A Laboratory Aquaponics System via PLC and LabVIEW

In this paper, a laboratory aquaponics system, which is developed to teach undergraduate students at Dalian Ocean University, Liaoning, China, some of the issues regarding aquaponics based on PLC and LabVIEW, is discussed. In this aquaponics system, in order to maintain the ecological balance of water body, Siemens S7-1500 PLC is used to realize data acquisition and automatic control of various sensors and execution devices. LabVIEW programming is used to develop a friendly human-machine interface to realize data display, storage, query and analysis. Finally, the real-time data exchange is completed through OPC communication technology, and the monitoring of the aquaponics system is realized. Experience in using this system in undergraduate teaching indicates that it supports learning of PLC and LabVIEW related courses and it also in line with the marine fisheries characteristics of our school.