DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PCB FOR A VERTICAL FARM IRRIGATION SYSTEM

This project aims to design and execute a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) of a Vertical Farm Irrigation System that will utilize Internet of Things (IoT) and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) to bring greater automation, water control, and overall crop yield. The project aims at optimization of irrigation in vertical farming, by offering a convenient, compact, and durable PCB-based solution that can monitor and manage the soil moisture, temperature, and humidity in real-time. It solves the problems of traditional manual irrigation techniques such as inefficiency by incorporating sensor feedback with microcontroller decision-making to guarantee accuracy in water dispersion and energy conservation in a regulated agricultural setting. The Methodology involved the design, development and the implementation of a twolayer PCB was done with the KiCad Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software. The system architecture is a platform that combines sensing, processing, actuation, interface, and power management into a single platform. It has notable features such as the ESP32 microcontroller as the means of data processing and control, a capacitive soil moisture sensor, a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor, a PIR motion sensor, a SIM800L GSM to monitor remotely and also connect to the internet, and a 16x2 LCD to display data locally. The buck converter LM2596 makes sure of power supply and a 12V relay powers the pump to allow automated irrigation. The whole circuit was modelled, experimented and developed on a custom PCB to guarantee signal quality, power saving and environmental sustainability. The results demonstrated that the system was able to automate irrigation in one of the small-scale vertical farm prototypes and ensure the optimal soil moisture and environmental conditions with minimal human interventions. The experimental findings indicated proper sensor measurements, pump activation, and stability of operation in different environmental conditions. PCB-based design was found to be small, dependable and economical and greatly minimized wastages of water and manpower. This project illustrates how PCB-based IoT systems can be used to develop smart and sustainable agriculture to offer a scalable and cost-effective precision irrigation system in developing countries such as Nigeria.