Development of Wireless Sensor Node and Controller Complying with Communication Interface Standard for Smart Farming

Purpose: The sensor node is a basic unit of a greenhouse control system that collects environment data and sends them to an environment controller. It is important for the sensor node and the controller to share a common communication protocol to enable effective communication. The objective of this research was to develop a wireless sensor node complying with a communication interface standard between a sensor node and a controller and to evaluate variation in data transmission rate with distance. Methods: The TTAK.KO-06.0288-Part1/R1 standard was selected as a communication interface standard; it was analyzed and implemented with a C++ library. A sensor node and a controller were designed to communicate with the library wirelessly using Bluetooth. The system was tested in a greenhouse to evaluate the variation in data transmission rate with changes in the distance between the components. Results: A C++ library, libgnode, was developed and successfully implemented for transmitting data from the sensor node to the controller, complying with the TTA standards. The data transmission rate was 100% up to a distance of 25 m between the sensor node and the controller. Conclusions: The libgnode library can be utilized to improve the interoperability between components of a greenhouse control system. However, further research into the use of long-distance wireless communication methods (e.g., Zigbee or LoRa) is warranted in order to extend the communication coverage area in the greenhouse.