BANDUNG, Telkom University – A team of students and lecturers of the D3 Telecommunication Technology Study Program, School of Applied Sciences from Telkom University created an innovation, namely Vertical Hydroponics. The team, consisting of Kristian Noprianto, Muhammad Fajar Nugroho Alam, Peter Andresen Tarigan Tua and guided by lecturer Rohmat Tulloh, S.T., M.T., made vertical hydroponics embedded with IoT technology so that it would make it easier for users.
Kristian Noprianto, the team leader, explained that generally hydroponic pipes are arranged horizontally, while in verticulture hydroponics they are placed vertically and planting holes will be made to place plants.
“There are several features that we have embedded, including being able to provide nutritional water or AB Mix, being able to adjust pH, being able to fill water for hydroponics, and users being able to drain the hydroponic tub when it is cloudy through the dashboard. Everything is automatic,” explained Kristian.
In this innovation, users can easily monitor hydroponic conditions because the dashboard created can be accessed via gadgets. On the dashboard, data will be presented, including the level of nutrient water concentration (AB Mix), water pH level, water temperature, water turbidity level, and water volume in hydroponic tubs and pH buffer tanks.
Kristian and his team saw an opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic to invite people to maintain their food supply independently through hydroponics because farming requires a large area of ??land, so this vertical hydroponic innovation can be used to utilize the limited land in their homes.
“The tools we created are intended for household users. By using vertical hydroponics, it is hoped that users can take advantage of limited land for agricultural land. We also hope that the embedded IoT technology can help users who are both new and expert in doing cultivation using hydroponics.”
The workings of the tool itself are quite easy, the user only prepares a pH buffer solution and AB Mix, each of which is inserted into a place that has been provided and then connected to a power supply. For the cultivation process depending on the seeds planted, the seeding process is still carried out outside the tool. When it has passed the seeding period, the plants can be transferred to vertical hydroponics. Currently, the tools made are still limited to spinach cultivation and in the future, further, development can be carried out so that users can choose the plants they want to plant.
“In the future, we hope that the research can be continued, there is still room for development such as being able to choose the type of plant and adding algorithms to determine the optimal harvest time.”