FPGA Implementation For Humidity and Temperature Remote Sensing System
FPGA Implementation For Humidity and Temperature Remote Sensing System
FPGA Implementation For Humidity and Temperature Remote Sensing System
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Wael Elmedany
University of Bahrain
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Abstract— This paper presents the hardware design and totypes and the design of complex hardware systems us
implementation of a remote sensing system for humidity and ing FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and Com
temperature in real time. The design based on using FPGA plex Programmable Logic Devices [47]. Realtime moni
(Field Programmable Gate Array) for the hardware imple toring provides reliable, timely information of crop and
mentation of the controller circuit and GSM (Global System soil status, important in taking decisions for crop produc
for Mobile) for remote monitoring. The controller circuit
tion improvement [811]. Evaluation of agricultural pro
has been described using VHDL (VHSIC Hardware De
scription Language). The design has been simulated using duction systems is a time consuming and difficult process
ModelSim from Model Technology and implemented using because it means performing visits to selected crop fields
Xilinx ISE 6.2i software tools. FPGA Spartan 3E starter kit to be able to measure and register certain physical,
from Digilent has been used for the hardware implementa chemical and biological characteristics of the cultivated
tion of the controller circuit. The system offers low cost and areas [1214]. GSM provides a reliable and 24 hours re
user friendly way of 24 hours realtime remote monitoring mote monitoring system [1516].
for temperature and humidity using SMS (Short Messaging
Service) messages. This research introduces a 24hours real time remote
monitoring for humidity and temperature in order to im
Keywords: FPGA, GSM, Green Houses, Humidity. prove crop production and monitoring soil status. The
I. INTRODUCTION design has been synthesized and implemented using Xil
inx ISE 6.2i tools, and simulated using ModelSim XE II
Humidity and temperature are considered to be the two 5.6e, at the end the design has targeted a Xilinx Spartan
climate control principles [1]. Humidity affects growth of XC3S200FT256 FPGA. The materials in this article are
greenhouse crops mainly through its impact on leaf size organized as follows: section II describes the system ar
and light interception rather than through a direct impact chitecture; section III will discuss the simulation results;
on photosynthesis by increasing the stomata conductance section IV gives a conclusion about the work presented in
at low VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) [23]. Leaf area can this paper and the future work.
either increase or decrease under longterm high humidity
exposure [1]. The actual climate computers mainly re II. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
solve the task of greenhouse climate control, i.e. inside In this section we are going to describe the main archi
temperature, relative humidity and CO2 level. The ma tecture of the system design. The system mainly consists
nipulated variables are the heat system temperature, the of two units: the system board and the control centre. The
angle at which the windows are open, and the CO2 dosage control centre in turn consists of two units; the PC and
flux. In some cases, the irrigation control is also included mobile phone connected together through the serial
[5]. Researchers have used many control techniques in communication port RS232. The system board consists of
different fields, from the conventional or classic strate three units; the controller unit which has been imple
gies [proportional integral derivative (PID) control, cas mented in Spartan 3E FPGA, the sensor circuit, and the
cade], artificial intelligence (AI) (fuzzy control, neural GSM MODEM, the controller connected to the GSM
networks, genetic algorithms), advanced control tech MODEM through the serial communication port as
niques (predictive control, adaptive), to robust control shown in Figure 1. The system board is located in the
strategies, nolinear and optimal control. Specifically, remote land, where humidity and temperature are meas
they have been applied in the area of greenhouse climatic ured. The main function of system board is continuously
control [6]. measure the temperature and humidity and compares the
measured values with a threshold level, and sends mes
For the implementation of agricultural technologies, low sage through GSM network to the control center in case
cost and real time remote monitoring are needed, in this of high temperature or humidity exceeds the threshold
sense, programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) present as a level. The main subunit of the system board is the con
good option for the technology development and imple troller that has been designed using VHDL and tested
mentation, because PLDs allow fast development of pro using Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA.
