CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

A modern technology has become fast growing and increasing. Inventions are everywhere

that makes automation as one of the component. Automation is one ingenious electronics

application that has made our lives a lot more convenient. This application allows us to control

appliances or any device without being near it where television set is a concrete example. Some

appliances have built-in switch controls.

Through observations, monitoring of fishponds through technology has become more

productive in today’s modern society. Fish farmers are still using manual monitoring in their

fishponds which is time consuming. Tilapia fish culture in ponds is expanding dramatically.

Farmers, especially here in Cagayan Valley area raise these popular freshwater fish under

intensive or extensive methods, in pond cages and most commonly along with livestock under the

integrated farming scheme for local consumption and livelihood. Currently, fish farmers face

difficulties in rearing tilapia in ponds. Warmer pond temperatures due to climate change and the

level of the water may be a contributing factor to this problem.

In addition, temperature and level of water have impacts on fish production and may be

affected by the change in weather or climate. Prolonged extreme hot weather followed by a heavy

rain disturbs the surface water to cool lower temperatures where the cool heavy water layer sink to

the bottom floor due to gravity can cause turnover of water in ponds. High level of temperature in

fish ponds is a major cause of fish death. Sensitivity to level of water and temperature in different

1
culture systems causes different levels of risks of mortality from changes in weather and water

turnover.

Therefore, the researchers came up with the idea of designing and developing a Water

Level and Temperature Monitoring for fishponds with SMS Notification. The idea of making an SMS

based automatic monitoring device was to provide a system that can perform its objectives in a

desired manner at the desired time without the need of human intervention. Many Fishponds

monitoring systems and warning systems are emerging in the markets using high-tech techniques,

but in the design the researchers are implementing a monitoring system using GSM (Global

System for Mobile) one of the latest mobile technology using smart MODEM which can easily

interfaced to embedded microcontrollers.

Hence, the Water Level and Temperature Monitoring for fishponds is a monitoring system

to boost the productivity of the fishponds industry. Monitoring entails the accurate measurement of

parameters crucial to the growth of fishes and other organisms raised in fishponds. This is

important because the continued increase of population raises the demand for food, thereby

production must be increased to keep up with the demand.

Statement of Objectives

The general objective of the study is to develop a Water Level and Temperature Monitoring

for Fishponds.

Specifically, it aimed to:

1. Develop a monitoring system for fishponds that provides for the following:
a) Water level monitoring using HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor
b) Temperature monitoring using LM35 temperature sensor
c) Alarm system using piezo electric buzzer

2
 d) SMS notification of water level and temperature warning using SIM900A

module
2. Evaluate the performance of the developed monitoring system in terms of:
a) Functionality and
b) Portability

Scope and Limitations

This project was installed on a designated fishpond where temperature sensor and

ultrasonic sensor was used to measure the water level and temperature through the use of Arduino

Microcontroller which serves as the controlling module. The project comes with an alert feature that

uses a GSM Modem installed on the system to inform the owner about the current status of water

level and temperature of the fishpond though SMS notification and an alarm system using piezo

electric buzzer. When the water level and temperature is either in normal or in critical condition, the

system will send messages about the current status. If the water level is only in critical level, it will

send messages and the buzzer will alarm. The study does not include the solution to the problems

caused by water level and temperature changes due to the fact that the project’s function is

intended to gather data, however the data gathered by the system can be used to provide a

detailed analysis of the problem for the user to help them come up with ideas that can provide the

solutions needed to mitigate the problems caused by the fishpond’s water level and temperature.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

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 The chapter discusses the different reference materials from the internet that is related to

the design project. The study establishes the importance of monitoring water level and temperature

of fishponds and the monitoring systems and devices for fishponds.

A. Importance of Monitoring the Water Level and Temperature of Fishponds

Water level and temperature monitoring provides managers and staff with up-to-date

information on supply conditions. Water level represents the capacity of fish storage and the

fishpond’s oxygen level for its inhabitants. According to the study of Yu and Hahn (2010) and

Abdullah and Ali (2014) water level monitoring systems are important in the applications related to

agriculture, flood prevention, and fishing industry and has been widely used to reduce the

danger of disasters and make sure the safety of ship channels and monitoring and control

the aquatic environment.

Another important to monitor in this study is water temperature, the single most important

factor affecting the welfare of fish. Fish are coldblooded organisms. Rose et al. (n.d) stated that

temperature has a great impact in both chemical and biological characteristics surface of the water.

It influences several parameters and can alter the physical and chemical properties of water.

Furthermore, Simbeye and Yan (2014) stated that water temperature affects the feeding

pattern and growth of fish. Fish generally experience stress and disease breakout when

temperature is chronically near their maximum tolerance or fluctuates suddenly.

