v2 is a smart IoT controller board with hardware and software features that makes it suitable for critical and industrial grade supervisory applications such as smart aquaponics.

The v2 smart controller is a linux(ar9331) - arduino mega (atmega2560) based microcontroller board that integrates numerous shields/hats/capes and software all on one board. The v2 smart controller is the basis of our smart IoT platform that allows one to remotely detect and respond to any physical environment anywhere in the world. the v2 platform and API's are optimized for data-driven applications that require converting physical processes into data for logging, monitoring, visualizations, alerting and remote control. The v2 is your answer for bringing the power of the data and the internet into your physical application.

It's easy to use arduino code or visualize most sensors with influxdb and grafana using v2. The overview is shown below. All the code comes as part of the v2 platform. All you need are sensors.

Typical v2 grafana visualizations look as follows. A tutorial for this can be found here

Why did you make it?

Smart aquaponics is really about farming bacteria to raise fish and plants in a recirculating water system using robotic technologies. Some classifications of the nitrifying bacteria involved in these systems take up to 48 hours to undergo binary fission yet can die off within seconds. Many of our projects are in remote locations, meaning we need a reliable platform to monitor, visualize and control these critical and sensitive processes.

Generally, an Arduino, raspberry pi, beaglebone or other similar boards can be used with numerous shields, hats or caps. The add-on nature of these boards and the development processes involved bring about many real life problems we have had with remote systems. In our applications, there are no opportunities for rebooting your computer when system related issues occur – fish die.

What makes it special?

Many of the first generation boards are built around Arduino's educational model, which means they lack basic industrial grade features you expect in any standard supervisory control application.

Our board was born from the real life problems we encountered in our applications, our technologies have grown from pivoting over stumbling blocks. this means we design practical things for humans. v2's design is suitable for those that want to hit the ground running, interact with their data, their application and their customers as compared to those that want to learn about electronics and computers the hard way. That said, v2 comes with all the tools required to teach basic/advanced hands-on robotic and software technologies without the experiences that one may really not need.

Early adopters

This lot of boards is the first test run of 100 boards. We have found various bugs and have been able to work around them. For example there is a timing issue during bootup when the atmega2560 can interrupt the ar9331 uboot process. By using the 9331->2560 watchdog, we force the proper boot sequence between both microcomputers. This is because we forgot to include a controlled power reset circuit on the 2560. This will be fixed in the next boards. system maintenance upgrades can be pulled or pushed remotely to the v2 boards through the platform.