A Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Soil Moisture Monitoring in Precision Agriculture

Abstract

The use of precision agriculture is becoming more and more necessary to provide food for the world’s growing population, as well as to reduce environmental impact and enhance the usage of limited natural resources. One of the main drawbacks that hinder the use of precision agriculture is the cost of technological immersion in the sector. For farmers, it is necessary to provide low-cost and robust systems as well as reliability. Toward this end, this paper presents a wireless sensor network of low-cost sensor nodes for soil moisture that can help farmers optimize the irrigation processes in precision agriculture. Each wireless node is composed of four soil moisture sensors that are able to measure the moisture at different depths. Each sensor is composed of two coils wound onto a plastic pipe. The sensor operation is based on mutual induction between coils that allow monitoring the percentage of water content in the soil. Several prototypes with different features have been tested. The prototype that has offered better results has a winding ratio of 1:2 with 15 and 30 spires working at 93 kHz. We also have developed a specific communication protocol to improve the performance of the whole system. Finally, the wireless network was tested, in a real, cultivated plot of citrus trees, in terms of coverage and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) to check losses due to vegetation.

Alternate Wetting and Drying in the Center of Portugal: Effects on Water and Rice Productivity and Contribution to Development

“…Another option is based on measuring the soil water potential in the root zone, being the timing of irrigation based on this parameter. Therefore, the use of soil moisture, or soil water potential sensors to control the crop water stress during the drying phase is an important issue [ 57 ]. These different methods can be articulated with sensing mechanisms aimed at automating irrigation [ 36 , 52 ], to optimize water consumption and crop productivity, and reduce the additional manpower required by the AWD.…”

Internet of Things in Industry: Research Profiling, Application, Challenges and Opportunities—A Review

“…Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are cost efficient as they eliminate the necessity of using cables. To overcome the access to the internet infrastructure, power grid solar panels can be utilized [65,66]. Companies such as AT & T, Microsoft, Climate Corp. or Monsanto are promoting IoT in agriculture which provides additional support for the development of this technology [27].…”

Smart Strawberry Farming Using Edge Computing and IoT

“…Wireless sensor networks have already been proposed in the literature to make planting and cultivation sustainable and, at the same time, more intelligent so that the data collected in the field are used for improving planting and production [ 38 ]. Some wireless sensor networks have a particular monitoring variable such as the one proposed by Jaime Lloret et al [ 39 ] with soil mixture monitoring as its central focus. In fact, the soil and its characteristics have a vital role in the quality of the fruit and the health of plants, and periodic maintenance should be done regarding nutrients and minerals.…”