Integrated Sensors for Smart Oil Palm Bio - Laboratory

The tissue culture laboratory provides the oil palm industry with innovations for the production of improved planting materials and information on the molecular biology of tissue culture processes. Research has shown that factors such as temperature, humidity, liquid, phase and gas compositions, are critical in producing quality clonal materials using tissue culture process. Therefore, it is necessary to provide good physical and chemical conditions for production of quality products. Consequently, sensors are required to monitor and record the data in growth room. All sensors will monitor critical parameters that focus on temperature, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene and also an optical sensor for liquid phase and composition that will be linked to the database and analysis software for storing and analyzing the monitored data. The integrated sensors are low cost because it used local products and low power consumption and fabricated to suit the biological laboratory environment. The purpose of these integrated biotechnology sensors system is to serve as an interface among user, as the disturbance analysis program and an expert system in identifying the disturbance. The system would monitor via a smart RFID telemetry system and provide automatically email or short message (SMS) notifications upon identification of a disturbance module. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic wireless identification method using radio waves, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data from integrated sensors using devices called RFID tags or transponders. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader which make easier for data transportation. For the best communication path, active RFID tags will be equipped with autonomous networking; which greatly improves the utility of the device. Eventually, this smart RFID technology system could improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management for oil palm tissue culture growth. Manuscript received November 27, 2008. This work was supported in part by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and National University of Malaysia. Noor Hafizah Abdul Aziz was with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA. She is now with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Technologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA (phone: +603-5543 6386; fax: +603-5543 5077; e-mail: [email protected]). Ahmad Jais Alias was with Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. He is now with Consultation and Training Centre, IKIM (PPLI), 2, Langgak Tunku, Off Jalan Duta, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA (e-mail: [email protected]). Ahmad Tarmizi Hashim is with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA (e-mail: [email protected]). Rozita Mustafa is with College Of Engineering, Electronic & Communication, UNITEN, 43009 Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA (e-mail: [email protected]). Suzi Seroja Sarnin, Norfishah Ab Wahab, and Wan Norsyafizan W. Muhamad are with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Technologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA.