Design of a Wireless Communication Drip Irrigation System using nRF24L01 Technology

In the application of traditional irrigation methods, water saving is not considered. Due to the fact that the water is irrigated directly on the land, crops sometimes undergo increased stress from disparities in the soil moisture, consequently crop performance and output is reduced. This paper discusses an automated drip irrigation system designed to operate based on soil moisture content as detected by soil moisture sensors. The data from the sensors are analyzed and acted upon based on the software (code) loaded onto the microcontrollers. In this system, a microcontroller is assigned each row of crops. Each microcontroller obtains the mean soil moisture from an array of moisture sensors spread across the row. The resultant reading is wirelessly transmitted to and receiver by another microcontroller with the aid of nRF24L01 transceivers. A water reservoir tank of capacity 1000 liters elevated on a stanchion of height 2 meters above the ground is used to store and supply water at the required pressure via gravity to the drip irrigation system when required. The components, design, programming, working, and performance of the circuit are described in this articl

Application of Mechatronics in Agriculture: A review

Mechatronics has found quite a number of useful applications in agriculture. Agriculture as one of the oldest industries, dating as far back as the nomadic age originally depended solely on human effort, then apprehended animal labour, and then came mechanical advances such as diesel/steam-engine tractors and mechanical tools with hydrostatic power which needed control. The answer to unresolved problems relies on more advances that necessitate the replacement of human intellect to meet the requirements for superior autonomy in more indefinite and unstructured environments. Promising disciplines in this framework include Mechatronics, Large-scale optimization and Complex system automation, and our focus is on the advancement of irrigation system. Some of the applications of mechatronics in agriculture and their processes are discussed to gain insight on the state of the art, advantages and weaknesses of several methods employed

Solar Powered Microcontroller-based Automated Irrigation System with Moisture Sensors

In traditional irrigation approach where water is irrigated on the land without adequate control measures, crops sometimes undergo increased stress with disparities in the soil moisture which consequently reduce the crop performance and output. In this paper, we come up with a prototype to increase crop yield while considering adequate agricultural water management and labour reduction, by adequate control measures in the irrigation process. An automatic irrigation system is designed and developed by integrating several hardware and software features. The system is designed to determine when exactly the soil of crops need water and deliver a controlled amount of water to the root zone of the crops based on the soil moisture state. With the microcontroller, the data obtained from the soil at the roots of the crops will determined how much water for irrigation is needed at a point in time, and supplies it, thereby incorporating good water management practice. The system is designed to run 24/7 on renewable solar energy.