Engineering and Scientific International Journal (ESIJ) ISSN 2394-7187(Online)
Volume 7, Issue 3, July – September 2020 ISSN 2394 - 7179 (Print)
IoT Based Irrigation Monitoring System
K. Sujatha, V. Srividhya, Bikrant Nayak
1
Professor, EEE Dept., Center for Electronics, Automation & Industrial Research (CEAIR),
Dr. MGR Educational & Research Institute, Maduravoyal, Chennai.
2
Assistant Professor, EEE Dept., Meenakshi College of Engineering, Virugambakkam, Chennai
3
Assistant Professor, EEE Dept., Dr. MGR Educational & Research Institute, Maduravoyal, Chennai
Abstract— Farmers have been growing their crops and vegetables with varied success which depends on the moisture
content of the soil. The major task is to monitor the moisture content of the soil and the other related parameters like
temperature, humidity and light intensity so as to provide a closed loop monitoring system. So it is decided to monitor and
automate the irrigation system for the advancement in agriculture field. By implementing this cost effective agriculture
monitoring scheme a milestone can be created in green revolution. This module serves the purpose of monitoring the plants
from anywhere at any point of time, by integrating this system with cloud technology.
Keywords — Internet of Things; Automatic Irrigation System; Raspberry Pi; Soil Moisture; Cloud Computing.
1. Introduction 1.1.4 Rotary Systems
An artificial method to supply water to the fields is In this scheme the water sprayer is fitted with a motor
called as Irrigation. It is usually used in inadequate rainfall to change its orientation, so that, it can spray water to the
period to assist the growing of crops in dry areas. Now fields for irrigation. This system waters a larger area with
days, water shortage is becoming one of the biggest small amounts of water over a longer period of time [7].
problem in the world [1, 2].
1.1 Types of Irrigation Systems
There are many techniques shown in Figure 1 to save
or to control wastage of water from agriculture. Different
types of irrigation are used for management of water in
agricultural land [3].
1.1.1 Ditch Irrigation (a): Ditch Irrigation (b): Terraced Irrigation
In this scheme the channels are formed in which the
seedlings are planted. This system of irrigation was once
very popular in the USA, but most have been replaced with
modern systems [4].
1.1.2 Terraced Irrigation
This method is tedious because the cultivation fields
are partitioned into steps through which the seedlings are
planted. The water is allowed to flow through each step and (c): Sprinkler System (d): Rotary Systems
this type is suitable in hilly areas [5].
Figure 1 (a, b, c, d): Types of Irrigation System
1.1.3 Sprinkler System
2. Need for Automatic Irrigation
Sprayer is used to spray water to agricultural lands
from overhead sprayers. There is another scheme where the The flexible form of irrigation is the Automatic
sprayers are placed underneath the ground to irrigate the irrigation systems. The automatic irrigation systems can
fields [6]. used to save money and water management. Dead lawn
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DOI: 10.30726/esij/v7.i3.2020.73013
Engineering and Scientific International Journal (ESIJ) ISSN 2394-7187(Online)
Volume 7, Issue 3, July – September 2020 ISSN 2394 - 7179 (Print)
grass and plants are to be replaced as if very expensive.
Even though, the savings from automatic irrigation systems
is more effective. Watering with a hose or oscillator waste
water are not targets roots of the plant with significant
degree of precision. But, automatic irrigation systems can
be programmed to release more precise amounts of water
in a targeted area, which promotes water conservation [8].
3. Related Work
In India, widely used irrigation techniques are
manually operated due to its less expense and high profits.
So, automatic irrigation techniques are not so common here.
Nowadays, time controlled automatic sprayers are used for Fig. 2: Moisture Sensor Technology
gardening at houses. The time interval is calculated by the
volume of water to be supplied and the rate of flow of 6. Results and Discussion
water [9, 10].
The soil moisture monitoring is accomplished by
If the water in the tray is reached up to the mark of making inserting the sensor into the soil, and it starts
position, the sensor complete the circuitry and starts to transmitting the moisture level corresponding to low,
isolate irrigation system from the supply and thus avoid medium and high. This is deployed in Thingspeak cloud
excessive water supply. This method is patent to Richard E. through IoT agent. From the cloud the information goes to
Morrison, (Salt Lake City, UT) and Kent C. Erickson the monitoring interface. From the interface the mobile
(Centerville, UT) [11]. In addition, they may require phone could be connected. Alternatively the IoT agent is
frequent resetting to achieve high levels of irrigation connected to the mobile phone with SMT package and SIM
efficiency [12]. card inserted to it as shown in Figure 4, 5 and 6
respectively. The alert system is based on threshold
4. Objective of the work calculated. The proposed system is designed to send alert
message instantly, once the moisture level in the soil is
The researchers are emerging a type of concealed detected. The system has also the ability to notify the
irrigation system. The main disadvantage is that the water conditions whether the soil is watered or dry. The alert
evaporates on exposure to atmosphere. Hence different messages are generated at mobile phone. Extracted
types of sensors are buried under the ground to supply parameters of the soil give the alert signals after
water to the crops. Such a scheme would reduce the usage comparison with assigned threshold [16] values. These
of water for irrigation [13]. alert signals indicate the presence or absence of the
moisture in the soil.
5. Methodology
Arduino programming for Intel Galileo Gen2 is done
to record the sensor values. Sensors are used for health care
data collection. Interfacing with physical world such as
digital sensors, GPRS/GSM, and I2C is possible with Intel
Galileo Gen2, and hence it is chosen for implementation.
