Shrimp farming is highly dependent on maintaining optimal water quality, but traditional monitoring methods are inefficient, labor-intensive, and prone to inaccuracies. Farmers typically rely on manual sampling and periodic testing, which fail to capture sudden fluctuations in key parameters such as temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved solids (TDS). These fluctuations can quickly lead to shrimp stress, disease outbreaks, and mass mortality, significantly impacting productivity and profitability.

Furthermore, many shrimp farms are located in remote areas where Wi-Fi connectivity is unreliable or unavailable, making real-time monitoring and remote data access challenging. Existing solutions often require expensive infrastructure, frequent maintenance, and complex calibration processes, limiting their practicality for small and medium-scale farmers.

Without an automated, real-time monitoring system, farmers are unable to detect water quality issues early enough to take corrective action. This lack of timely intervention leads to higher operational costs, increased shrimp mortality rates, and reduced overall yield. There is a critical need for a cost-effective, real-time, and low-maintenance monitoring solution that ensures continuous data collection, instant alerts, and seamless remote access for improved farm management.

To address these challenges, we developed a smart shrimp monitoring buoy powered by the Particle B-SoM, designed for real-time, automated water quality monitoring in remote aquaculture environments.

The buoy continuously measures temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), and total dissolved solids (TDS) using high-precision sensors. The B-SoM module ensures reliable cellular connectivity, enabling farmers to access live water quality data remotely, even in areas without Wi-Fi coverage.

Key features of our solution include:

• Real-time monitoring: The system collects and transmits water quality data at regular intervals, allowing farmers to respond quickly to critical changes.
• Automated alerts: When parameters exceed safe thresholds, farmers receive instant notifications, enabling immediate corrective action.
• Solar-powered operation: The buoy is equipped with 6V solar panels and a DFRobot solar charge controller, ensuring continuous operation without frequent maintenance.
• Rugged and low-maintenance design: The waterproof, floating buoy is built to withstand harsh aquatic conditions while minimizing maintenance efforts.
• Scalability and affordability: The system is designed to be cost-effective and easily scalable, making it accessible to shrimp farmers of all sizes.

By providing automated, real-time, and remote water quality monitoring, our solution reduces shrimp mortality, improves farm productivity, and minimizes operational costs, leading to more sustainable and profitable shrimp farming.

B524 SoM

The B-SoM (Board System-on-Module) is the cornerstone of this shrimp monitoring project, functioning as a dependable IoT module for cellular connectivity. Built on the Particle IoT Platform-as-a-Service, it comes equipped with a free global embedded SIM card and data plan.

To interface with the module, we utilize the M.2 SoM Evaluation Board, a user-friendly breakout board that provides access to the B-SoM's essential pins and functionalities. This facilitates smooth development and deployment within our shrimp monitoring system. The evaluation board includes a variety of features, such as USB ports for both the nRF52840 MCU and the cellular modem, an SD card connector, an Ethernet connector, a barrel jack power connector, buttons, an RGB LED, a charge status LED, and a connector for a LiPo battery. These components collectively enhance the board's versatility and ease of use in the project.

For a quick start with the BSoM read this tutorial.

To utilize the full capabilities of the B524 SoM with the Particle platform, you’ll need to set up your Particle.io...