Gsm based solar automatic irrigation system using moisture, temperature and humidity sensors

Abstract

The economy being highly based on agriculture demands innovative and reliable methods of irrigation. The shortcomings of manual methods of irrigation can be rectified using automated process. This paper presents the idea of automatic irrigation method and the following research sustains this idea. The task of automatic irrigation is done through assistance of soil moisture sensors. In the project, apart from soil moisture sensor. Humidity and temperature sensors are also used to make the process more advance. The proposed design also has the feature of GSM which makes this system wireless. The electricity required by components is provided through solar panels hence this liberates us from interrupted power supply due to load shedding. The water content is constantly judged and whenever moisture level of soil gets low, the system sends a signal to motors asking them to turn on. The motors automatically stop after soil reaches its maximum upper threshold value which is decided by user. Every time the motor starts or stops automatically, the user will get a SMS about the status of operation. The major advantages of the project include avoidance from water wastage, growth of plants to their maximum potential, less chances of error due to less labor and uninterrupted supply of water due to solar energy.

Full text

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GSM BASED SOLAR AUTOMATIC
IRRIGATION SYSTEM USING
MOISTURE, TEMPERATURE AND
HUMIDITY SENSORS
1Ateeq Ur Rehman, 2Rao Muhammad Asif, 3Rizwan Tariq and 4Ahmed Javed
1,4Department of Electrical Engineering, GC University Lahore
2Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Superior University Lahore
3National Power Construction Corporation Ltd (NPCC), Pakistan
1ateeq.rehman@gcu.edu.pk, 2rao.m.asif@superior.edu.pk, 3rizwan@npcc.com.sa,
4ahmed.javed.gcu@gmail.com
Abstract—The economy being highly based on agriculture
demands innovative and reliable methods of irrigation. The
shortcomings of manual methods of irrigation can be rectified
using automated process. This paper presents the idea of
automatic irrigation method and the following research sustains
this idea. The task of automatic irrigation is done through
assistance of soil moisture sensors. In the project, apart from soil
moisture sensor. Humidity and temperature sensors are also used
to make the process more advance. The proposed design also has
the feature of GSM which makes this system wireless. The
electricity required by components is provided through solar
panels hence this liberates us from interrupted power supply due
to load shedding. The water content is constantly judged and
whenever moisture level of soil gets low, the system sends a signal
to motors asking them to turn on. The motors automatically stop
after soil reaches its maximum upper threshold value which is
decided by user. Every time the motor starts or stops
automatically, the user will get a SMS about the status of
operation. The major advantages of the project include
avoidance from water wastage, growth of plants to their
maximum potential, less chances of error due to less labor and
uninterrupted supply of water due to solar energy.
Keywords—moisture sensor; humidity sensor; GSM module;
wireless; Solar panels.
I. INTRODUCTION
In some countries, agriculture is considered as one of the
major source of economic progress. The income of many
countries depends directly on agricultural advancement.
Moreover, the continuous increase in the population of a
country demands more innovations in food production
technology. The factors affecting agricultural progress must be
studied thoroughly to obtain maximum results. The significant
building block of agriculture is the irrigation system. In other
words, the efficiency of irrigation system may induce ample
effects on agriculture. Irrigation process should provide water
to soil consistently when it is needed and stops water flow as
well, when soil has soaked enough water. The excess of water
in the crops is of no good, not only water is wasted but it also
destroys crops. Considering Pakistan, whose economy is
mainly based on agriculture requires efficient and modern
methods for water provision in the crops fields. The failures
caused through manual methods of irrigation has let us to
think about some advance method which can be relied upon.
Anything which is cost effective, labour saving and energy
saving is considered efficient. Hence in this proposed system,
a method which uses very less or no labour (runs on its own)
has been recommended, saves electricity and is easy to use [1,
12].