Control Centre
RS232
The System Board
Humidity &Temperature Probe
RS232
GSM
Fig. 1. System architecture
Figure .2 gives a block diagram of the system board III. SIMULATION RESULTS
that shows the subunits of the controller with connections In this section we are going to show the simulation re
to the GSM MODEM and the sensors circuits are indi sults for the four main components of the system board
cated. The controller has many components; the most (TMU, HMU, ROM, and CU). Where the TMU and
important components that we will describe here are the HMU are shown in figure .3 and 4, and ROM and CU are
CU (Control Unit), the ROM memory, the HMU (Humid shown in Figure .5 and 6 respectively. In Figure .3 dark,
ity Measurements Unit), and the TMU (Temperature rain, and temp are inputs, and fan, light, roofstatus, roof
Measurements Unit). Each component has its own inputs, forward, and roofrevers are outputs which are controlled
the input for the HMU is coming from the humidity sen according to the status of the input sensors. In Figure .4,
sor circuit, and the TMU input is coming from the tem plotsensor represents the input from the humidity sensor
perature sensor circuit. The HMU and TMU send control after it has been converted using ADC, if the humidity >=
signals to CU in case of low humidity or high tempera 60%, then the output showplot will be ‘0’ as shown in
ture. The main function of the CU is to send message figure .4, otherwise it will be 1. In figure .5, the simula
through the GSM network to the control center according tion results for a 16*8 ROM is shown in which the stored
to the given signals coming from the HMU and TMU data represent the ASCII code the decimal number (0, 1,
units. In some cases the CU can take action according to 2, …, and 9) and the rest of the locations contain the al
the given data coming from the HMU and TMU units, for phabetic (A, B, C, D, E, and F). Figure .6 show the simu
example for high temperature it can turn on the fans. In lation results for the CU when sending the AT command
the following section we are going to show the simulation “AT+CMGD=1”, which means of reading message in
results for each of the four components. location 1.
Control
GSM MODEM RS232 Unit
HTU Temperature
Sensor
Fig. 2. Block Diagram for the System Board
Fig. 3. Simulation results for the temperature effects in the normal operation
Fig. 4. Water level simulation with humidity >= 60% (Normal Humidity)
Fig. 5. Simulation results for the 16*8 ROM
Fig. 6. Simulation Results for the Control Unit when sending AT Commands
IV. COCLUSIONS AND FUTURE W ORK [5] O. Ko¨rner, H. Challaw, “Processbased humidity control regime
for greenhouse crops”, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture,
An FPGA hardware design implementation of remote V 39, pp. 173_/192, 2003.
sensing system for humidity and temperature based on [6] R C Miranda, E V Ramos, R P Vera, G H Ruiz, “Fuzzy Green
using GSM has been introduced in this article. The sys house Climate Control System based on a Field Programmable
tem was designed using VHDL in a high level design Gate Array”, Biosystems Engineering, 2006, V 94 (2), pp.165–
177.
method. All parts of the design have been simulated and
[7] J. M. Jasso, G. O. Vargas, R. C. Miranda, E. V. Ramos, A. Z.
implemented using Xilinx tools. The design has targeted Garrido, G. H. Ruiz, “FPGAbased realtime remote Monitoring
Spartan 3 FPGA “XC3s2004ft256” device with 256 in system”, Journal of Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, V
put/output pins and 200K logic gates. The system was 49, 2005, p 272–285.
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prototype, one of these developments is to use CoolRun [9] Y. Bangjie, “Crop monitoring using remote sensing in China:
ner2 CPLD as the target technology for the hardware progress and problems”, ASAE Annual International Meeting, pp.
implemented. Second is to use GPRS (General Packet 1–5, 2002.
Radio Service) for remote monitoring instead of using [10] W. Luo, H. F. de Zwart, J. Dail, X. Wang, C. Stanghellini, C. Bu,
“Simulation of greenhouse management in the subtropics—part I:
GSM, to make the design a webbased design that will model validation and scenario study for the winter season”, Bio
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT tronics in Agriculture, V 39, pp. 39_/59, 2003.
[12] L.A. Kaleita, L. Tian, “Remote sensing of sitespecific soil charac
The author would like to thank Bader S Abdulla Taqi, teristics for precision farming”, ASAE Annual International Meet
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puter Engineering Department, IT College, University Of [13] M. J. Lees, J. Taylor, A. Chotai, Z. S. Young, Z. S. Chalabi, “De
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