12月. 11, 2023
The worlds of horticulture and computer science came together this fall to devise a system that will help the staff who manage 威尼斯人在线’s greenhouses better maintain the plant life within them.
Students in the University’s Internet of Things course, under the instruction of Dr. 内森Eloe, an associate professor of computer science and information systems, unveiled their project Wednesday during a demonstration for faculty and staff at Northwest’s Horticulture Complex.
Students in Northwest's Internet of Things course talk with Bryan Freemyer, 这所大学的植物专家, about the sensor platform they set up inside the Horticulture Complex to better monitor plant life there. (图片来源:Lauren Adams/威尼斯人在线)
帕克克里斯蒂, 她是汉弗莱斯大学计算机科学专业的大四学生, 密苏里州, describes how a base station receives data to help Horticulture Complex staff monitor conditions inside greenhouses.
Sensor platforms installed by students inside the Horticulture Complex’s greenhouses collect real-time data related to temperature, 湿度和光, 通知园艺综合大楼的工作人员.
The 30 students in Eloe’s class worked in seven separate teams to create a wireless mesh network of sensor platforms in the complex’s greenhouses. 传感器收集与温度有关的实时数据, 湿度和光 within the greenhouses and send notifications to Horticulture Complex staff – thus, helping them better monitor conditions and deter any threats to plants if the environment deteriorates.
Eloe assigned the project to his students after a discussion with Dr. 亚历克斯·泰勒, 农业科学助理教授, about the need for a modern platform in the greenhouses to replace the complex’s antiquated monitoring system. The genesis for the idea was an incident during the winter of 2020-2021 when heaters failed overnight in one of the greenhouses, 导致储存在设施中的植物损失. Information from the legacy system could only be accessed physically inside a staff office so any problems affecting plants usually went unnoticed until the next working day.
“The real value of the project is giving the students an opportunity to create a real working viable end product that is not ‘made up,’”泰勒说。. “I am a big proponent of multi-disciplinary and project-oriented teaching and try to work it into all of my classes whenever possible. I have found that students appreciate this and can more easily see the practical applications of the knowledge we are trying to impart.”
In addition to assisting the School of Agricultural Sciences, the project provided students with insight into how some newer pieces of technology process and deliver data.
“There’s an appreciation for playing with hardware and just the things that go into things that we take for granted,爱说. “来到这个课堂, 很多人都没想过, ‘嘿, 我的智能手表或智能设备上发生了什么?’”
Students in Eloe’s course spent the first part of the fall semester learning to program and work with different kinds of sensors. The students then began interacting with agricultural sciences faculty and staff to learn about the importance of greenhouses in horticulture and agricultural production. 他们上周安装了他们的系统.
At a base station inside the Horticulture Complex’s classroom building, a computer chip collects all of the data supplied by the sensors. A web app then displays the data and delivers the notifications to staff.
“每次它接收到新数据, 它会根据设定的界限进行检验,道森·麦康奈尔说, 来自堪萨斯城网络安全专业的大四学生, 密苏里州, 谁是建立基站的团队成员. “如果有东西越界了, it’s going to send them a notification that says greenhouse – whichever number – has a temperature or humidity or light level that is out of bounds, 它显示了实际的, 当前数据点.”
While students in the course agreed the project was the ultimate profession-based learning experience, 卢克·沃恩, 马赛林人, 密苏里州, 有了更广泛的兴趣. As a senior computer science major with an agriculture business minor, he grew up on a farm and now works at Northwest’s greenhouses as a student employee. Working on the project helped him see how his interest in developing software applications can be beneficial in the agriculture field.
“如果有机会这样做, I was really excited because it’s kind of mixing both of my passions,沃恩说. “Doing something where I can design software like this to help people like my parents and grandparents, 这才是我真正想做的.”
With six teams working to install sensor platforms in the greenhouses, 再加上一个专门搭建基站的团队, the students also benefited from applying their skills within varying levels of collaboration.
“有七支球队, 所以威尼斯人在线不仅要彼此合作, but we’re also having to collaborate with six other teams that are all doing their own thing,麦康奈尔说. “So being organized and being flexible was a super important aspect to this.”
安东尼·杰克, 独立学院计算机科学专业的大四学生, 密苏里州, 添加, “You’ve got to adapt to what kind of environment you’re going to be working in. I would not have thought that we would be working in greenhouses with all the technology that we did.”
布雷登·拉蒙说, 来自奥马哈的计算机科学专业大三学生, 内布拉斯加州, 在软件开发中, you’re always going to be a part of a team that’s usually talking to other teams. 所以这是很好的经验.”
