Greenhouse microclimatic environment controlled by a mobile measuring station

• We investigate mobile robot navigation algorithm in greenhouse environment.
• We propose implementation of mobile microclimatic control system supported by WSN.
• Mobile platform, wireless sensor network, navigation and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process control strategy are realized.
• System performance is analyzed during past two greenhouse production cycles.

This paper investigates a greenhouse microclimatic environment controlled by a mobile measuring station with the aim of improving performance by using wireless sensor networks (WSN) technology. The algorithms for the mobile measuring station that perform navigation tasks are called Bug algorithms. The existing potential field method based algorithms are improved with an RSSI signal propagation model and implemented on a two-wheel driven robot developing system and their performances are measured and analyzed. The implementation part is done on Boe-Bot equipped with SunSPOT enabling the wireless control ability. The control surface is generally made with LabVIEW and a relational database. Control strategy selection system is supported by Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Navigation of the mobile measuring robot can be done manually, relying on the visual data from the robot's camera, or it can be switched to automatic mode where the developed algorithm does the navigation job. Mobile robot navigation is based on the potential field method considering a wide range of energy-aware parameters.