An Internet of Things Based Smart Irrigation using Solenoid Valve

Abstract

Water is an essential resource in agriculture and its optimal management plays a major role. The important objective of this paper is to provide an automated irrigation system to minimize the utilization of in agriculture by combining the advanced technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), optimization tools and cloud computing. This automatic irrigation system installs low cost sensors to sense variables of interest such as soil moisture, soil type, and weather conditions. The data obtained is then directly stored in the web page and can be monitored using mobile or through Pc. The data from the field is transmitted to the cloud using global system for mobile communication (GSM) cellular networks. Then an optimization model is used to compute the optimal irrigation rate which is automated using a solenoid valve controlled by Pic microcontroller. The previous variables of interest are stored in the cloud and accessible as a service to the agronomists. This proposed approach is demonstrated on a pilot scale cultivated capability and our results demonstrate the reduced water utilization, data-availability improvement and picturing.