Before drafting the design, we must first consider the principal feature of the farm: automation. By building the database first, the structure can account for mechanisms and variability beforehand. Automation fails without a formal data contract, so the database is the first design step.
The plant-parameter database defines crop-specific targets and thresholds that translate biological growth requirements into measurable variables usable by sensors, automation logic, and control systems. Rather than optimizing for scale or prediction, the database is designed to enable closed-loop control, repeatability, and modular expansion across crops and growth stages. By formalizing biological requirements into structured data before implementation, the system avoids hard-coded logic, enables reuse across crops, and prevents automation decisions from being embedded directly in firmware.
This page outlines the conceptual data strategy and schema intent. Detailed control behavior and execution are defined separately within the Automation / Control Logic subsystem as the project evolves.
Within the overall system architecture, the database functions as a shared reference layer between sensing, automation, and actuation. The strategy is defined by three aspects:
This section will list static sustenance requirements needed to support the crop’s life, such as:
These criteria will explicitly define acceptable operating bounds on an individual crop. These ranges will be what enable alerts, dosage amounts, and pump control, and will prevent invisible failures such as root stress or nutrient lockout.
This section will contain specific requirements for the different stages of the crop’s growth cycle: seedling, vegetative, and harvest.
It will map stage-dependent targets for: