A team of students and lecturers from the ITB Community Service Program (CPM), under the ITB Center for Instrumentation and Communication (CITC), held a community service project which was aimed to provide education and training for farmers on the application of automation systems in agriculture. The lecturers who are participating in this project are Dr. Aep Supriyadi, a lecturer from Agricultural Engineering ITB, School of Life Sciences and Technology, who is also the team leader, Dr. Estiyanti Ekawati, a lecturer from Engineering Physics ITB, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, and two lecturers from Electrical Engineering Unjani, Dede Irawan Saputra, S.Pd., M.T., and Irvan Budiawan, S.T., M.T.

The project is also joined by ITB students through the Independent Learning – Independent Campus (MBKM) program. There are six students that participated in this project, namely Selvia, Widya Ayu Salsabila, and Rizky Arif who are students from the Undergraduate Program in Engineering Physics, Faculty of Industrial Engineering ITB, along with Nanda Qonita, Rachma Kharismawati, and Novan Kopriadi who are students from the Undergraduate Program in Agricultural Engineering, School of Life Sciences and Technology ITB.

The project began in June 2021 and was opened with a webinar on Agricultural Automation System Training, which was held on 18 June 2021. Then on 19 June 2021, the CPM team visited MTS Darul Hufad Hydroponic Farm, which is located in Bojong Hamlet, Cipacing Village, Jatinangor District, to provide live training on the application of agricultural automation to the DFT (Deep Flow Technique) and NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) hydroponic systems, floating rafts, and polybag for plants cultivation.

The team held their second live training on 20 June 2021 for the Cimahi Hydroponic Community. In this second live training, the participants practiced how to measure environmental humidity, soil moisture, and water temperature using electronic sensors.

In this automation system, the sensors will send the data that they had collected to the ESP8266 microcontroller. Then, the controller will adjust how devices such as mist pump, nutrition pump, and aerator work to produce the most optimal environmental conditions. The controller is also equipped with a feature to transmit data over the internet. In addition to that, the data can be accessed through a phone application called Blynk, this allows farmers to monitor the temperature and humidity data, and even remotely control the pump operation.

The training was well-received by the participants. According to Jalaluddin, a representative of the farmer community, the training was helpful and provided the farmers with many insights regarding the application of gadgets in agriculture.

According to Dr. Aep Supriyadi's explanation, automation in agriculture can be developed in accordance with the needs of the farmer and the problems that exist in the field. The two lecturers from Unjani, Irvan Budiawan and Dede Irawan, also voiced their aspirations. They said that in order for an automation system to be applied successfully, it must be installed by a competent and well-trained technician. The team hopes that this training can provide farmers in Jatinangor and Cimahi with the necessary skills to build and manage their own automated agriculture.

*This article has been published in a Media Indonesia rubric, Rekacipta ITB. The complete article can be read at
https://pengabdian.lppm.itb.ac.id

Reporter: Camilla Rosanti Budimansyah (Urban and Regional Planning, 2020)
Translator: Favian Aldilla R (Civil Engineering, 2019)