Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses
The decrease in the cost of sensors during the last years, and the arrival of the 5th generation of mobile technology will greatly benefit Internet of Things (IoT) innovation. Accordingly, the use of IoT in new agronomic practices might be a vital part for improving soil quality, optimising water us...
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2020-04-01
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2227 |
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doaj-b8f48d258c3349b3991a39d95ffb4ab12020-11-25T03:24:03ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202020-04-01202227222710.3390/s20082227Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in CampusesBernardo Tabuenca0Vicente García-Alcántara1Carlos Gilarranz-Casado2Samuel Barrado-Aguirre3Departamento de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28031 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28031 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, SpainCorporación Radiotelevisión Española, Dirección de Tecnología y Sistemas, 28223 Madrid, SpainThe decrease in the cost of sensors during the last years, and the arrival of the 5th generation of mobile technology will greatly benefit Internet of Things (IoT) innovation. Accordingly, the use of IoT in new agronomic practices might be a vital part for improving soil quality, optimising water usage, or improving the environment. Nonetheless, the implementation of IoT systems to foster environmental awareness in educational settings is still unexplored. This work addresses the educational need to train students on how to design complex sensor-based IoT ecosystems. Hence, a Project-Based-Learning approach is followed to explore multidisciplinary learning processes implementing IoT systems that varied in the sensors, actuators, microcontrollers, plants, soils and irrigation system they used. Three different types of planters were implemented, namely, hydroponic system, vertical garden, and rectangular planters. This work presents three key contributions that might help to improve teaching and learning processes. First, a holistic architecture describing how IoT ecosystems can be implemented in higher education settings is presented. Second, the results of an evaluation exploring teamwork performance in multidisciplinary groups is reported. Third, alternative initiatives to promote environmental awareness in educational contexts (based on the lessons learned) are suggested. The results of the evaluation show that multidisciplinary work including students from different expertise areas is highly beneficial for learning as well as on the perception of quality of the work obtained by the whole group. These conclusions rekindle the need to encourage work in multidisciplinary teams to train engineers for Industry 4.0 in Higher Education.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2227computer-based systemsenvironmental awarenessIndustry 4.0Internet of Thingsirrigation systemsplanter |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Bernardo Tabuenca Vicente García-Alcántara Carlos Gilarranz-Casado Samuel Barrado-Aguirre |
spellingShingle |
Bernardo Tabuenca Vicente García-Alcántara Carlos Gilarranz-Casado Samuel Barrado-Aguirre Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses Sensors computer-based systems environmental awareness Industry 4.0 Internet of Things irrigation systems planter |
author_facet |
Bernardo Tabuenca Vicente García-Alcántara Carlos Gilarranz-Casado Samuel Barrado-Aguirre |
author_sort |
Bernardo Tabuenca |
title |
Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses |
title_short |
Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses |
title_full |
Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses |
title_fullStr |
Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fostering Environmental Awareness with Smart IoT Planters in Campuses |
title_sort |
fostering environmental awareness with smart iot planters in campuses |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sensors |
issn |
1424-8220 |
publishDate |
2020-04-01 |
description |
The decrease in the cost of sensors during the last years, and the arrival of the 5th generation of mobile technology will greatly benefit Internet of Things (IoT) innovation. Accordingly, the use of IoT in new agronomic practices might be a vital part for improving soil quality, optimising water usage, or improving the environment. Nonetheless, the implementation of IoT systems to foster environmental awareness in educational settings is still unexplored. This work addresses the educational need to train students on how to design complex sensor-based IoT ecosystems. Hence, a Project-Based-Learning approach is followed to explore multidisciplinary learning processes implementing IoT systems that varied in the sensors, actuators, microcontrollers, plants, soils and irrigation system they used. Three different types of planters were implemented, namely, hydroponic system, vertical garden, and rectangular planters. This work presents three key contributions that might help to improve teaching and learning processes. First, a holistic architecture describing how IoT ecosystems can be implemented in higher education settings is presented. Second, the results of an evaluation exploring teamwork performance in multidisciplinary groups is reported. Third, alternative initiatives to promote environmental awareness in educational contexts (based on the lessons learned) are suggested. The results of the evaluation show that multidisciplinary work including students from different expertise areas is highly beneficial for learning as well as on the perception of quality of the work obtained by the whole group. These conclusions rekindle the need to encourage work in multidisciplinary teams to train engineers for Industry 4.0 in Higher Education. |
topic |
computer-based systems environmental awareness Industry 4.0 Internet of Things irrigation systems planter |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2227 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT bernardotabuenca fosteringenvironmentalawarenesswithsmartiotplantersincampuses AT vicentegarciaalcantara fosteringenvironmentalawarenesswithsmartiotplantersincampuses AT carlosgilarranzcasado fosteringenvironmentalawarenesswithsmartiotplantersincampuses AT samuelbarradoaguirre fosteringenvironmentalawarenesswithsmartiotplantersincampuses |
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