B. Monitoring Systems and Devices for Fishponds

Due to the criticality of monitoring water quality of the aquaculture ponds, various

monitoring systems and devices are use such as ultrasonic sensor, temperature sensor, Global

System for Mobile (GSM) modems and Arduino microcontroller.

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 Asfiansyah et al. (n.d) proposed a water level control system of tilapia ponds using

arduino-based ultrasonic distance sensor, this system is designed using the Arduino as a control

center that will control the relay to turn on the tap electric and water engines. The sensor that is

used to monitor the water level is an ultrasonic sensor PING.

In the study of Mohamed and Wei (2014) and M. Ekrani (2015) defined Ultrasonic sensor

as used to detect the distance between sensor and the water surface. It is suitable for applications

with distance measurement where target moves slowly or stays stationary. Water level detection is

performed without physical contact between the sensor and water. Furthermore, B. Dhivyapriya et

al. (n.d) and Saddam (n.d) agreed that ultrasonic sensors generate high-frequency sound waves

and evaluate the echo which is received back by the sensor. By measuring the time interval

between sending signals and receiving echo, the distance to an object can be determined.

Mostly, fishpond monitoring systems focuses on monitoring temperature. S. Sridharan

(2014) implemented a Water Quality Monitoring System Using Wireless Sensor Network, this

system uses three sensor (pH sensor, temperature sensor, turbidity sensor); temperature sensor

that senses the temperature of the water.

Chandanapalli et al. (n.d) Design and deployment Aqua monitoring system using wireless

sensor networks, this monitoring system uses wireless sensor networks to have a distributed

collection of sensor nodes (pH, Humidity, Temperature sensors ) and a GSM modem.

In addition, Xie and jiang (2016) implement an intelligent fishpond monitoring system

based on STM32 and Zigbee, this monitoring system consist of temperature sensor and dissolved

oxygen sensor.

SMS notification is convenient in our society today; specially in monitoring and warning.

Haron et al. (n.d) defined that Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) modem as a
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wireless modem that works with GSM wireless network and the modem is connected to a server so

it could send SMS as an alert or warning to farmer. Alcantara et al. (2013) supported this concept

when they said that GSM is a wireless communication not only between people alone but people to

devices also. This system poses a great advantage and convenience to the public when it is

interfaced with different sensors and functions even if a user is not physically present in the vicinity

of the device. In addition, Azid et al. (2015) stated that the idea of an SMS based warning system

was proposed because mobile phones have become a popular communication device among

people all over the world.

Arduino microcontroller is one of the devices that will be used in this study. According to

Rozilan (2012), it is an open-source physical computing and a development environment for writing

software on the board that can be a tool for making systems that can sense and control more of the

physical world than the desktop alone.

C. Research Gaps

The studies mentioned were of great help in the development of this research as to know

the importance of monitoring water level and water temperature of the fishponds through the use of

GSM modem, temperature sensor and ultrasonic sensor. With the related literatures stated, their

connection to the proposed system is the use of similar components. There is no combination of

monitoring the level and temperature of the water with SMS Notification which is the weakness of

the study. On the other hand, using all the gathered data, the researchers developed a Water Level

and Temperature Monitoring for Fishponds with SMS Notification to help the fish farmers in

monitoring the current state of their fishponds without the use of manual monitoring.
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 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This section discusses the population and locale of the study, data gathering procedures,
data analysis and statistical tools and the design procedures to achieve the purpose of the study.

Population and Locale of the Study

The respondents of the study were the fish farmers and the third year, fourth year and fifth

year BSCpE students. Purposive Sampling was used for the selection of the respondents as part of

the implementation and testing period of the study. The study was conducted at Agabin’s

Fishponds located at San Bernardo, Cabagan, Isabela.

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Data Gathering Procedures

The researchers used questionnaire as an effective tool to collect the insights and

comments of the respondents and to know if the project is functional and portable. This was the

primary tool used in collecting data. The researchers also selected some fish farmers for the

interview. This process helped the researchers to gather reliable data from the fish farmers, and

used to explore the views, experiences, beliefs, and motivations of individual participants. The

researchers also used library and internet method to collect information for the review of related

literature and studies.

The data gathered was statistically analysed using weighted mean to determine the overall

evaluation of the Water Level and Temperature Monitoring. The functionality and portability were

evaluated by the selected fish farmers because their knowledge about fish farming is crucial for the

proposed project.

Data Analysis & Statistical tools

The researchers used Likert scale as shown in Table 1 to compute and analyze the result

of the survey. It was a psychological scale showing respondents’ agreement and disagreements. It

measures the degree to which people agree and disagree with the statements.

