Overview
While working in the Research & Development department at AgroFresh Solutions, I was tasked with creating a platform which could be easily modified and integrated into a wide range of projects requiring remote control and real-time data monitoring without the user needing extensive programming knowledge.
Disclaimer: I can share limited details about the specifics of the system due to company confidentiality
Disclaimer: I can share limited details about the specifics of the system due to company confidentiality
The Requirements
The first adaptation of the system was implemented to control and monitor a set of devices used to apply fungicide in a gaseous form to fruit kept in cold storage conditions. The fungicide application had to be performed in various controlled atmosphere storage facilities in and around Washington State.
The system needed to perform these tasks:
The system needed to perform these tasks:
- Remotely switch power between multiple devices in a sealed environment
- Monitor the progress of fungicide distribution within the storage room
- Continuously log pressure, temperature, humidity, O2 and Co2 values and send them to a centralized database
- Perform in environments without a stable internet connection
- Continue sensing and performing in the case of power loss
- Send notifications to staff in case of any notable events
- Be modular and easy to install/remove/reuse
The Environment
This project was tasked with a difficult communication environment. Apples in Washington are stored in enormous storage rooms, and facilities. The average room contains around 2,000 bins of apples (roughly 2,000 apples per bin). These facilities are almost entirely constructed out of concrete , which blocks radio signals extremely well. In addition to poor signal penetration through concrete, most storage facilities are located in remote locations where land and electricity are cheap, but network coverage is poor.
Below are pictures of the facilities where the system needed to function.
Below are pictures of the facilities where the system needed to function.
The System
Remote Sensing Unit
Software
The remote units each function as their own data collection platform and server. Time-series data is collected from each of the incorporated sensors and displayed on a real-time dashboard (shown below). The data is also sent when a connection is present to the second component of the system; a centralized data server.
These sensing units can:
- be easily reproduced and set up when the system is scaled beyond the Washington region
- communicate and function in environments with unreliable connectivity
- be operated and installed with no knowledge of programming
- withstand freezing temperatures
- be placed and controlled anywhere in the world
- be reconfigured to incorporate any sensors (digital/analog/serial/I2C)
- control any device remotely
- connect to WiFi/Bluetooth
- be redesigned without programming knowledge
Hardware
By the end of my internship we had built 10 working units for deployment across the state as well as one prototyping unit to be used for improvements and code changes. The main processing unit used for the process was a RaspberryPi microcontroller. These devices are small computers which can connect to WiFi and gather sensor data.
|
Centralized Data Server
The second component of this system is the centralized data server that functions as a dashboard for monitoring all active units as well as viewing/retrieving time-series data. This server is custom built to interact with the remote units and make it easy for the project manager to monitor all applications at once.
The data viewer allows us to overlay data charts collected over the same time period to compare how various factors affect performance. These charts allow us to inform the customers when the fungicide process completes and if any abnormal conditions arise within their controlled atmosphere rooms. In addition to the data viewer, the raw data is easily exported to excel where more complex analysis can be performed on the data.
Next Steps
This project is still in its initial stages and being tested across the state. Once the system passes the research and development phase, it will be moved to the operations department, where it will be shipped across the globe to other countries. The system is the first step in building a smart network of devices which AgroFresh can deploy and trust to perform no matter where they are installed.