Simulation of the Influence of environmental factors related to Greenhouses using Augmented Reality

Abstract

With the vast growth of the population, increased production of agricultural products is necessary. Although the amount of land available for agriculture is limited, the demand for food products based on agriculture is expanding. The Organic food supply is scarce in the current food market; hence, their retail prices are higher than the other agricultural products which were produced with the use of pesticides. In this context, Greenhouse production is widely used all over the world with minimal pesticides and weedicides including Sri Lanka. Automated Greenhouses can be used to increase production with a minimum amount of human labor. With less use of human hours, it will produce more harvest than conventional Greenhouses which need constant human attention and care. The installation of automated Greenhouses is costly although their long-term benefits are higher than a conventional one. For this reason, introducing the concept to cultivators would be difficult, as they are reluctant to invest their money on unfamiliar technology. There is a hesitance to embrace technology since they don't have the first-hand experience in operating an automated Greenhouse. Therefore, in this paper, we present a simulated model of automated Greenhouse using Augmented reality, through which a client can visually experience the workings of IoT Greenhouse based on theoretical models beforehand to make an informed decision to invest in automated Greenhouses.