Table 1. The Likert Scale Conversion

Rating Scale Point Average Descriptive Equivalent

5 4.20 – 5.00 Strongly Agree(SA)

4 3.40 – 4.19 Agree(A)

3 2.60 – 3.39 Uncertain(U)

2 1.80 – 2.59 Disagree(D)

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 1 1.00 – 1.79 Strongly Disagree(SD)

Design Procedures

Phase I. Conceptualization of the Design Project

The design project was about monitoring the water level and temperature of fishponds that

embeds the use of the HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and LM35 temperature sensor. The proposed

project was conceptualized based from the observation that manual monitoring is time consuming.

This designed project will be an easy way to monitor the water level and temperature of the

fishponds without manual monitoring.

Due to the difficulty of the concept, the researchers first step was to gather data necessary

for the completion of the proposed project. The researchers collected information from books,

internet and from the previous design projects related to the study.

Phase II. Designing the Project

In this phase, the researchers started the design of proposed project. This stage focused

on the technological aspect of the design project. The researchers started combining, evaluating

and testing the different circuit diagrams collected from the previous phase using electronics

software for them to arrive with the correct diagram that would lead to the success of the proposed

system. With that concept, it transformed into a block diagram. The block diagram is composed of

three different modules which are ultrasonic sensor, an LM-35 temperature sensor and a working

GSM Module for the SMS notification, by connecting each module to the Arduino Microcontroller.

Phase III. Implementation and Testing of the Design Project

9
 After designing the project, it was implemented accordingly using hardware and software.

The project was assembled through the use of Arduino software, the coding or programming along

with the functional verification testing of the device was done accordingly.

The testing stage was done to eliminate error. This is very important to make sure that the

design project is on top condition. Project evaluation is one of the important factors to achieve

quality of the designed project. The entire prototype was carefully tested for possible errors and to

make sure that the prototype as a whole was working accurately as wanted before it was

presented to the user.

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter discusses the analysis and interpretation of the result of the survey which will

be used to prove the possibilities of the design.

Project Design

As shown in Figure 1, there are two sensors used in this project --- HC - SR04 ultrasonic

sensor which offers excellent non-contact range detection with high accuracy and LM35

temperature sensor capable of measuring temperature from -55 degree celsius to +150 degree

celsius. The two sensors were directly connected to the Arduino UNO microcontroller that

10
processes the data and sends the status of the fishponds’ water level and temperature to the

SIM900A GSM module and piezo electric alarm. It will notify the fishpond owner when the water

level and temperature of the fishpond is in normal and in critical condition. When the water level

and temperature is in critical condition the device will alarm. It will be monitored everyday by the

use of those warning messages.

Figure 1. Block Diagram of Water level and Temperature Monitoring for fishponds
with SMS Notification

Figure 2 shows the wiring diagram that served as a guide in connecting the components

for the design project. A main device which is the Arduino UNO serves as the brain, while sensors

serve as the “eyes” and “ears.” The sensors communicated their data to the Arduino UNO whichs

process the information. The device also communicates status and alarm events to the designated

personnel. All sensors and modules were connected in the microcontroller to get the final output of

the project.

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 Figure 2. Wiring Diagram

Project Development

Figure 3 shows the HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor used to monitor the water level of the

fishponds.

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 Figure 3. Water Level Sensor of Final Prototype

Figure 4 presents the LM35 temperature sensor used to monitor water temperature of the

fishponds.

Figure 4. Temperature Sensor of Final Prototype

Figure 5 shows the piezo electric buzzer used in alarm system.

13
 Figure 5. Buzzer of Final Prototype

Figure 6 shows the SIM900A module used for SMS notification for water level and

temperature warning.

Figure 6. GSM Module of Final Prototype

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 Figure 7 shows the final prototype of the “Water Level and Temperature Monitoring for

Fishponds with SMS Notification” showing the different parts and components of the

prototype model that helped to achieve its goal and objectives. It also shows the different

location of every component of the design project. The monitoring system will start from the

moment the battery supplies the circuit with the electricity needed. Every components of the

project is active once it is turned on. The two sensors (HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and LM35

temperature sensor) will send signal to the Arduino Microcontroller. The Arduino controller will

then analyze the signal whether the condition is either critical or normal , once it reached critical

condition, it will trigger an alarm and sends SMS notification through the use of GSM module to

send the necessary message. Appendix K shows the list of hardware requirements and

specification of the device. It includes the recommended specification for each hardware

requirements. While Appendix C shows the SMS notification of water level and temperature

warning.

Figure 7. Final Prototype

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Project Evaluation

Table 2 shows the fish farmers’ and students’ rating on the functionality of the project. The

respondents strongly agree that the system performed its intended functions with an overall

weighted mean of 4.68 and 4.76 respectively.

