Ericsson funded RM 41,000 for UPM to come out with Smart IoT Aquaponic system. Two models have been developed, one is at Faculty of Agriculture, UPM and the other is located at UTM-Ericsson Innovation Centre for 5G which uses the same concept and functionality. Aquaponic technology combines aquaculture and hydroponic systems where the hydroponic plants utilize nutrients from fish feces or fish feed. The concept is based on nutrient recycling through integration of organisms with different trophic level. The system combines ‘extractive’ aquaculture species (e.g., plants) and ‘fed’ aquaculture species (e.g., fishes). This system not only provides better growth of the cultured animals/plants, but is also able to remove nutrient of the animal effluent through nutrient uptake by the extractive aquaculture species.

Through internet of things, continuous water quality monitoring which is a crucial aspect in aquaponic management could be done through intelligent data acquisition, communication and processing. Internet of things or IoT is a network of Internet connected devices such as sensors that are able to collect and exchange data through a wireless network router (3G, LoRa) and cloud server. Key parameters in aquaponics system for plants include temperature, electrical conductivity and humidity sensor, LED grow light, nitrate sensor while the fish tank sensors include dissolved oxygen, water temperature, water pH, ammonia and water level sensors. All readings can be monitored and controlled real time through mobile phone and web.