O2-Smart IoT planters to collect data..

Output 2 - Smart IoT planters to collect data in learning spaces

This intellectual output includes the design and implementation of IoT planters to promote awareness on environmental issues in learning spaces. This output requires assembling electronic components to create a system capable of taking measurements, persisting data, and providing feedback in real learning contexts. These systems ("smart IoT planters") include 3 main components:

1) Microcontroller. The microcontroller is the main component connecting the rest of the subsystems. Its role is to receive the captured data from sensors, processing the data, and send orders to actuators with the aim to maintain the plant in the best conditions. Likewise, the processor sends data to the IoT platform where it is stored and monitored according to consistent rules. The system is continuously active to periodically read, validate, and write the value of the sensors. The type of microcontroller (ESP32, Arduino, Raspberry, etc.) will be selected based on the specific requirements identified by the partners.

2) Sensors. Sensors are electronic components that perform measurements on the context of plants in learning spaces. The sensors communicate with the microcontroller that is responsible for processing the data. The smart IoT planter will be reading the sensor values periodically. The typology of the sensors, and therefore the variables that the sensors measure (noise, humidity, temperature, air quality, etc.) will be selected based on the specific requirements identified by the partners.

3) Actuators. Actuators are electronic components that perform some action depending on the interpretation of the data collected from the sensors. Some examples of actuators can be a light signal to alert about the low humidity of the plant, or an acoustic signal to inform about low air quality, or the sending of a message to alert about high noise levels. The action (notification, alert, etc.) and the type of action (visual, acoustic, etc.) that the smart IoT planter implements will be configured according to the requirements identified by the partners.

The objective of the planters is to collect real data from learning spaces as an approach to provide situational awareness of existing learning / teaching conditions.

Based on the lessons learned during the implementation process, UPM will create a report that aims to share good practices on how smart IoT planters should be built. This report will include the following elements that are relevant to understand the operation and assembly of the components: documentation of physical diagrams; sharing the source code used in an open source repository; creation of a wiki that allows the community of developers to reuse and improve this development for future implementations; document the ethical implications to be considered for the installation of smart IoT planter in learning spaces (e.g. water, electricity, allergies, responsibility for the care of a plant, sensitivity of the data); optimisation of software and hardware towards sustainable development goals. All partners (HAUP, DOUKAS, UPF, PHWIEN, OUC) will contribute to the documentation of this task (Task 4).