# An IoT-Based Encapsulated Design System for Rapid Model Identification of Plant Development
## 3 Encapsulated Design Plant Growth Devices  
The proposed methodology utilizes the developed encapsulated design (apparatus) for accelerated experiments observing plant growth in an isolated environment with autonomous permutation of artificial climatic conditions (light profile, temperature, humidity, airflow, pH, and nutrient level) and archiving plant growth and development indicators collected by different sensors and multi-spectral cameras. The apparatus, i.e., the prototype of the system, implies constructional, assembly, and electronic preconditions, as well as corresponding control loops for achieving the desired stated conditions in real time and, at the same time, regulating several different climatic conditions in an isolated environment. The constructional prerequisite of the system ensures isolation from external conditions and enables a spatially compact design suitable for separating several different climatic conditions. The isolated environment also allows the simulation of conditions that are not yet present in the considered climates but are expected to occur under the influence of climate changes. Plants, in individual phases, react differently to nine basic external conditions: air humidity, photosynthetic light exposure, air temperature, wind, CO\({}_{2}\) air concentration, soil temperature, soil nutrients, dissolved oxygen in saturated soil, and soil humidity [19]. Based on this, the constructional prerequisite includes a system for irrigation and nutrient supply through pumps and tubes to each individual plant, artificial LED lighting of different spectra, and a heating and cooling system. The electronic prerequisites include electronic support, sensors, and control hardware for the regulation of the aforementioned climatic conditions, as well as support for the easy adjustment of the parameters for future experiments.  
By being able to control the microclimate environment, the encapsulated design exploits the outdoor environment and further superposes the desired artificial environment (temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, photosynthetic lighting, and CO\({}_{2}\) and O\({}_{2}\) concentration and aeration) to experiment on plant growth and development under different (sometimes extreme) microclimate conditions and to collect and analyze data to build artificial models that are further used for large-scale harvesting predictions. The structure of the encapsulated design is shown in Figure 1; the upper part of the device was designed for plant growth and environment control, and the electronic support is located within the enclosed drawer. It is important to note that, within a single device, it is possible to achieve four separate microclimatic zones with corresponding sensors and actuators in each zone. The devices considered in this paper are based on the intelligent, self-sustainable home gardens manufactured by Urban Oasis and additionally modified by the research team to enable a rapid plant development modeling system.  
A list of all the measured microclimate parameters and plant development indicators is provided in Table 1 with a more detailed description given in the following sections.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Measured Parameter** & **Unit** \\ \hline Air temperature & [\({}^{\circ}\)C] \\ Airflow & [CFM] \\ Air humidity & [\%] \\ Photosynthetic photon flux density & [\(\mu\)mol/m\({}^{2}\)/s] \\ Soil moisture & [\%] \\ Spectral image light intensity (3 bands) & [\%] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: List of measured microclimate conditions within the climate chambers.  
Figure 1: Encapsulated design plant growth device.