Team Status Report – 9/19/26
One of the most significant risks for our project is ensuring that the sensors provide accurate and consistent measurements once they are integrated into the full system. In particular, the O₂ sensor requires a pump to get an accurate reading, and readings from sensors such as CO₂, NPK, and soil moisture may be affected by different soil conditions. We plan to manage this risk by testing and calibrating each sensor individually before integrating them and comparing their measurements against known or reference values. If one of the sensors ends up not being accurate enough, we can look into replacing it with another option or adjusting our design based on what information we can reliably collect. Another risk is the automated irrigation system, since we need to ensure that it responds to low soil moisture without accidentally overwatering the plant. We plan to test the irrigation system separately and include software thresholds and controls before integrating it with the rest of the system.
One change we made to our original design was replacing the ammonia sensor with an NPK sensor. After further research, we determined that directly measuring nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium would provide more useful information about soil nutrient conditions and potential over-fertilization than the ammonia measurement we originally planned. Additionally the NPK sensor is also cheaper and more reliable. This change does not significantly affect our budget, since our initial bill of materials is still well within the project budget. It also does not require a major change to our schedule because we made the decision before buying and integrating the sensors so our overall schedule remains the same.
Team Status Report – 9/26/26
This week, we moved from planning toward implementation. We completed the budget for the full project and placed the component orders. We also researched each component at a higher level to better understand its role in the system and what we will need to consider during integration. With the orders placed, our next steps are to begin testing components as they arrive and continue developing the app.
Sensor accuracy remains a key project risk. We plan to test and calibrate the sensors individually before integrating them into the full system, especially where readings may vary with soil conditions. We will also test the irrigation controls separately to make sure the system responds to low soil moisture without overwatering.
We finally continued also working on the design presentation.
Part A – Public health, safety, and welfare written by Sanya Ahuja
SoilSphere is designed to help gardeners understand their soil conditions and make decisions about watering and fertilization. Better feedback may support plant growth and the reliability of small-scale food produce which relates to overall welfare. Clear recommendations may also reduce stress of caring for gardnes. Because the system can also dispense water near people, pets, and food crops, safety must guide its design as well by the reservoirs being closed and labeled, and the electronics protected fronm rain and fluid lines.
Part B – Social Factors written by Anjali Pillai
One of SoilSphere’s main goals is to create a product that is more affordable and useful for the general home gardening community. Our product will not only be cheaper, but the app and recommendation system will also help make complicated data and numbers easier to understand for everyday users. Because of this, we hope the product can bring gardening communities together and help bridge the gap between highly knowledgeable gardeners and people who are just starting out.
Part C – Economic Factors By Aravind Gunasekaran
SoilSphere is made to be an affordable alternative to commercial, high-end, soil testing and monitoring devices. Soil equipment is usually very expensive for home and small scale gardeners. The system is build from low cost and widely available parts like the ESP32, moisture sensor, and solar panels. The use of renewable energy also brings down the cost of the overall device. The automated irrigation system controls the flow of water to only be used when the soil is dry, reducing water waste and plant loss. Soil gas reading can also help gardeners avoid overspending on fertilizers that they dont need.
Team Status Report – 10/3/26
This week we continued to work on the design of our project and started working on the design written report. We are taking the feedback from the design presentation and what we learned from our peers’ presentations in order to create a more polished design report. This will make it easier for us to implement everything once the sensors start coming in.
The sensor accuracy is still a risk that will be tested as the sensors arrive and while we wait on that we are continuing to look into the ECE specific design and implementation to make it as easy as possible to build once the materials arrive.
Team status Report – 10/17/26
This week we spent a lot of time working on the design written report. We got feedback from the design proposal presentation about the ECE complexity of our project so we spent time thinking through the software aspect of our project and how we can make it more complex. We also went over our designs in more detail to make sure that there was no other materials missing from what was ordered so that we could get started building after fall break. Most of our materials have come in now so we can start building this week and hopefully have some more clarity on the sensor accuracy risk that we have been concerned about for the past few weeks.
Part A written by Sanya Ahuja:
Part A: Global Factors
Our project considers how the soil monitoring system could be used by farmers and agricultural communities beyond Pittsburgh and outside of academic or technology-focused environments. By using affordable, solar-powered sensors and a simple app interface, the system aims to make soil monitoring more accessible to farmers with limited access to electricity or expensive testing equipment. The system could help farmers make more informed decisions about irrigation, fertilization, and crop selection, improving resource efficiency and supporting more sustainable agricultural practices across different climates and growing conditions.
Part B – Cultural Factors written by Anjali Pillai
One of SoilSphere’s main goals is to make soil health monitoring more accessible to people from different cultural backgrounds and gardening communities. Different communities have their own gardening traditions, preferred plants, and methods of maintaining healthy soil. Our product aims to respect these differences by providing recommendations based on the specific soil conditions and plants that users want to grow, rather than assuming that everyone follows the same gardening practices. Additionally, our app will present complicated soil data in a simple and understandable way, making it easier for people with different levels of gardening experience and technical knowledge to use the system. By doing this, we hope to make SoilSphere useful to a wider range of gardening communities while allowing users to maintain their own gardening traditions.
Part C – Environmental Factors, by Aravind Gunasekaran
SoilSphere si designed to help users care for their plants while conserving natural resources. Out automated irrigation system waters the plant only when soil moisture drops below a certain threshold, which prevents overwattering, water waste, and runoff. afety limits on pump run time and a cooldown between cycles ensure a sensor or pump failure can’t waste the reservoir, and keeping the system water-only avoids fertilizer leaching into the surrounding soil and waterways. Our CO₂ and O₂ sensors also show users how healthy and well-aerated their soil is, without digging up or disturbing it. Finally, the system runs on solar power with low-energy components and is built from durable, replaceable parts, reducing both electricity use and electronic waste.