Water management during crop irrigation is a problem for the agricultural industry. To help farmers better maintain water usage, a wireless soil sensor network comprised of a sensor pod and wireless communication has been designed and implemented. It was proven that the sensor pod can be installed 6-8 inches below the ground and communicate up to at least a 6km distance back to the gateway. The senor pod shells have a 2 mm thick shell to prevent the pod from shattering when coming into contact with the ground after being released from the planter, as calculated through the force of impact equations. The sensor pod contains a capacitive soil moisture sensor with an accuracy of 90% and a temperature sensor with an accuracy of ±0.2ºC. Lithium-ion batteries with a 2800 mA-H rating were chosen to ensure the sensor pods would be power-efficient in order to last an entire growing season. The sensor data is transmitted wirelessly through LoRaWAN communication using a RN2903 transceiver and a quarter wavelength, 3” monopole antenna. A Sentrius Laird gateway was used to collect and forward sensor pod data to the Senet dashboard. The Senet dashboard then forwarded the data to a web-based application that farmers can reference to check the status of their fields
