Dynamic modeling with microcontrollers in aquaculture

Dynamic models are important when transient behavior of the process is impo rtant in the control strategy. A non-stationary dynamic process occurs when the system variables or parameters change with time. This causes the proce ss to react in such a way that there is no steady state that can be describ ed by a set of equations. Aquaculture is the biological process of growing a species in an aquatic environment. Since the growing species never reach a steady state, the resultant process is non-stationary. As the species dep ends on its environment for growth it must be carefully monitored and contr olled which is highly management intensive. Microcontrollers offer an autom ated way to interact with the environment to adjust its inputs to maintain a high quality growing medium. A microcontrolled system was developed which was used to maintain a tilapia culture at the University of Florida.