Sustainable Indoor Intelligent Aquaponics Farming based on Industry 4.0 (Aquaponics4.0)

我们的社会正面临着人均可用农地存量长期减少的问题。据联合国粮食及农业组织 (FAO) 称，到 2050 年，人均耕地面积将减少到 1970 年的三分之一。利用鱼菜共生技术，在同一土地面积上建造多层高层农场，可以提供增加可用农业土地数量的替代方案。鱼菜共生延伸了温室水培的模式，对除草剂、农药、肥料的要求更高。鱼菜共生所需的水比户外农业少得多，因为灰水被回收并且蒸发较少。如今，随着对能源效率、连通性和可持续性的需求，食品行业需要吸引研究人员将互联的网络物理系统引入鱼菜共生技术。该研究计划旨在将过去几十年开发的垂直农业初始模式提升到最先进的水平，并利用加拿大制造的技术来解决现有垂直农场流程中的技术差距。重点关注集成网络物理系统的工业 4.0 原则，并继之前的 ENGAGE 资助研究（我们设计了智能货架系统）之后，本研究将设计、原型化和测试网络物理垂直农业系统。

Our society is facing a long-term decreasing available stock of agricultural land per capita. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by 2050, arable land per person will decrease to one-third of the amount available in 1970. Using aquaponics, high-rise farms, with many levels on the same footprint of land, provide alternatives that can increase the amount of agricultural land available. Aquaponics extends the model of greenhouse hydroponic farming, with better requirements for herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Aquaponics requires much less water than outdoor farming because gray water is recycled and there is less evaporation. Today, with demands for energy efficiency, connectivity and sustainability, the food industry needs to engage researchers to bring connected cyber-physical systems to aquaponics technologies. This research program aims to bring the initial model of vertical farming, developed in previous decades, to a state-of-the-art level and use Canadian-made technologies to address technology gaps in the existing vertical farm processes. Focusing on Industry 4.0 principles of integrated cyber-physical systems, and following the previous ENGAGE grant research, where we designed an intelligent racking system, this research will design, prototype and test, cyber-physical vertical farming systems.