A multilayer control architecture for greenhouse crop production in agro-industrial districts: Conceptual framework, prospects and challenges

Agriculture is one of the most important primary-industry sectors, in which automatic control plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainability. This paper presents a conceptual view for a greenhouse control architecture that merges past and present technological trends. The main prospects and challenges are described, considering not only aspects of crop production but also other issues related to fruit quality, the environment, resource-use efficiency within the energy-water-food nexus, and IoT-based solutions. Illustrative results are shown for the different layers of the architecture, focusing on process control and optimal resource dispatch for an experimental case using a real Mediterranean greenhouse that is part of an agro-industrial district also comprising a solar desalination plant and multiple auxiliary systems. These results contribute to understanding the different techniques and paradigms employed, and their consequent advantages and disadvantages.