Table 2. Respondents’ Rating on the Functionality

Criteria Fish farmers Students Descriptive
Weighted Weighted Equivalent
Mean Rating Mean
Rating
1. The device is used to monitor the water 5 4.97 Strongly Agree
level and temperature of the fishponds.

2. The device is notifying the fishpond 4.5 4.70 Strongly Agree

owner every 30 minutes.
3. The sensors are able to collect data 4.75 4.78 Strongly Agree
regarding the water level and temperature
of the fishpond despite that the sensor is
located underwater.
4. The system is able to notify the fishpond
owner when the water level and
temperature of the fishpond is in normal or 4.88 4.89 Strongly Agree
in critical condition.
`5. The system will trigger an alarm when
the water level and temperature of the
fishpond is in critical condition. 4.63 4.78 Strongly Agree
6. The system provides information through 4.5 4.68 Strongly Agree
database for future references.
7. The system works under a long period of 4.5 4.54 Strongly Agree
time.

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 Overall Weighted Mean 4.68 4.76 Strongly Agree

Table 3 shows the respondents’ assessment on the portability of the project. The fish

farmers’ overall weighted mean is 4.53 and the students’ overall weighted mean is 4.82 which imply

that the respondents strongly agree on the portability features of the system.

Table 3. Respondents’ Rating on the Portability

Criteria Fish farmers Students Descriptive
Weighted Weighted Equivalent
Mean Rating Mean Ratin
1. There is no significant hardware changes
expected when moving the system in a
different location. 4.75 4.73 Strongly Agree

2. There is no significant Software changes Strongly Agree

expected when moving the system in a
different location. 4.63 4.81

3. The system can run its application in any 4.5 4.81 Strongly Agree
types of fishpond.

4. The system is able to receive signal in 4.38 4.92 Strongly Agree

most places for its SMS notification
features.
5. The performance of the system depends 4.38 4.81 Strongly Agree
on the weather condition.

Overall Weighted Mean 4.53 4.82 Strongly Agree

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 Table 4 presents the summary of the ratings of the respondents on functionality and

portability of the Water Level and Temperature Monitoring for Fishponds with SMS Notification. The

fishfarmers and students strongly agree that the system is functional and portable with an overall

weighted mean of 4.61 and 4.79 respectively.

Table 4. Summary of Ratings

Criteria Fish farmers Total Students Descriptive
Weighted Mean Total Weighted Mean Equivalent
1. Functionality 4.68 4.76 Strongly Agree

2. Portability 4.53 4.82 Strongly Agree

Overall Weighted 4.61 4.79 Strongly Agree

Mean

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 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions

The Water level and temperature monitoring for fishponds with SMS notification was
developed with the use of components such as ultrasonic and temperature sensors, an Arduino
UNO microcontroller, a GSM module, and a buzzer. The system was deployed in fishponds in order
to test its capabilities.

Based from the results of the study the researchers proved that:

1. The study was able to achieve its objectives by proving the fact that the HC-SR04

ultrasonic sensor is capable of monitoring the water level of the fishpond by gathering

accurate readings on its water level which is crucial in fishpond monitoring.

2. The study was able to achieve its objectives by proving the fact that the LM35 temperature

sensor is capable of monitoring the temperature of the fishpond by gathering accurate

readings on its water temperature without the risk of damaging the sensor while reading

the fishpond’s temperature underwater.

3. The design project was able to provide an alarm system through the use of an electric

piezo buzzer which functions if certain conditions are met such as, whenever the water

level or temperature has gone out of their respective standard level, the buzzer will trigger

an alarming sound which will give a warning to nearby fish farmers telling them that the

fishpond is in a critical condition.

4. The design project can utilize its SMS features through the use of SIM900A GSM module

which already has a SIM card inserted within. The design project is able to send accurate

19
 readings of the current state of the fishpond‘s water level and temperature via SMS,

however, the design project can only send messages and unable to read received

messages from the user.

5. The evaluation done in relation to the respondents’ perceptions revealed that they strongly

agree that the system is functional and portable.

Recommendations

For the future researchers who want to develop and improve the design project, the following

are recommended:

1. Orientation and training may be conducted to fish farmers to ensure proper operation and

maintenance of the device.

2. Additional features such as humidity, ammonia and Ph levels may be included since these

are crucial to the growth of fish.

3. Further testing may be considered in the durability of the materials used (housing and

stand) to improve monitoring and heat tolerance.

4. Additional features on its function such as activation of monitoring through SMS.

5. Power source like solar panel may be considered in order to extend the duration of its

performance.

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