Low-Cost Microcontroller-Enabled Embedded System for Assessing Jute Retting Water Quality Parameter

Quality of jute fiber depends to a very great extent on the quality of water used for retting. Efficient assessment of water quality is crucial to enable decision-makers to interpret this information and execute necessary management practices. Hence, the present study introduced a microcontroller-based embedded system to measure temperature, pH, turbidity, and TDS of retting water. The developed system mainly encompasses temperature sensor, pH sensor, turbidity sensor, TDS sensor, Arduino ATmega 2560 microcontroller, MicroSD card module, and LCD. Field validation established a non-significant difference between actual and measured values of temperature (F42,1 = 1.052, p = .480), pH (F42,1 = 1.116, p = .297), Turbidity (F42,1 = 0.084, p = .774), and TDS (F42,1 = 0.116, p = .992) at 95% level of significance. Developed embedded system was also provided with two LEDs, i.e. green for “In progress” and red for “completed”, and a buzzer to alert a person about the status of the retting of jute plants. Developed embedded system is easy-to-build, easy-to-use, and cost effective (US $147.3) for determination of water quality parameter as well as end-point of retting which may be helpful for research and academic purpose. This development may also render an avenue for controlled retting of jute which may help farmers to produce high-quality fibers.

黄麻纤维的品质在极大程度上取决于沤麻用水的水质。高效的水质评估对于决策者解读相关信息并执行必要的管理措施至关重要。因此，本研究提出了一种基于微控制器的嵌入式系统，用于检测沤麻用水的温度、pH值、浊度和总溶解固体（Total Dissolved Solids, TDS）。所开发的系统主要集成了温度传感器、pH传感器、浊度传感器、TDS传感器、Arduino ATmega 2560微控制器、MicroSD卡模块以及液晶显示屏（Liquid Crystal Display, LCD）。野外验证结果表明，在95%显著性水平下，温度（F₄₂,₁=1.052，p=0.480）、pH值（F₄₂,₁=1.116，p=0.297）、浊度（F₄₂,₁=0.084，p=0.774）与总溶解固体（F₄₂,₁=0.116，p=0.992）的实测值与系统测量值之间无显著差异。该嵌入式系统还配备了两颗状态指示灯：绿色指示灯用于指示"In progress"（沤麻进行中），红色指示灯用于指示"completed"（沤麻完成），并搭载一枚蜂鸣器以提醒操作人员黄麻沤麻的当前状态。本研发的嵌入式系统具备搭建简便、操作易用、成本低廉（造价为147.3美元）的优势，可用于水质参数检测以及沤麻终点判定，有望为科研与学术活动提供助力。该研发成果还可为黄麻可控沤麻提供可行路径，进而帮助农户生产高品质的黄麻纤维。