Design and Development of an IoT Based Intelligent Controller for Smart Irrigation

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly developing area in the world because users can enormously benefit from real-time monitoring and controlling of remotely located devices over the internet, without being physically present at the location of the device. In the field of agriculture, development of efficient IoT based smart irrigation systems are similarly a valuable requirement for farmers, because they can remotely monitor crops and remotely control parameters in the field such as water supply to plants and collect data for further research purposes. In this research, a low cost IoT and weather based intelligent controller system is developed. First, an efficient drip irrigation system which can automatically control the water supply to plants based on soil moisture conditions is developed. This system brings greater benefits in terms of saving water, compared to traditional pre-scheduled watering systems. Next, this water efficient irrigation system is given IoT based communication capabilities to remotely monitor soil moisture conditions and to manually control water supply by a remote user with different features. Further, temperature, humidity and rain drop sensors are integrated to the system and is upgraded to provide monitoring of these parameters by the remote user via internet. These weather parameters of the field are saved in real time in a remote database. Finally, a weather prediction algorithm is implemented to control the water supply according to the existing weather condition. The proposed IoT based intelligent controller system will provide an effective method to irrigate farmer’s cultivation.