ACSE (automatic canopy space expander): Automatic spacing system based on increasing plant canopy area on hydroponics for space efficiency. Issue 1 (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jaenuri, A; Hafizh, M; Primatama, S; Nugroho, A P; Masithoh, R E
• Is Part Of: IOP conference series. Volume 733:Issue 1(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: Earth sciences -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Congresses; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 550.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/733/1/012024
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-1307

Abstract

Abstract: Hydroponics is a solution to increase the amount of productivity of crops to offset the growing population growth in Indonesia. In hydroponics, the NFT system which is currently widely applied in industrial scale gardens uses a gully with a planting hole that has been set and is static. This is still inefficient in the use of space because there is still space left between the two plants when the plant canopy has not reached the end of the growth phase. Besides, farmers also need more energy to move plants from one gully to another when the canopy of plants has covered each other. To overcome this problem, an automatic spacer system is necessary. The objective of this study was to design an automatic canopy space expander based on increasing plant canopy area. The system is composed of a camera, motor driver, stepper motor, and helix conveyor. When the system detects overlapping canopies, the plant's net pot will be shifted using a helix conveyor. The overlapping can be detected when the proportion of the width and height of the rectangle box that surrounding the canopy area is greater than 1: 1 with tolerance value ±0, 2. The results of this study indicate that overlapping plant canopies can be detected through the filtering process and the calculation of the proportion of width and height of the rectangle box that covers the canopy area. The model of the ACSE system can increase the amount of crop productivity by not leaving any free space between the canopy but still keeping it from overlapping to pay attention to the level of competition of plants in getting sunlight.