NW Missouri Times

Students at Northwest Missouri State University have continued their collaboration between horticulture and computer science disciplines to enhance a greenhouse monitoring system. This initiative, which began last year, involves students in the Internet of Things course working with Associate Professor Dr. Nathan Eloe to develop projects aimed at improving plant maintenance in university greenhouses.

Dr. Eloe noted the educational value of the project, saying, "They’ve done a really good job, and I think they’ve pulled in a lot of the lessons that I was hoping that they would get." He emphasized that even when technical challenges arose, students were learning valuable problem-solving skills.

The collaboration originated from discussions between Dr. Eloe and Dr. Alex Taylor, an assistant professor of agricultural sciences, regarding the need for an updated monitoring system for the greenhouses. Students worked on sensor platforms to gather real-time data on temperature, humidity, and light levels within the greenhouses. This data is sent to staff at the Horticulture Complex's base station to help monitor conditions effectively.

This semester saw improvements such as new wireless communication protocols and more durable sensor enclosures suited for greenhouse environments. "We started from scratch from an implementation standpoint," said Dr. Eloe about this year's efforts.

Aaron Hall, a senior majoring in computer science from Kansas City, Missouri, described his team's work on soil humidity sensors as his first significant experience with IoT programming: "I thought it was really interesting because this is my first foray into IoT programming."

Graduate student Dami Popoola also gained practical experience through setting up light and heat sensors: "It was better to work on something that we had to conceptualize and visualize."

Additionally, a new component was added to monitor fish tank conditions within the Horticulture Complex. Ben Zornes, a senior cybersecurity major from O’Fallon, Missouri, valued this hands-on experience: "Having a project like this under your belt really helps to get you something to point employers toward."

The project received support through an Improvement of Teaching and Learning Grant aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among students.

"The students faced some unique challenges – both technological and environmental – this year," concluded Dr. Eloe.