Precision agriculture applications using wireless moisture sensor network

Abstract

Improper irrigation will result in waste of water. Proper irrigation system could be achieved by using Wireless sensor networks (WSN) technology. Monitoring and control applications have been tremendously improved by using Wireless sensor networks technology. It enabled efficient communication with many sensors. Wireless moisture sensor network (WMSN) is a WSN with moisture sensors. Efficient irrigation could be achieved through the utilisation of WMSN. WMSN enabled efficient irrigation in a greenhouse for Precision Agriculture (PA) application. In this paper, we describe the overall system design, system architecture, implementation, system test results of WMSN for PA in a greenhouse. Moisture Sensors are used to measure amount of water in the media. Close loop system acquires sensors data and activates the control devices based on predetermined threshold value. A test was conducted to compare the efficiency of irrigation using two methodologies; schedule and automated. The test shows that there is an average savings of 1,500 ml per day per tree.