Internet of the Backyard Challenge Competitors

We grow tomatoes in a small home garden greenhouse. And they are so tasty! Greenhouse must be watered every 2nd day. And it is quite hard job. Water is brought from a small pond into a 200 l barrel to let it warm up and then manually distributed with a can to each plant.

I would like to automate this process. I have bought a 20 W solar panel and a pool fountain pump able to lift water ca 2 m. Water consumption depends if day is sunny or cloudy and so also the available solar pump power. On a cloudy day the solar panel current is too weak to start the pump. I have deviced a circuit storing solar energy into a 1 Farad super-capacitor. When capacitor is charged full it starts to drive the pump for ca 20s. This eliminates battery that would need replacement after a few years.

I will design a watering system for a backyard garden which will not only keep track of the moisture of the soil to determine how much water is needed, but also keep small animals like squirrels away from the plants by spraying water if it senses their presence.

I would have the device monitor sound for thunder and a light detector to catch lightning.  Either trigger makes the backyard a hazardous location. It would also let you know if your are drying clothes outside that they need to be brought in.

Monitor movement of gate, opening and closing. Report to server or phone for alert. Wire a push button to act as doorbell. Send udp/tcp alert packet to Android/Iphone. Attach trickle charge solar cell circuit to keep battery charged. Monitor sunlight and battery usage.

I would like to build a multi light sensor "stick" which is vertically mounted. About 3 to 5 light sensor are placed about 2 cm apart. This data is the captured by a micro and relayed to the cloud via wifi or rf device in gateway inside house. By analysing the differences (plot.y would work great here) I will be able to determine statistically based on comparative light differentials over time of all the sensors as to when the grass is getting longer. The idea is that as the grass grows so the light sensors closer to the ground will get less and less light.

The system would monitor conditions, log data, and control watering.

Features would include:

• Humidity monitor
• Temperature monitor
• Barometric pressure monitor
• Precipitation monitor
• Sunlight exposure monitor
• Wind speed monitor
• Soil hydration monitor
• Watering control through different zones

A web interface would be used for manual control, instant and historical data readings, and downloading of data.

My umbrella will have the following functions:

1. storm and strong wind detection
When wind will be too strong umbrella will be automatically closed in this case umbrella will be protected before destruction

2. automatic sun protection
When people are under umbrella and is sunny day umbrella detecting sun position, changing own position and giving shadow for people under umbrella

3. weather forecast system
Device for giving people under umbrella information about weather for example: Warning: in 2 hours will be storm and strong wind, Today will be sunny day. Predicted temperature at 2 p.m. is 35 Celsjus degree

• Internet-connected, automatically-operated camera to visually capture visits to a feeder
• Connect an RFID reader to bird feeder in order to read PIT tags attached to birds by researchers
• Uniquely identify observation points and observers for reporting purposes
• Potentially submit data to Cornell Ornithology Lab FeederWatch program and the USGS North American Bird Banding program

The system consists of the following components:

1. MET System: A meteorological system composed of an anemometer(wind speed sensor), rain sensor, light sensor and temperature sensor will monitor param
2. Electronic Clothesline: A mechanical arrangement which uses a motor and pulleys to control the location of clothes hanging on a line.

The board will talk to an online weather forecast system to determine if the winds are just temporary or part of a storm. This will prevent the clothes line from opening and closing every time there is a gust of wind.

It will send all the Weather information like outside temperature air pressure wind speed and direction. I want to connect a SD-Card to the system for saving a weather log. For some functions I need the position and the direction the of weather station when it's set up on the roof of my house. for this the System is extended by GPS and a compass. One function is self calibration of pressure and wind direction. Further the station can add its position to its data, when read from the Internet. It can be extended for further weather data like rain, sun intensity and thunderstorm warning.

I would measure the soil humidity to trigger my sprinkler once a day during dry periods, and not during sunny periods, to avoid burning the plants.  I would include a flowmeter to record how much water the lawn had received (like the Adafruit iot kegbot) (since billing for water used is increasingly common) as a backup for the humidity sensor. My phone would be updated with plots of humidity and watering over time (I'd have to experiment which notification method was best, probably a text message).