The Engineering Edge

  Designing the IoT System for a Smart Mushroom Growing Environment Building a smart agricultural system involves much more than simply placing sensors inside a room. The sensors need to be selected appropriately, positioned correctly, connected to a reliable monitoring system and integrated with the equipment responsible for controlling the environment. As part of the BRIDGE-AI: Smart Mushroom project, I have been involved in exploring how an IoT-based environmental monitoring system can be implemented within a mushroom growing house. Understanding the Growing Environment A mushroom growing room is essentially a controlled environment. The conditions inside the room need to be monitored because changes in environmental parameters can affect the cultivation process. For our design, we focused on several important parameters: - Temperature - Relative humidity - CO₂ concentration - Light intensity These measurements give the system an understanding of what is happening inside the gro...

  Agriculture is increasingly becoming a field where technology can make a measurable difference. From monitoring environmental conditions to using data to make better decisions, technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are opening new possibilities for farmers. Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of a project exploring this intersection through BRIDGE-AI: Smart Mushroom. The project brings together IoT, Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics and agriculture to develop a smarter approach to mushroom cultivation. Why Mushroom Farming? Mushroom cultivation is highly dependent on environmental conditions. Factors such as temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration can significantly influence the growing environment. Maintaining suitable conditions manually can be challenging, particularly for smallholder farmers. This creates an opportunity for technology to assist with monitoring and decision-making. Instead of ...