SCADA System Based on IoT for Intelligent Control of Banana Crop Irrigation

Abstract

At present, precision agriculture involves a set of technologies for the optimal management of soil and crops to improve productivity. Banana cultivation is one of the leading export items in the province of El-Oro in Ecuador. However, most of the sprinkler and gravity irrigation systems used there are controlled by a manual operator. All of these raise the cost of operation and waste of resources, such as water and labor. Also, human errors and the inaccuracy of water control in irrigation generate stress on plants, and therefore, their growth and increase in humidity pests are affected. This work proposes a Smart Irrigation Control Panel (SICP), based on the Internet of things, as part of a SCADA system for automation of irrigation control of said crop, in the experimental farm “Santa Inés” of the Technique University of Machala. The SCADA proposed, has a dashboard, available in the IOTMACH cloud of the university, for real-time monitoring of the process variables and the remote control of the solenoid valves used for irrigation, an IoT gateway implemented in a Raspberry Pi 3 and a SICP installed in the field. The SICP is responsible for compiling the variables of temperature and humidity of the environment and the earth, water pressure, acquired through motes based on Arduino Mega. A radio link with Wimax technology was used to communicate the SICP with the cloud, to publish the variables mentioned. The tests of electrical continuity, insulation, and performance performed, allowed to verify the correct functioning of the entire system and the interaction time between the SICP, Gateway, and the IOTMACH Cloud.