Intel Galileo Gen2 also offers the connectivity of sensors
through cloud with the Wi-Fi support through miniPCIe
slot available; leading to IoT based health care system [14].
Intel provides end to end IoT Solutions so that one could
quickly connect, manage, and protect the digital sensors.
[15].
Rx of hardware serial port is connected to Galileo’s D0.
Tx of hardware serial port is connected to Galileo’s D1. Fig.3: Flow chart of the sensing the Moisture level in soil
5V of hardware serial port is connected to Galileo’s 5V.
GND of hardware serial port is connected to Galileo’s Figure 7 and 8 shows the deployment in Thingspeak
GND. cloud for measuring moderate moisture level in soil. Table
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DOI: 10.30726/esij/v7.i3.2020.73013
Engineering and Scientific International Journal (ESIJ) ISSN 2394-7187(Online)
Volume 7, Issue 3, July – September 2020 ISSN 2394 - 7179 (Print)
I shows the values of the moisture level for low, medium Depending upon sensor values actuate the output device.
and high conditions. It is compared with the existing
system [16], and it is found to provide the alert with lesser 6.3 Pseducode
response time, and hence the performance of the proposed
system is improved as for as the heart beat rate monitoring
void setup() {
is concerned. Figure 9 indicates the measurement of
// put your setup code here, to run once
various parameters like humidity, soil moisture level,
Serial.begin(9600);
temperature and light intensity which inturn affects the
}
growth of the crops.
void loop() {
6.1 Digital Sensor // put your main code here, to run repeatedly
Serial.print("moisture sensor value");
A digital sensor interacts with the physical Serial.println(analogRead(1));
environment and returns binary information like a digital delay(100);
push button is pressed, or not. }
It has two states, 0 or 1. Three wires can be connected:
A black one, for the ground.
A red one, for input voltage.
A green one, transmitting the information.
This moisture sensor measures the water present in the
soil.
This sensor has two probes, one is to pass current
through the soil and another is to read the resistance to
get the moisture level.
6.1.1 Connect the Sensor to the A0(Analog 0) Pin on the
Arduino Board
# the sensor value description
# 0 ~300 dry soil
# 300~700 humid soil
# 700~950 in water
*/
void setup(){
Serial.begin(9600);
}
Fig.4: SIM Card inserted to Galileo Gen2
void loop(){
Serial.print("Moisture Sensor Value:");
Serial.println(analogRead(0));
delay(100);
}
6.2 Steps to Perform while Writing Test Case
Initialize pins (Digital and analog)
Set the mode of particular pins only (relevant for digital)
Read the Sensor Value
Convert the value to voltage
Display both sensor values and corresponding analog values
on serial monitor Fig.5: Moisture sensor with Intel Galileo Gen2
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DOI: 10.30726/esij/v7.i3.2020.73013
Engineering and Scientific International Journal (ESIJ) ISSN 2394-7187(Online)
Volume 7, Issue 3, July – September 2020 ISSN 2394 - 7179 (Print)
break;
case 'd':DialVoiceCall();
break;
case 'a':AnswerVoiceCall();
break;
case 'g':GPRS();
break;
}
if (Serial1.available())
Serial.write(Serial1.read());
}
void AnswerVoiceCall()
{
Serial1.println("ATA");
Fig.6: Enabling WiFi services using Intel Galileo Gen2 }
void SendTextMessage()
{
Serial1.print("AT+CMGF=1\r"); // To send the
SMS in text mode
delay(1000);
Serial1.println("AT+CMGS=\"+917829374149\"");
delay(1000);
Serial1.println("Hello from Galileo?");
delay(1000);
Serial1.println((char)26); //the ASCII code of the ctrl+z is
26 (0x1A)
delay(1000);
Serial1.println();
}
void ReceiveTextMessage()
{
Serial1.println("AT+CMGF=1"); // To receive the
Fig.7: Deployment in Thingspeak cloud for measuring SMS in text mode
moderate moisture level in soil delay(1000);
6.4 SMS Service for Moisture Level Serial1.println("AT+CPMS=\"SM\""); // read first SMS
Serial.println("Connection to ThingSpeak failed
#include <String.h> ("+String(failedCounter, DEC)+")");
void setup() Serial.println();
{ }
Serial1.begin(115200);
Serial.begin(9600); // the GPRS baud rate }
delay(1000); else
} {
void loop() failedCounter++;
{ Serial.println("Connection to ThingSpeak Failed
if (Serial.available()) ("+String(failedCounter, DEC)+")");
switch(Serial.read()) Serial.println();
{
case 't':SendTextMessage(); lastConnectionTime = millis();
break; }
case 'r':ReceiveTextMessage(); }
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DOI: 10.30726/esij/v7.i3.2020.73013
Engineering and Scientific International Journal (ESIJ) ISSN 2394-7187(Online)
Volume 7, Issue 3, July – September 2020 ISSN 2394 - 7179 (Print)
Table 1. Soil moisture level Measurement function of the motor automatically using GPRS
technology got designed with the specific parameters.
S.No Moisture level category Moisture level value Then, highly advanced IC’s are used with the help of
1. Low 23 growing technology and thus the project has been
2. Medium 271
successfully implemented. This will be an efficient
3. High 645
technique to control the motor functioning. The on and off
action of the motor is controlled by using Microcontroller.
It will have a demand in the places where the power
fluctuations are considerably high.
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