Enhancing Precision Irrigation with IoT-enabled Water Management Mobile App

Abstract

The increasing demand for food supply and efficient water use requires intelligent methods that can ensure a consistent water supply for crop production, even during arid seasons. Precision irrigation can be valuable in ensuring efficient water management, subsequently leads to continuous water availability for crop production. This paper presents a model of an Internet of Things (IoT) device that uses precision technologies to improve water utilization. The developed system consists of hardware and software components integrated with a mobile app that allows remote monitoring of soil water levels to determine when irrigation is required. The key components of this system include the ESP8266 Arduino microcontroller board, soil moisture and temperature sensors, a DC mini water pump, and a relay module. The sensors continuously measure soil moisture and temperature, and the data is transmitted to the ESP8266 microcontroller for real-time processing, enabling precise and data-driven crop management. The ESP8266 microcontroller ensures seamless communication between the sensors and the user interface. Through a highly ergonomic mobile app, users can access real- time data on soil moisture and temperature, providing valuable insights into environmental conditions. The DC mini water pump adjusts based on soil conditions, optimizing water use to maintain ideal moisture levels for healthy plant growth. Ultimately, the data obtained is used to train a machine learning algorithm that enhances the decision process for the irrigation system, with an accuracy of 98.08%.