Design and experimental implementation of an ADRC-based intelligent broiler house prototype with solar power supply and web-platform integration

Under climate and energy challenges alongside surging global demand for poultry meat, intensive broiler houses must meet stringent new requirements for both production volume and quality while ensuring economic viability. Consequently, these facilities require intelligent climate control solutions, which represent the most critical factor in the production chain. To foster technological advancement, this study presents the design and implementation of an innovative autonomous broiler house prototype, monitored and supervised via an IoT-based web platform and operated with a photovoltaic power supply to ensure energy autonomy. An Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) strategy was implemented in the developed system to automatically and in real time regulate indoor environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, and air quality (NH₃ and CO₂ levels), while air velocity and differential pressure were monitored as resultant parameters of the operating conditions. To evaluate and validate the proposed approach, experiments were conducted comparing its performance against a PID control strategy over a 32-day test period during the summer season. The results demonstrate substantial improvements in hygrothermal regulation using ADRC, achieving a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.72 °C for temperature and 1.26 % for humidity, compared to 0.95 °C and 2.06 % with PID controller, respectively. The maximum recorded CO₂ and NH₃ concentrations with ADRC (1302 ppm and 3.8 ppm) were also lower than those observed with PID controller (1400 ppm and 4.7 ppm). Furthermore, air velocity and differential pressure under ADRC control (2 to13 Pa and 0 to 0.85 m/s) were lower compared to PID results (3 to 15 Pa and 01.25 m/s). Overall, total energy consumption was inferior by 15.58 %. The proposed control strategy provided stable indoor climate regulation and lower energy consumption under the tested experimental conditions, with potential benefits for maintaining suitable environmental conditions for broiler welfare.