Automation and control of greenhouse implemented technologies: a review

Abstract

Protected agriculture is a way of producing food by creating a microclimate that allows protecting a crop from the risks inherent in free exposure; in this sense, its purpose is to guarantee the optimal and appropriate conditions of internal variables to generate reproduction, development and growth of plants with quality and commercial opportunity. In this way, the application of technologies to crops has extended considerably due to the need to optimize this productive alternative: in this respect, there are multiple scattered investigations based on particular designs of elements such as greenhouses. Therefore, this article shows a review on protected agriculture aimed at the automation of greenhouses in countries that have implemented emerging technologies in this field and the consequent control generated in the stages of the production cycle through sensors, actuators, specific covers or robots designed to perform tasks such as spraying or harvesting, among others. Key analysis elements are presented on the modeling of the phenomenon that underlies the implementations, so that systems with the necessary adaptation are achieved for any crop, taking into account its type, cost and location, defining a baseline on the technologies that make it functional and efficient.