The proposed system is automatic irrigation system. The
automaticity means that it turns itself on and off depending
upon the soil moisture requirement. This automatic behaviour
of irrigation is achieved using different sensors which sense
and tell the user if water is required or not and how much
water will be enough for soil so that water wastage is also
avoided. The errors which may arise when manual irrigation is
used are also rectified for the most part using this method. The
major source of electricity in Pakistan is through hydroelectric
power but this source has not paid the country with requisite
amount of electrical power hence there is shortage of
electricity which is not good for process of irrigation as
motors need uninterrupted supply of electricity. As electricity
deficiency is a major problem of Pakistan, so the system is
made more flexible through using solar energy. The system is
independent of any labour but the status of undergoing process
will be received by user through GPRS [2, 10].
II. SCOPE
The countries where agriculture has a big impact on economy
demand a highly effective way of irrigation. A timely and
consistent irrigation is need of the hour in such countries.
Where lack of water is not tolerated by soil during irrigation,
the excess of water provision is also not recommended for
crops flourishment. Hence a feasible irrigation for any land
requires suitable amount of water with minimum amount of
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delays. Today’s world demands improved methods as
compared to the old ones to carry out processes faster and the
world is moving towards automation of every process. In the
proposed system, automatic irrigation system has been
suggested which detects the soil moisture level and
programmed in a way that if water level goes below necessary
amount, it automatically starts the pumps to supply water. In
this way, maximum results are attained out of the fields and
water wastage is also reduced to significant level [3, 13].
III. METHODOLOGY
The technique used for automatic irrigation discussed in this
paper is adopted after reviewing and analyzing the literature.
A. Hardware and Software components
The process has to be done both on software and hardware.
The required equipment is as follows:
1. PC with Arduino software
2. Arduino Mega 2560
3. Soil moisture sensor (YL 69)
4. Humidity sensor (DHT11)
5. Temperature sensor (LM35)
6. GSM module (SIM900D)
7. Relays
8. Solar panels
9. LCD 20*4 display
10. DC motors
11. DC fan
B. Arduino Mega 2560
Arduino is genesis of the proposed system. The center of all
operations taking place in the system. Components are
connected to Arduino through different ports and are
dependent on its instruction. Arduino Mega 2560 has been
used because of its versatility. It has 54 digital I/O ports. There
are 16 analog inputs, 4 UART’s, 16 MHz crystal oscillator,
USB port, power port, reset button and ICSP header. The flash
memory is 256 Kb and EPROM memory is 4 Kb [4]. All the
data from sensors comes directly in Arduino which processes
it and sends the signal forward. The Arduino commands
further process whether to start or stop the motors. Basically,
the code is being fed into Arduino will judge the moisture
condition of soil and decides if motors need to be turned on or
off. The code is written on Arduino software and transferred to
the device using USB cable. C language is used in code and
threshold values for upper and lower points are defined in the
code. Basically, the code tends to keep the water content in
between its threshold, if it crosses either value, the status of
motor will be changed [8, 9].
C. Sensors
The participation of sensors in automatic irrigation is most
important. They play vital role to make the system automatic.
Without them, the process cannot be imagined as automatic.
Three different sensors have been used. These three sensors
measure three different parameters. The sensors include:
i. YL 69
ii. DHT11
iii. LM35
YL 69 is the soil moisture sensor. They sense the water
content in soil. These are most important as the information
forwarded by them is most relative regarding water
requirement. The sensor has two prongs which are submersed
in the soil. It has 4 ports. Ports are for GND, VCC and outputs
for analog and digital values [15].
DHT11 is the humidity sensor. They detect the water content
in atmosphere. The high humidity may increase dampness in
soil. LM35 is the temperature sensor. They judge the
temperature of environment. The advantage of LM35 is its
feature that it always gives temperature in Celsius further
calculations are not required to convert output to get
temperature in Celsius. The latter two sensors are used to
make the system more reliable [5]. These two sensors are left
in open environment. They constantly give the value of
temperature and humidity. When the temperature or humidity
level of environment alter, it may affect the moisture level of
soil so to eradicate any changes that may fluctuate the process
of irrigation these sensors send signal to Arduino to take some
action. In the design, if humidity level goes above our defined
value then to mild its effect the Arduino sends signal to DC
fans located near the sensors. The DC fans automatically turn
on themselves and kept on running until normal conditions are
achieved [6, 11].
