pestOtracker

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  pestOtracker User Interface Design

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  pestoOtracker prototype

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  Acoustic Sensor

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  Infrared Sensor

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  Arduino Uno Board

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  Piezoelectric Buzzer

Inspiration

I am the president of my school’s speech and debate club and compete in debate tournaments on governmental policies. In almost every debate round, the topic of Climate Change and the steps we need to take to prevent biodiversity loss arises. I am also my school’s Vice President of the American Computer Science League (ACSL), which allows me to explore my passion for coding. Therefore, when this hackathon theme of “Streamlining Solutions for Global Challenges” came up, I knew I wanted to focus on Climate Change. I decided to pick the topic of pesticides’ impact on soil erosion, which leads to water contamination and biodiversity loss. After researching soil erosion more, I have developed an environmentally friendly solution to solve this global challenge through my project, pestOtracker!

What it does

Currently, pesticides are sprayed very often, usually four times a month, all around the large field, which poses major environmental concerns such as decreased biodiversity and contaminated soil, water, and vegetation. However, pestOtracker changes this issue as it detects the presence of pests and notifies the farmer to take corrective actions. This allows for farmers to spray pesticides only when necessary and only to the impacted area, thus significantly reducing its use.

How we built it

I used an arduino uno board, an acoustic sensor, an infrared sensor, a piezoelectric buzzer, and some wires to build my project. I wrote the software algorithm that incorporates the readings from the acoustic sensor and the infrared sensor to detect the presence of pests. Once these pests are detected, it uses the piezoelectric buzzer to notify the farmer.

Challenges we ran into

The challenge I ran into was coming up with an algorithm that incorporates the readings from both the sensors. However, I was able to persevere through this challenge after researching more about the data received from each sensor and allowed me to correctly code the software algorithm behind my project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am proud of the fact that my device works reliably under different testing conditions. This device is very useful for sustainable farming and to combat biodiversity loss and water contamination. Therefore, the working of this device is something I hold very dearly.

What we learned

I learned about the prominence of soil erosion and created a device in the span of the HackSwift hackathon to combat this global issue which was very insightful and academically giving.

What's next for pestOtracker

I believe pestOtracker is an unique, feasible, and scalable solution that uses intricate IoT sensors to make a world-changing device to combat the global issue of soil erosion. Therefore, I will combine my User Interface design with my prototype to create a final product that I will market to local companies and make accessible to farmers. I will enhance it further by adding WiFi to my device for remote monitoring and notification.

Built With

• arduino
• arduinoide
• c++
• github