Creating a Digital Twin for a Hydroponic Green Fodder System to Evaluate an Improved Airflow Configuration

Smart Cities is a research domain that focuses on achieving sustainable development amidst population growth. One key facet within the realm of smart city research is the exploration of smart sustainable farming. A facet of smart farming aims to address the challenges of land scarcity or arid and semiarid zones and smart urban farming. A research domain of smart farming research is enhancing animal feeding and nutrition in arid and semi-arid zones that could also be aimed towards urban farming. Smart farming technology that addresses challenges is hydroponic green fodder systems. Hydroponic green fodder is an efficient and economical alternative to obtain food for livestock using a small footprint and is not climate dependent. Hydroponic green fodder systems are typically greenhouse feedlot systems that grow plants without soil but in nutrient-rich solutions. These systems have continued production throughout the year. This paper demonstrates the implementation and assessment of a digital airflow twin, derived from a real-world hydroponic green fodder system. The system in question consists of a 24-meter square and produces 750kg of barley sprouts a day that could feed either 375 sheep/goats or 75 cattle in a pen or enclosure. The efficiency of airflow within the hydroponic green fodder system significantly impacts crop yield. To enhance this efficiency, a digital twin could be a valuable tool, enabling timely and costeffective optimization strategies. Two configurations are evaluated one standard, and one improved design as implemented. The digital twin can be used to monitor the Cyber-physical system and has already shown an improvement to the system. The results are analyzed to what was observed from the real-world setup, and recommendations and discussions also highlight the benefits of using digital twins.