ECU tech center sparks growth for farmers and students

ECU tech center sparks growth for farmers and students

Enrique Martinez doesn't know much about farming. He doesn't even own a plant.

"My mom has a lot of plants. She's a big plant person," said Martinez, an East Carolina University senior. "She likes flowers and gardening, all that stuff. And I'm like, 'Don't involve me.'"

But Martinez doesn't need to know a lot about farming to impact agriculture in eastern North Carolina. The information and cybersecurity technology student is working on a smart agriculture senior capstone project through ECU's Center for IoT (Internet of Things) Engineering and Innovation (CIEI).

Housed in the College of Engineering and Technology, the center enables and facilitates the research and development of IoT solutions for a wide range of fields, such as environmental monitoring, water management, smart farming and intelligent building management.

The center developed the Platform for IoT Open Networks (PITON) in which sensors collect and analyze data in real time, providing valuable information that is crucial for successful decision-making.

"These stakeholders who do not have deep technological expertise need the tools, such as PITON, but also the education and the innovation guidance to find creative solutions to today's problems," said Dr. Ciprian Popoviciu, CIEI director and associate professor in the Department of Technology Systems. "CIEI is the incubator for IoT solutions developed through collaborative, interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder work.

"CIEI's mission is to increase awareness of IoT in underserved communities, provide IoT education and training, and to support - through the PITON platform, the team's expertise and partnerships - the ideation, development and testing of IoT-based solutions."

Project with RIoT

Outside of Wilson next to a gravel parking lot, Popoviciu and his students gather in a greenhouse that is part of "The Source." With backing from the city of Wilson and funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, The Source is operated by Greenlight Community Broadband and RIoT, a nonprofit that aims to drive innovation for corporations, governments and smart city initiatives. The Source serves as trial grounds where growers can integrate technology to make agriculture more sustainable and profitable.

In the greenhouse, local farmers can explore the process of growing unique crops, such as plants that are used to make matcha, a Japanese green tea. ECU students installed and manage sensors that monitor air temperature and humidity as well as soil humidity and pH. The PITON platform supports the instrumentation, enabling the facility operators and farmers to remotely and precisely control the environment and optimize growing.

Through PITON and other innovative solutions integrated with PITON, the environmental controls can be fully automated, such as irrigation through a system pioneered by Touio, an IoT software service company in Charlotte.

"We're able to wirelessly communicate and have an online dashboard and be able to set and manage all these things online," said Koray Neely, an information and cybersecurity technology senior from Wake Forest. "That's really where this ties in with having an ICT degree. Wireless communication all ties in with networking. Having an online dashboard for these things, you need it to be secure."

Neely said the capstone project allows him to apply classroom lessons in a real-world environment, something he knows will look good to employers when he graduates later this year.

"I am happy to be out here. It's a fun opportunity," he said. "Not only is this something we do because we have to do it, especially for me, I enjoy it."

Martinez said he enjoys working in two worlds that seem so different but benefit from each other.

"The idea of integrating agriculture with technology and seeing how technology can make farmers' lives better and much easier, I think that's pretty cool," said Martinez, a native of Los Angeles who grew up in Raleigh.

The students see the results of their work every time they walk into the greenhouse where the plants are growing and thriving.

"I see the outcome. I know what I'm working for," Martinez said. "I'm really proud, and I'm learning something from this experience, too."

The Big Picture

Popoviciu said the students learn more than just technology with such projects. He said they realize the importance of meeting a customer's needs through technology, not using technology just for technology's sake.

"The students have a unique opportunity to get requirements directly from stakeholders and use the PITON platform to test and implement them," Popoviciu said. "RIoT's mission is to promote economic development, so they bring together state and local resources, businesses, startups and farmers to stimulate the development of creative and sustainable solutions. This is a great environment for students to learn about problem definition, about collaboration and innovation. Our students get to be involved in an idea incubator environment where they benefit from amazing guidance from the RIoT team."

Greg Dunko serves as RIoT's director of strategy, with Charlie Bourne serving as project lead.

"This is a space to do real-world trials and commercialization, and this is a place where educators can help students learn to adopt different technology," Dunko said. "… We are really excited about this partnership between The Source, RIoT Labs and ECU. We are proud to support eastern North Carolina farmers with eastern North Carolina solutions like the PITON data platform from ECU."

Popoviciu said CIEI and projects like those with RIoT match ECU's mission of student success, public service and regional transformation.

"It provides students a unique, hands-on learning experience where they get a chance to apply the knowledge acquired at ECU and learn how to run a real-life project while having clear and positive impact," he said. "The scope of this work has direct impact on the future of communities in eastern North Carolina, and this project supports the work of multiple other efforts, thus promoting the ECU brand as both educational and an R1 institution."

With that in mind, Popoviciu and research partner Colby Sawyer, an ECU graduate who is now an instructor in the Department of Technology Systems, are committed to CIEI and the PITON platform because they know its value to students, researchers and the community.

"We invite ECU researchers and students to bring their projects to CIEI, and we will provide the IoT technology that will empower their expertise," Popoviciu said. "We have a big vision for eastern North Carolina and beyond, but we can achieve it only through partners and collaborators."

After all, technology isn't going anywhere.

"Technology's never going to stop. It's never going to get to an end," Martinez said. "Technology's always moving. It's moving a lot faster than we are, and we have to be the ones to be able to catch up with technology. I'm excited to see where the world takes us."

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