D. GSM Module
SIM900D has been used for GPS purpose. This module makes
the system wireless. The status of undergoing process will be
updated to user via SMS. This module is connected to the
Arduino board.
E. Photo Voltaic Panels
Solar panels are used to liberate irrigation from the shackles of
load shedding. The requirement of water is judged and
information is transmitted to the solar circuit which modifies
its configuration such that it provides enough DC power to
drive the pumps and fulfill the assigned task. This method is
not only power efficient but also proves to be cost effective
when considered in long run. The solar irrigation process
proves to be of great worth to the irrigation cites which are far
from grid stations [7, 14].
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Fig 1. Block diagram of system
Fig.1 depicts the block diagram of automatic irrigation
process. The diagram includes all basic components used in
the system. Fig.1 shows that the sensors give information to
Arduino and it forwards the information as per the program
that is inserted in it to the other parts of system that includes
LCD, relays, DC motors and GSM.
IV. WORKING PRINCIPLE
The basic working principle of the system is easy to
understand. The system is divided into smaller circuitries.
First one is solar circuit, it provides DC power to the
components when power is needed by them. Second circuit is
the sensor network. Moisture sensors are submersed into soil
and connected back with the main system. The sensors give
values of moisture content of soil and these values can be seen
on LCD. Another circuit is the GSM module. This is also
connected with Arduino and is responsible of sending
information of every operation taking place to the user.
In the code, there are basically two threshold values i.e upper
and lower. The code carries these two values and are defined
by user. The actual value of water content in soil is read by the
moisture sensors which are submersed in soil. The code
compares this value with the two user defined threshold
values.
Fig.2 Flowchart of Automatic Irrigation process
If actual value happens to be below than the lower threshold
value, the code will generate a signal that will turn motors on.
The process will be autonomous and the dried part of soil gets
moisturized. The values of moisture level are constantly
compared with the threshold values in code and if actual
moisture value crosses the upper threshold value then again
code will send the signal of turning off the motors. Fig.2
represents the basic flowchart diagram of this project. The
process starts with sensors reading the value and displaying
them on LCD. As the value of moisture falls below the lower
threshold point, the motor starts and if the content climbs the
upper threshold value the motors shuts off. In either case, user
will get a SMS first of undergoing process. The status of
motors is also displayed on LCD.
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Fig 3 (a). Connections between basic components
Fig 3(b). The constructed prototype
Fig 3(a) and (b) show the pictures of original project. The Fig
3 (b) gives the whole project in which two plants are also
shown. Both plants have moisture sensors immersed in them.
A separate motor is also connected to each plant which turns
on when water is demanded by soil of plant. In the Fig 3(a), a
more elaborate form of project is shown in which the basic
components can be seen. The components are connected to
each other and shows the basic scheme of this project.
V. CONCLUSION
The use of automatic irrigation method would allow us to save
the excess water which may be wasted during manual
methods. Further it improvises the process of irrigation and
makes it a reliable one. The provision of water to the fields is
done in a more effective way using this technique. Moreover,
electricity issue can also be resolved by using solar energy.
Thus, this method has an upper hand over all other methods of
irrigation because of its consistency and usability. This
improvisation in food production technology greatly enhances
the opportunities to increase the economic growth in Pakistan.
With the use of minimum resources, the proposed system can
save a lot of water and electricity hence economically
favorable.
VI. FUTURE WORK
The project can be made more versatile through using more
sensors. The addition of more sensors can increase the
accuracy of moisture content measurement. This project
operates on solar power (DC power), it can be made to operate
at AC power as well through two-way power supply system.
Such that, motors operate on AC and in case of load shedding
the motors take their input supply from solar circuit.
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2017 International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneurship (ICE2T)