A Low-Cost and Reliable IoT-Based NFT Hydroponics System Using ESP32 and MING Stack

This paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT-based automation system for indoor hydroponic plant cultivation using the Nutrient Film Technique.The system employs an ESP32-based controller with multiple sensors and actuators.These enable real-time monitoring and control of pH, TDS, temperature, humidity, light, tank level, and flow conditions.A modular five-layer architecture was developed.It combines the MING stack, which includes MQTT communication, InfluxDB time-series storage, Node-RED flow processing, and Grafana visualization.The system also includes a Flutter-based mobile app for remote access.Key features include temperature-compensated calibration, hysteresisbased control algorithms, dual-mode operation, TLS/ACL security, and automated alarm mechanisms.These features enhance reliability and safety.Experimental results showed stable pH/TDS regulation, dependable actuator and alarm responses, and secure long-term data logging.The proposed open-source and low-cost platform is scalable.It provides a solution for small-scale producers and urban farming, bridging the gap between academic prototypes and production-grade smart agriculture systems.In comparison to related works that mainly focus on monitoring, this study advances the state of the art.It combines continuous time-series logging, secure communication, flow verification, and integrated safety mechanisms to provide a reproducible testbed for future smart agriculture research.