Smart Low-Cost Control System for Fish Farm Facilities

Projections indicate aquaculture will produce 106 million tonnes of fish by 2030, emphasizing the need for efficient and sustainable practices. New technologies can provide a valuable tool for adequate fish farm management. The aim of this paper is to explore the factors affecting fish well-being, the design of control systems for aquaculture, and the proposal of a smart system based on algorithms to improve efficiency and sustainability. First, we identify the domains affecting fish well-being: the production domain, abiotic domain, biotic domain, and control systems domain. Then, we evaluate the interactions between elements present in each domain to evaluate the key aspects to be monitored. This is conducted for two types of fish farming facilities: cages in the sea and recirculating aquaculture systems. A total of 86 factors have been identified, of which 17 and 32 were selected to be included in monitoring systems for sea cages and recirculating aquaculture systems. Then, a series of algorithms are proposed to optimize fish farming management. We have included predefined control algorithms, energy-efficient algorithms, fault tolerance algorithms, data management algorithms, and a smart control algorithm. The smart control algorithms have been proposed considering all the aforementioned factors, and two scenarios are simulated to evaluate the benefits of the smart control algorithm. In the simulated case, the turbidity when the control algorithm is used represents 12.5% of the turbidity when not used. Their use resulted in a 35% reduction in the energy consumption of the aerator system when the smart control was implemented.