Development of program library using an open-source hardware for implementation of low-cost greenhouse environmental control system

Abstract

A program library for use on open-source hardware was developed in order to construct a low-cost environmental control system for greenhouses. The library facilitated the development of environmental sensing and control devices that conform to the protocols of the Ubiquitous Environment Control System (UECS). The open-source hardware used was the “Arduino Ethernet” and the “Arduino Mega 2560 with Ethernet Shield” microcontroller boards. UECS is a system for controlling greenhouse environments that communicates information via a local area network, and devices utilizing the library that we developed can perform the UECS defined communication tasks automatically. With the help of this library, device developers no longer need to program the communications aspects of the device and can concentrate on programming setting and control logic of the device. The library occupies about 29 kilobytes of the read only memory area of the target board. The library and associated open-source microcontroller boards are powerful tools for developing low-cost environmental control systems.