rahim

Specifications

Technical drawings

Research

Chris Reeve

Team leader

Front ends design

Research

Daniel Wright

Researched and ordered parts

Sound system design

Microcontroller research

Plan for Next Semester

Finalize sound design

Low-pass filter and amplifier design

Signal generation algorithm

Assemble electrical components

Write software

Grow plants

Testing

Questions?