1 Lab Platform Name

Smart agriculture test bed

2 Initiating Institute

Intel (China) Co., Ltd.

3 Partners

Yunjian (Tianjin) IoT Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Yi Hua Lian Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Lu Yuan Yong Le Co., Ltd.

4 Overview and Objectives

China's huge population means that land resources are in short supply. Therefore, the successful development of China's agriculture industry in the future requires that technology is used to improve resource utilization and labor productivity, and also that the primary and secondary agricultural resources are sufficient. In addition, with the development of China's economy and the improvement of the market landscape, the secure, eco-friendly, organic, high-quality, and highly valuable agriculture will have an increasingly large market space.

Currently, various high-value agricultural plants are flourishing, such as mushrooms, red pears, seedless pears, seedless pomegranates, horned melon, common guajava, and Dendrobium. In the mushroom cultivation market, for example, industry experts claim the total production value in 2016 was greater than 200 billion Chinese yuan. In mushroom cultivation, the temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, and illumination are crucial for mushroom growth, and precise control is required. An intelligent growth control system does not just mean that the air conditioner is switched on in hot environments or heating is switched on in cold environments. When fans are started to reduce the CO2 concentration, the hot air will be led into the greenhouse in summer, and cool air will flow into the greenhouse in winter. How does the system calculate the changes caused by multiple factors? How does the system calculate the intensity required of cooling or heating so that the target temperature can be reached quickly and the oscillating curve can be reduced? How does the system calculate the proportion of fresh air to internal air? How does the system calculate the impact of outdoor temperature in summer on control parameters? To answer these questions, you need to run a smart mushroom growth environment control program on the gateway.

The control algorithm is not developed by experts in computer technology. Instead, it is developed by experts in mushroom cultivation, who need a simple development environment. The Intel Device Resource Management Library (gateway application software development package) enables partners to quickly develop industry applications without having to manage various types of devices. The control algorithm is continuously optimized. Customers can use the remote application management system to update the improved algorithm to running devices at a low cost.

When mushroom growth data is continuously collected and stored on the cloud, important objectives of the test bed include effectively leveraging Big Data technologies to overcome limitations on manual experiences, continuously improving growth control parameters, and improving the production quality. Big Data brings the following business opportunities to mushroom production enterprises:

· Continuously improves energy saving.

· Continuously improves the production process and parameters.

· Improves the production quality and yield.

· Supports product source tracing, builds brand image, and increases customer trust.

5 Deployment Solution

Each mushroom growth workshop is equipped with one Intel® Atom gateway, which integrates the edge computing capability of the Intel platform with the Intel Device Resource Management Library. The gateway provides the following functions: 

· Connects to the cloud platform through Wi-Fi or 3G.

· Connects to industrial sensors through Modbus.

· Connects to various environment parameter sensors, switch sensors, and switches in low power consumption mode and wireless mode.

The gateway can connect to the cloud integrated management platform, mobile phone app, and Lora-based long-distance wireless sensors and control devices.

6 Solution Benefits

(1) Excellent and comprehensive scalability

· System deployment: smooth expansion from a single point to the entire plant, and then to the entire campus

· Software application development: smooth upgrade from data collection and display to advanced intelligent control

· Investment in new devices: seamless interconnection to meet customers' upgrade requirements

(2) Multiple deployment scenarios: seamless integration with multiple physical networks to quickly respond to requirements

(3) Increase in yield and revenue through Big Data analytics

· The cloud or gateway integrates the planning application to accurately control growth parameters in the preset curve.

· A large amount of data is accumulated on the platform, so the parameter curve can be improved based on Big Data analytics to continuously increase the yield and revenue.

(4) Good cost control

· In each room, all components use wireless connections, without cabling.

· Most gateways and terminal components can be purchased.

· The system scalability greatly reduces the cost of adapting to future requirement changes.