IoT-Based Terrace Farming System for Cities

Food for cities is traditionally cultivated on a large scale on farmland then transported to the city where it is consumed. The COVID-19 pandemic has in some places disrupted transportation systems, resulting in severe food shortages in some metropolitan areas. Growing plants on a terrace or other sunny areas could provide urban residents with some portion of their food supply and reduce food transportation distance. In this paper, we propose a simple, low-cost, and durable Internet of Things (IoT)-based system for cultivating short-duration vegetables, flowers, and fruits on urban terraces with minimal user attention. The proposed system is capable of monitoring environmental parameters (temperature and humidity) and controlling soil elements such as soil moisture and soil nutrients. The system can be deployed with pre-existing Wi-Fi infrastructure in the farmer's home with or without an internet connection. The proposed terrace farming system is easy to install, scalable, robust in terms of data security, and developed on open-source platforms with cost-effective hardware components.