- The client
University of Pisa
The project was born from the collaboration between eLabor and the University of Pisa, with the aim of developing a tool to support scientific research and teaching in the field of automation and environmental control. The customer needed to simulate the behaviour of a greenhouse accurately, relying on mathematical models validated by the scientific literature, with an accessible interface and a tool that could also be easily adopted in educational contexts.
- Needs
The challenge to be faced
The main requirement was to have a web-based software system capable of simulating the dynamic behaviour of a greenhouse, starting from a series of scientific equations.
- This simulator was to be useful not only to make predictions under particular conditions, but also to support academic research on control, optimisation and analysis issues.
- Furthermore, it was important that the platform was suitable for educational use, facilitating interactive learning for students.
- The system had to be flexible, capable of handling multiple greenhouse configurations, accepting input data from standard files (such as CSV and JSON), running customisable simulations, displaying results in graphical form and allowing the export of the data obtained.
- Everything had to be based on open source technologies, in line with the intention of releasing the solution under a free licence (GPLv3), making it a shared asset of the scientific and academic community.
- The project
Interactive simulation of virtual greenhouses
eLabor responded to these needs with the GreenHouse project, a web application developed entirely with open source technologies. GreenHouse allows users to configure and store several virtual greenhouses, each with specific parameters, to import input data sets from structured files, and to run simulations through a simple and intuitive interface. The platform allows simulation results to be visualised in real time via interactive graphs, and also offers temporal navigation tools within the data. Once the simulation is complete, the results can be exported for further analysis or archiving.
The user interface is designed to ensure a smooth user experience even for non-expert users, thanks to the use of modern web technologies such as HTML, CSS, Bootstrap and JSP. The system is based on Java EE, uses Spring for the application logic and MongoDB as the database, and is easily installable both on the university’s internal servers and on cloud platforms.L’interfaccia utente è stata progettata in modo da garantire un’esperienza d’uso fluida anche per utenti non esperti, grazie all’uso di tecnologie web moderne come HTML, CSS, Bootstrap e JSP. Il sistema è basato su Java EE, sfrutta Spring per la logica applicativa e MongoDB come database, ed è facilmente installabile sia su server interni all’università sia su piattaforme cloud.
Practical and shareable platform
The project led to the realisation of a practical, flexible and easy-to-use software, which allows the complete simulation of greenhouse operation. The GreenHouse application has proved useful for both research and teaching, thanks to its ability to clearly show how environmental variables change under different initial conditions.
Open source for research and education
The open source approach chosen by eLabor ensures that the project has a good perspective over time: GreenHouse can be updated, improved and shared by researchers, students and teachers. This work demonstrates how technology can be put at the service of science and education, offering useful, accessible and sustainable tools. At a time when controlling the environment and saving energy are crucial issues, a simulator like GreenHouse can help link theory to practice.