Automated Hydroponics System

Automated Hydroponics System – IoT Monitoring for Smarter Urban Farming

Challenge

Hydroponic farming requires maintaining precise water conditions—pH balance, nutrient concentration, and water levels must stay within strict ranges for plants to thrive. Most small-scale growers rely on manual checks, which are time-consuming, inconsistent, and often lead to unnoticed fluctuations that harm plant health. There was a clear need for an affordable, real-time monitoring system that could simplify hydroponics management without requiring specialized expertise.

Our Solution

We designed and built a fully automated IoT-based hydroponics monitoring system using ESP32 nodes and a Raspberry Pi LAMP server.

• pH, TDS, and water-level sensors were used to continuously track the core health parameters of hydroponic tanks.
• The ESP32 collected sensor data and transmitted it wirelessly to the Raspberry Pi.
• A custom LAMP dashboard visualized data trends, highlighted abnormal values, and provided actionable insights that growers could use instantly.
• The system required no external dependencies, relying entirely on open-source hardware and software.

This self-developed prototype proved that reliable automation can be achieved with low-cost components while maintaining high accuracy and usability.

Impact

The system demonstrated how real-time IoT monitoring can drastically improve the efficiency and reliability of hydroponic setups. Growers no longer needed to manually test water conditions or guess when to adjust nutrient levels. Instead, they received a clear, data-driven view of their system’s health at any moment. This improved plant yield consistency, reduced the risk of unnoticed imbalance, and made hydroponic farming more accessible to newcomers.

Outcome

The project successfully delivered a working, end-to-end automated hydroponics monitoring solution. It highlighted the potential for scaling the system into larger installations, integrating automated nutrient dosing, and extending remote access capabilities. As an independent initiative, it showcased our ability to conceptualize, engineer, and deploy practical IoT solutions that support sustainable and modern farming practices.