Digital Twins for Hydroponic Farms Management: Communication Needs and Challenges

Management of Hydroponic farms can be very demanding in term of time, effort and costs. The system integrates different modules: manure transformation (as source of nutrient solution), rainwater capture, environmental control, and hydroponic irrigation system, which should be all well-orchestrated to ensure efficient use of resources, and production of high-quality crops. Digital Twins (DT) is an emerging promising technology that could enhance both productivity and sustainability of hydroponic farms, by enabling automated resource management, crop monitoring, and predictive analytics. The DT coupling the physical with the virtual world, leverages on Internet of Things (IoT) technology for monitoring the environment, and for controlling the different ventilation, cooling, heating, and lighting systems, used to optimize environmental conditions. The effectiveness of the DT depends on the data flow between real and digital components. This work first, presents a DT framework for hydroponic farms, proposed in the LIFE project, funded under the Green Era Hub program; then, it discusses the technical challenges, spanning from data synchronization and data interoperability. Finally, it presents the approach adopted to develop a robust communication and computing network infrastructure. To validate the technical feasibility and economic viability of the proposed DT framework, a pilot farm deployment is currently underway in Luxembourg, demonstrating the system’s potential for scalability, adaptability, and real-world impact. First insights from the pilot deployment are shared, together with future work, as foreseen in the project workplan.