IoT Based Smart Monitoring System for Enhancing Precision

Agriculture and Environmental Farming System

1
*Lavanya R, 2Nalobannagari Praneeth, 3Kottem Kalyan
1*, 2, 3
Department of Computing Technologies, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai,
Tamil Nadu, India.
1*
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract
The agriculture industry is experiencing enhancement in crop production and efficiency of resource
utilization through the use of advanced technologies such as agriculture precision farming. The
paper presents a water monitoring and irrigation system that makes use of Internet of Things
technologies to solve issues surrounding water scarcity and unproductive manual irrigation
practices. This type of system involves the employing of several different sensors, temperature,
nutrient concentration and ultrasonic sensors, to be able to monitor parameters such as n-p-k, water
level, and temperature. Based on these inputs, the irrigation system is made active whenever crops
require a particular amount of water and nutrients and conditions are met. Manual labor is reduced
and efficiency elevated. After evaluating experimental results, this system represents an efficient
and viable plantation oriented as well as water conserving system. The Prototype introduces a
flexible structure that caters for many agricultural uses.
Keywords: Sustainable Agriculture, Internet of Things, Automated Irrigation, Resource
Management, Precision Farming, NPK Sensors, Ultrasonic Sensors, Water Monitoring.
1. Introduction

Agriculture has been one of the most important occupations of the people because it provides both
resources essential for living and those essential for growth. However, now due to increasing world
population and many environmental issues such as climate change and water scarcity are emerging,
farmers face more challenges in sustaining good crop production and resource use. The old ways
of irrigation which are labor intensive and the water wastage practices like the irrigation systems
are contributing to the poor crop health.

So, as a solution to these problems, advanced technologies like IoT are being adopted and this is
changing the face of agriculture. Specifically, IoT-enabled precision farming references and
utilizes real-time imaging data from sensors positioned within the fields to address challenges of
wastage of farm inputs and enhance productivity. Such techniques provide farmers with remote
evaluation and monitoring of essential factors such as temperature, nutrient content, and water,
and, therefore, allow for optimal resource usage.

This paper proposes an IoT based water monitoring and irrigation system that aims to perform
irrigation automatically to help solve the problem of water crisis and manual effort. Using the

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correct amount of nutrients and water increases the crop's health. This solves issues like poor crop
health, water crisis and increases the crop yield and helps the farmers save resources.

2. Literature Survey

The farming sector and the irrigation systems as a mainstay in the farming business have received
a lot of backing towards resource optimization and greater productivity. Studies are also looking
into concepts such as the IoT and automatic learning among other technologies in an effort to do
irrigation automation in an efficient and effective manner. O'Shaghnessy and Evett [1] came up
with a central irrigation system for the cotton crop that is based on the temperature of the cotton
crop zone and the temperature of the canopy over it. This gives automated planning for irrigation
schedule, bore-pump CV and less manual work, and also proper water management efficiency.
They have concluded that there is a need for a smart system that can control the amount of water
applied within a given time frame in relation to different environmental parameters.

Davis and the Dukes [2] studied a non-evaporative automatic irrigation system based on soil
moisture tension, controlled through soil inspection data. Their system seeks to achieve a certain
level of soil moisture and water without having to water more than necessary by regulating
irrigation according to the conditions of the soil.Wanjura and colleagues [3] have devised
differential irrigation levels by employing temperature and time approaches. Canopy temperature
is employed as a baseline parameter in their irrigation signals to enhance the crop throughout the
season. The study emphasized the role of temperature control on improving crops, a capability
which is integrated in most of the modern precision agriculture systems. Evett et al. [4] advanced
a smart irrigation control system which modified the amount of irrigation based on the crop canopy
temperature. It allows for conservation of water resources and crop production is either optimized
or water use minimized depending on the needs of a given situation.

The system serves as an inducement in designing water-efficient irrigation methods that do not
compromise on yields. Dursun and Ozden [5] described a wireless drip irrigation system with level
sensors for drip irrigation. Their method targets to automate the irrigation process so as to
encourage fast growth and reduce the water stress of crops by avoiding over irrigation. The system
further contains extra temperature and humidity sensors for remote control through GSM
technology which makes it ideal for commercial farming. Many improvements were made by Zhao
et al. [6], who developed a water-saving precision irrigation system which uses plant physiology
to control irrigation. By measuring soil water content and monitoring plant response, this system
applies different irrigation modes based on physiological needs in real time.

Mendez et al. [7, 8] pursued the design of a WiFi based wireless sensor network that contained all
features necessary to use in an agricultural application. The authors highlighted that there is a need
for real-time evaluation of some environmental factors particularly temperature and humidity. By
eliminating human labor, their system provides important information related to the conditions of
crops by means of automated processes. Pejanović-Durišić et al. [9,10] reviewed various uses of
WSN in agriculture and highlighted that it is useful in modern farming practices including remote
locations. They discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of large scale,
data-intensive agriculture systems utilizing sensor network technology [11,12].

