Precision agriculture monitoring framework based on WSN

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are nowadays widely used in building decision support systems for better monitoring. One of the most interesting fields having an increasing need in decision support systems is agriculture. Inefficient and wasteful methods of agricultural monitoring lead to extra time and cost loss for farmers. This paper presents the iFarm framework system, an easy-to-use and expandable agricultural monitoring solution to enhance land productivity by better managing water, improving the socio-economic factor of farmers and their awareness, predicting and planning the crop yields. The iFarm system proposes WSNs as a promising mechanism to agricultural resources optimization, decision making, and land monitoring. WSNs make it possible to know at any time information about the land and crop conditions, so that farmers can be assisted with various notifications and suggestions during their farming tasks. It addresses the advantage of the precision agriculture approach to help making valuable decisions which could not only improve the land productivity but also optimize the use of resources. The paper gives a description of the precision agriculture monitoring approach that provides meaningful services to farmers.