BANDUNG, Telkom University – A team of students and lecturers of D3 Telecommunication Technology Study Program, Faculty of Applied Sciences from Telkom University created an innovation, namely Hydroponic Verticulture. The team consisting of Kristian Noprianto, Muhammad Fajar Nugroho Alam, Peter Andresen Tarigan Tua and guided by lecturer Rohmat Tulloh, S.T., M.T., made verticulture hydroponics embedded with IoT technology so that it would facilitate its users.

Kristian Noprianto as the team leader explained that generally hydroponic pipes are arranged horizontally, while in vertical hydroponics the position is placed vertically and a planting hole will be made to place the plants.

“There are several features that we embed, including being able to provide nutritional water or AB Mix, being able to adjust the pH, being able to fill water for hydroponics and users can drain the hydroponic tub when it is cloudy through the dashboard. Everything is automatic,” Kristian explained.

In this innovation, users can also easily monitor hydroponic conditions because the dashboard created can be accessed through gadgets. The dashboard will present data including the concentration level of nutrient water (AB Mix), water pH level, water temperature, water turbidity level and water volume in hydroponic tanks and pH buffer tanks.

Kristian and his team see an opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic to invite people to maintain food supply independently through hydroponics, because farming requires a large amount of land, so this verticulture hydroponic innovation can be used to utilize the limited land in each home.

“The tool we made is intended for household users. By using verticulture hydroponics, it is expected that users can utilize limited land for farming. We also hope that the embedded IoT technology can help users who are still laymen or experts in cultivating using hydroponics.”

The way the tool works is quite easy, users only prepare the pH buffer solution and AB Mix, each of which is put into the place that has been provided and then connected to the power supply of the electricity source. For the cultivation process, depending on the seeds planted, the seeding process is still carried out outside the tool. When it is past the seeding period, the plants can be moved to verticulture hydroponics. Currently, the device is limited to spinach cultivation and in the future further development can be done so that users can choose the plants they want to grow.

“In the future we hope that the research can be continued, there is still room for development such as being able to choose the type of plant and an algorithm can be added to determine the optimal harvest time.”