IoT-enabled digital twin with renewable energy for sustainable mudless eel aquaculture

Abstract

This research develops and tests a digital twin (DT)-based smart aquaculture system for mud-free eel farming through the integration of IoT sensing, artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction, edge computing, and solar energy-based automation. The approach used is experimental systems engineering, which includes system design, hardware and software implementation, virtual replication, and physical-digital two-way synchronization. The system utilizes ESP32-based pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia (NH₃), and turbidity sensors, MQTT communication, and Raspberry Pi edge computing. Water quality prediction is performed using long short-term memory (LSTM) and random forest regression. The dataset consists of 30 days of real-time data covering water quality, actuator activity (aerator, pump, feeder), and energy production and consumption by IoT sensors and energy meters. Results show that LSTM excels by R² = 0.94; RMSE = 0.14; MAPE <5% and synchronization latency <1.5 seconds. Solar energy integration reduces energy consumption by 54 67%, whilst automation increases eel survival rate by 78% to 91%. The novelty of this research lies in the first integrated implementation of DT, AIoT, and solar energy-based automation in mud-free eel farming. The proposed framework provides a precise, scalable, and sustainable solution for the development of modern aquaculture.