IoT monitoring systems in aquaculture: Case study of University of Rwanda fish farming and research station (UR-FFRS)

Abstract

Fish aquaculture is an important contributor to food security in impoverished countries all over the world. It is a source of protein and a source of income in the majority of rural and urban households. During the production period, however, fish farmers face various obstacles, one of which is the monitoring and management of production resources. In the fish farming process, water is the most important resource. The lack of efficient water quality monitoring and prompt action in cases where quality parameters such as temperature, oxygen, pH, dissolved oxygen, and water levels change have resulted in resource waste and losses to farmers due to low productivity. Environmental issues and water resource limitations in some places make recirculating aquaculture system the alternative option in aquaculture industries. Recirculating aquaculture system has been used to achieve sustainable aquaculture production by providing more controllable environmental conditions as well as reducing environmental impacts and the amount of water used within the aquaculture processes. However, the University of Rwanda Fish Farming and Research Station (Rwasave) has recirculating aquaculture system (hatchery). A hatchery is a combination of a farm and a laboratory where fish is spawned and hatched, this system is monitored manually. When it comes to making decisions in control activities, farmers rely on their experience or they call lab technicians for showing what happens, which is prone to errors due to complications involved. The Internet of Things (IoT) has opened up new opportunities for farmers to raise uncommon fish by simply installing low-cost sensors that can talk with farms phone, and research Center staff through the web application and provide a means of monitoring and maintaining the hatchery. This research proposes a solution, which is a real-time culture tank (hatchery) water quality monitoring model, which utilizes a web application that shall be adopted by the staff of the University of Rwanda Fish Farming and Research Station and farmers. The model utilizes the IoT concept, which enables information gathering about water quality through the corresponding sensors. The status of the water quality aspects shall then be relayed on a real-time basis through a cloud platform. The farmer can then act based on the information provided, or the model can act on the farmer's behalf based on predetermined actions. The model's data can be extracted and analysed in a variety of different ways. The system's requirements were obtained, and the components were designed and tested throughout the process, using a rapid prototyping methodology.