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An automated agriculture monitoring system based on GSM was designed by Vijula et al [13,14].
In addition to monitoring the water usage, their approach helps in remote irrigation, reducing the
amount of water used and increasing the quantity of crops. Their research explained the integration
between mobile devices and automatic irrigation technology. Explaining the concepts of precision
irrigation to optimize water savings via soil moisture and plant growth, Zhao et al. [15] also cover
additional aspects. This innovation frees the farmer from actively determining the crops' irrigation
needs by switching different irrigation modes, including low pressure and micro irrigation systems,
using wireless data transmission [16, 17]. These experiments confer that there is a possibility of
automation systems which are based on the Internet of Things to perform irrigation in a better way
than the existing ones. Cost, scalability and immediate flexibility are some constraints that a
number of existing systems are experiencing. To eliminate these limitations, we have proposed a
smart z-web internet of things z-810-irrigation system [18, 19]. This also combines inbuilt sensors
to enhance weather conditions (temperature, NPK, ultrasound) and creates up to date information
available for overriding irrigation limits. Young farmers and old farmers are advanced with the
decision of easy accessibility and use improvement based on past achievements [20]. In general,
this paper seeks to demonstrate the impact of such IoT based technologies in agriculture through
improvement of water management practices and increasing crop production with state-of-the-art
improvement in monitoring.

3. Methodology

The proposed methods involve the use of IoT technology and combination of different sensors to
address the challenges of normal irrigation and farm control. A better and a flexible method is used
in increasing productivity and in optimization of resources. The proposed system consists of the
following factors and functions:

• Real time environmental monitoring: The module that determines and controls important
environmental parameters uses those temperature, NPK and ultrasound parameters. These
sensors also monitor the concentrations of soil nutrients and the amount of water and
temperature, thus allowing the height and amount of nutrients and water in growing plants
to be digitally monitored. This helps to avoid waterlogged or drought stress conditions
around the cultivating plants. This prevents wastage of Water as well as time as irrigation
and fertilizing Are being done as per the needs of the vegetation rather than standby
approaches.
• Irrigation control: These sensors decide when automatic Irrigation Control is Operational
based on the need to measure water deficiencies. There is a certain level that one must go
below in order to activate the water pump which then supplies the needed amount of water.
And this is because less water wastage will be suffered from and hence water use will be
more effective.
• Nutrient Management: It maps out the content of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in
the soil using an NPK sensor. When the NPK will be below the critical levels, an alert will
be generated so that farmers can apply the fertilizer before it is too late. This enhances the
yield and evades chances of nutrient deficiency.
• Crop Growth Predictive Analytics: The system combines previous sensor data and
simple predictive models to evaluate the current crop growth and weather conditions. Using

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 these crop requirements and weather patterns, the farmers can adjust the irrigation. The
system might use more complex machine learning algorithms in the future to get accurate
results.
• Flexibility and Expandability: The system can integrate with more sensors like humidity
sensors and more to increase the accuracy of irrigation control. The system is flexible and
scalable to various crop types and farm sizes. The system can be expanded and adjusted to
the evolving agricultural requirements.

4. Architecture Description

The purpose of the proposed system architecture is to be accurate, automated for agriculture. It
uses an Arduino microcontroller as a central control device to connect multiple sensors. The
architecture diagram of the proposed IoT system is given in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The proposed IoT-based Architecture

Actuators such as the water pump are operated based on these sensors working in conjunction with
other sensors providing irrigation and fertilization in the most efficient manner.
● Arduino microcontroller: This is the most important working element for the data
processing and the actuators controlling.

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 ● Sensors: To monitor water, temperature and soil nutrient levels, UV sensor,
temperature sensor and NPK sensors are used.
● Drive Unit and Motor: This unit controls the water pump according to the readings
of the sensors.
● HC05 Transmitter: Enhance the communication range with UART based devices.
5. System Implementation

5. 1. Sensor Data Collection and Processing

The system collects data from multiple sensors and provides necessary input to decision-making
algorithms.
● UV Sensor: It has the role of determining the water levels in which the temperature
is likely to be cooled hence the water pump is activated in such a way that there is
always water in the tank.

● Temperature sensor: It determines the degree of heat that emanates logically in

different climates to be able to develop irrigation schedules which correspond to
changes in climate.
● NPK Sensor: It is that kind of a sensor, which helps in determining the
concentrations of soil nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).
6. Results

6.1. Simulation of the Prototype

The simulation of the prototype as shown in the Figure 2 is done using Proteus software. Each of
the detectors as well as factors has been configured as per the specifications contained i.e. Arduino
Uno, ultrasound detector, NPK detector, LM35 temperature detector, and LCD display, among
others. During the simulation we were able to test various scripts and input conditions to observe
the expected problems of the system. For example, the system's capability to describe NPK levels
and temperature was covered to ensure accurate readings. The system monitors the water levels,
temperature and NPK levels.

The collected data shows real- time information on environmental and soil conditions on the TV
screen. The simulation tests the functionality of the system and it confirms if the detector is
communicating with Arduino and shows accurate results. This involves testing its capability to
handle new data. The simulation which is done using Proteus software shows the temperature, NPK
levels and water level in the LCD display. The simulation result of temperature is given in the
Figure 3.

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 Figure 2. Simulation of proposed IoT-based system

Figure 3. Simulation Result (Temperature)

7. Conclusion

The proposed system for Internet of Things (IoT) precision agriculture will solve main problems
with modern agriculture like low resource usage, in efficiency of manual irrigation and water
scarcity. The temperature, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and ultrasound in real time intervals
are monitored with the help of different sensors. This leads to automated watering and nutrients
management and reduces the need for manual labor and increasing yields. The system can also
work with different farm sizes and crops making it applicable to different agricultural technologies.
The system is simply an illustration of how IoT influences changing the traditional farming practice
by making operations better and more productive. Future versions will integrate all this by utilizing

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5088806

responsive systems that require the need of inflight data and processing and monitoring from
remote areas which would help farmers improve their decisions in growing and managing plant
health and their growth. This ensures that the resources are not wasted and increases crop yield.
More sensors like humidity sensors can be added in the future for better precision.

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