Preliminary Design of a Low-cost Greenhouse with Open Source Control Systems

Food security remains a global challenge, particularly in low-income countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in four are undernourished, and the region has the highest prevalence of hunger in the world. Innovations in low cost greenhouse design have the potential to contribute to increased food security, particularly in areas where global climate change is creating additional variability in local weather patterns. This paper describes the preliminary design of a greenhouse that uses open source control systems. This design takes advantage of the decreasing cost and size of sensors to automate systems that have the potential to increase the efficiency and yield of greenhouses.