IoT based Solar powered Smart Irrigation system

In the field of Agriculture, it is important to use a proper method for irrigation. There are several reason for this, one being due to the lack of rainfall and scarcity of land for reservoir. The continuous extraction of water from the earth lowers the water level which makes huge chunks of this la

Project Title

IoT based Solar powered Smart Irrigation system

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

In the field of Agriculture, it is important to use a proper method for irrigation. There are several reason for this, one being due to the lack of rainfall and scarcity of land for reservoir. The continuous extraction of water from the earth lowers the water level which makes huge chunks of this land in-arable and infertile for agricultural use. Also due to the unplanned use of water which leads to wastage of a lot of water. For this purpose, we use IOT based solar powered smart irrigation system which is a renewable source of energy, to control the water instead of the more expensive power sources such as diesel powered pumps, which are also harmful to the environment. The system drives power from solar energy through photo voltaic cells. The solar energy is used to operate irrigation solenoid valve. The circuit comprises of solenoid valve, soil moisture sensor to sense whether the soil is wet or dry. The micro controller is used to control the overall system by monitoring the soil moisture sensor values. It will also control the opening and closing of the solenoid valve according to the soil moisture sensor values. If the soil moisture is lower than the base value (i.e. set value) then the microcontroller will send a signal to solenoid valve thereby opening it to allow the flow of water to the soil. We can further enhance this project by interfacing it with a GSM module to gain the control over switching operation of the solenoid valve. The purpose GSM module is to allow the administrator to control the irrigation system even when he is far away from the farm. The GSM module once connected will send a short message service (SMS) to the administrator to inform him/her that the soil moisture is low. The administrator can command the microcontroller to open the solenoid valve to allow for the flow of the water by sending back SMS to that effect. We can control this system by using mobile or laptops etc.

Project Objectives

In the present scenario, availability of power and water are insufficient to satisfy the farmer’s requirements. There are several reason for this, one being due to the lack of rainfall and scarcity of land for reservoir. The continuous extraction of water from the earth lowers the water level which makes huge chunks of this land in-arable and infertile for agricultural use. Therefore we have design a system to meet our problems.

Irrigation can be defined as the art of applying water to land, more specifically to the soil on which planting takes place to achieve a desired objective. It is estimates that agriculture accounts for 70% of all water consumption, compared to 20% for industry and 10% for domestic. In the field of Agriculture, it is important to use a proper method for irrigation. There are several reason for this, one being due to the lack of rainfall and scarcity of land for reservoir. The continuous extraction of water from the earth lowers the water level which makes huge chunks of this land in-arable and infertile for agricultural use. Also due to the unplanned use of water which leads to wastage of a lot of water. For this purpose, we use IoT based solar powered smart irrigation system which is a renewable source of energy, to control the water instead of the more expensive power sources such as diesel powered pumps, which are also harmful to the environment. The system drives power from solar energy through photo voltaic cells. The solar energy is used to operate irrigation solenoid valve. The circuit comprises of solenoid valve, soil moisture sensor to sense whether the soil is wet or dry. The micro controller is used to control the overall system by monitoring the soil moisture sensor values. It will also control the opening and closing of the solenoid valve according to the soil moisture sensor values. If the soil moisture is lower than the base value (i.e. set value) then the microcontroller will send a signal to solenoid valve thereby opening it to allow the flow of water to the soil.

Project Implementation Method

               If a good yield of crops is desired, then irrigation systems require constant monitoring, especially in remote areas where water is scarce. Farming operations may also face challenges related to the energy required for a good yield of crops. Energy efficiency in agriculture has been widely researched from several viewpoints. Farmers usually control the water flow to crops depending on the needs of a crop. Such needs depend on the surrounding temperature, soil moisture, time of the day, and health of a crop. Excess or insufficient irrigation can lead to a low yield of crops. Water scarcity is serious and makes irrigation difficult. In remote locations, far-away from major water sources, irrigation mostly relies on underground water. In such a situation, water needs to be pumped out from a well using electric motors. Depending on the level of underground water, the pumps used for irrigation need to be monitored and turned off when there is an impending danger of the well running dry. This is because pump motors use the cooling effect of the flowing water to maintain their operating temperature. If no water flows through a pump, it may run dry, and either stop functioning due to overheating, or burn. Besides, due to excessive friction caused by the lack of flowing water, mechanical seals may get damaged. This can increase maintenance and repair costs over time. Also, the motors operating irrigation pumps are mostly water-cooled. So, the operation in low water conditions can cause serious overheating, leading to fires that may destroy the motors and the pump. Therefore, from the above, it is clear that automated monitoring and control of irrigation are critical. Further, a system that can instantly notify a user of abnormal behavior and allow a user to remotely intervene and manage the irrigation process is desirable and is the motivation of this work.

Benefits of the Project

• The smart irrigation system is user friendly platform to learn and enhance your skill about smart watering system.
• It can provide high accuracy water supply and avoid water from wastage.
• Due to automatically handling, user requires less man power.
• With the help of the sensors, it can accurately determine the soil moisture levels.
• It can easily detect and control the temperature, humidity, solar radiation using sensors.
• This system automatically provides water supply to the field. User can manually operate (turn ON or OFF) valve.
• This system helps to produce good quality of crops and improves economic condition.
• For modern agriculture, a smart irrigation system is one of the best techniques that give more production in minimum duration. Too many extend, this smart irrigation system is designed and fully automated to minimize manual handling in agriculture.
• Irrigation is a process of providing the desire amounts of water to the agricultural land. This process is very beneficial in minimizing runoffs or drought situations for the croup’s cultivation.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

This proposed work is made to help the farmers and make their harvest economical. The wastage of water and the consumption of power by motor can be reduced so that they are conserved for the future purpose. It provides complete monitoring action of sensors in fields that is very easy to monitor the field. In IMAGE PROCESSING the health condition of the crops is intimated to the user. Thus the project has been completed successfully. In this paper, the design and implementation of a smart irrigation system, powered by solar energy was presented. The design uses an automatic irrigation system that can be tailored to the type of food crop being grown. The designed project is currently operating at the university owned agricultural experimental research station.

The project has been completed, tested and the expected result; to monitor and control a solar-powered automatic irrigation was achieved. Based on the design, the user would be able to control a water pump via a web interface on any internet-enabled device as real-time readings of the pump, soil moisture level and water level are being generated both graphically and in CSV files. The main intention of the project is to build a system that is flexible and cost effective to control water wastage, encourage use of renewable energy and extend farming from local barriers to global coverage via IOT. The construction is simple thus can be reproduced and maintained locally.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Agriculture

Other Industries

Food , Manufacturing

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Gender Equality

Required Resources

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