A multivariate soil temperature interval forecasting method for precision regulation of plant growth environment

Foliage plants have strict requirements for their growing environment, and timely and accurate soil temperature forecasts are crucial for their growth and health. Soil temperature exhibits by its non-linear variations, time lags, and coupling with multiple variables, making precise short-term multi-step forecasts challenging. To address this issue, this study proposes a multivariate forecasting method suitable for soil temperature forecasting. Initially, the influence of various environmental factors on soil temperature is analyzed using the gradient boosting tree model, and key environmental factors are selected for multivariate forecasting. Concurrently, a point and interval forecasting model combining the Neural Hierarchical Interpolation for Time Series Forecasting (N-HiTS) and Gaussian likelihood function is proposed, providing stable soil temperature forecasting for the next 20 to 120 minutes. Finally, a multi-objective optimization algorithm is employed to search for optimal initial parameters to ensure the best performance of the forecasting model. Experiments have demonstrated that the proposed model outperforms common models in predictive performance. Compared to Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model, the proposed model reduces the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) for forecasting soil temperatures over the next 20, 60, and 120 minutes by 0.065, 0.138, and 0.125, respectively. Moreover, the model can output stable forecasting intervals, effectively mitigating the instability associated with multi-step point forecasts. This research provides a scientific method for precise regulation and disaster early warning in facility cultivation environments.