An Ultra-wideband Dielectric Resonator Antenna for WSN based IoT Applications in Agriculture

Abstract

Background: Agriculture sector is one of the prime and widely spread sectors. So to make it autonomous and increase its yield, we require a major technological improvement. The only solution to make advancement is with the use of wireless sensor networks. Internet of Things in this field is used to provide connectivity to all real-time sensors and to collect that data in computer-based systems without human involvement. Objective: IoT based system is used to monitor physical and environmental conditions of the agriculture field through a network of wireless sensor. Here, a novel ultra-wideband Dielectric Resonator antenna is designed that is used in Wi-Fi for transmission of data received from sensors. The antenna designed should be easy to fabricate and compact in size and should provide high data rates. The complete designed system should be reliable and cost effective one. Method: A proposed IoT based system monitors physical and environmental conditions using a wireless sensor network consisting of power supply, soil moisture sensor (FC-28), humidity sensor (LM-35), temperature sensor (HR-202), water level sensor, ARM 7 processor, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Relay, motor and Wi-Fi module that is installed at remote locations and connected to the main system comprises of a novel ultra-wideband Dielectric Resonator antenna. Results: The designed WSN based IoT system for agriculture application monitors temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and water level in the field. For Wi-Fi module implementation ultra-wideband inverted sigmoid shaped DRA is designed that provides an impedance bandwidth of 36.46 % at 6.226 GHz (5.51 - 7.78 GHz). The designed antenna provides a peak gain of 5.44 dB at a resonant frequency of 6.226 GHz. Conclusion: The proposed IoT based system is used to monitors physical and environmental conditions like soil moisture, humidity, temperature and water level and sends the data through Wi-Fi module comprising of an ultra-wideband Dielectric Resonator antenna. The designed antenna is compact and can be easily fabricated using printed circuit board technology. The complete system is cost-effective and can be easily implemented.