Smart Irrigation and Fertilization System

Abstract

Smart Irrigation and Fertilization System is a software and hardware both application designed by considering basic needs that are required in digital agriculture system. This system can automatically irrigates, fertilized, pest control which reduces cost, labor, save energy and environment. It also can be able to communicate with users via wireless communications and also users can control system via android apps. Smart Irrigation and Fertilization project is especially designed for the poor farmers.

Introduction

The continuous increasing demand of food requires the rapid improvement in food production technology of a country like Bangladesh, where the economy is mainly based on agriculture and the climatic conditions are isotropic, still we are not able to make full use of agricultural resources. Moreover, we misuse of various kinds of agricultural elements and pollute the environment continuously. The main reason is the lack of knowledge & scarcity of land reservoir water. The continuous extraction of water from earth is reducing the water level due to which lot of land is coming slowly in the zones of un-irrigated land. Another very important reason of this is due to unplanned use of water and fertilizer due to which a significant amount of water and fertilizer goes to waste and also decrease the fertility of the soil.

Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Here mostly 70% peoples are directly or indirectly connected to the agriculture system, which most of them are very poor. That’s why we are making an automatic system for the farmers which reduce their cost and time and improve their life styles.

Smart Irrigation and Fertilization System (SIFS) are an emerging technology for adjusting Irrigation and Fertilization Applications based on actual weather and soil conditions. The concept of the adjusting irrigation and fertilization application to meet prevailing climate and weather conditions is as old as irrigated agriculture. The technology to control irrigation and fertilization application automatically has been included in large-scale commercial systems for some time, but is relatively new to the residential and small commercial sectors. Over the past few years the number of smart controller products on the market has increased dramatically with different manufacturers opting for different control technology solutions.

Our project based on hardware and software both. And it’s works automatically to irrigating and fertilizing for crops. Had sensors to read the soil moisture and elements of weather, system automatically start the water pump when water is low by based on moisture value. And also automatically stop the pump when water is enough. It will give fertilizer in the field automatically after a fixed period.

Irrigations - We used a soil moisture sensor to read the soil continually to get the input. This Soil Moisture Sensor (SMS) used to detect the moisture of soil or judge if there is water around the sensor. They can be very easy to use, just insert it into the soil and then read it. With the help of this sensor, it will be realizable to make the plant remind the system when will be pump ON or OFF.

Fertilizations - Also, we will set program for the different crops. And system will get the input from Real Time Clock (RTC) module. When will be right time then system will make the liquid fertilizer at first, then it will give by water machine.

Literature Review

Irrigation of plants is usually a very time-consuming activity; to be done in a reasonable amount of time, it requires a large amount of human resources. Traditionally, all the steps were executed by humans. Nowadays, some systems use technology to reduce the number of workers or the time required to water the plants. With such systems, the control is very limited, and many resources are still wasted.

Water is one of these resources that are used excessively. Mass irrigation is one method used to water the plant. This method represents massive losses since the amount of water given is in excess of the plant’s needs.

And another one is proper fertilization. Since our farmers can’t measure the accurate needs of soil or misuse of fertilizer in the fields even it’s not need for it to grow more crops. As a result their production cost increase day to day and pollute our environment rapidly. So we need a technology to measure accurately with according time.

SIFS is an automated system which helps the farmers to manage the irrigation and fertilization system with the modern technology. To reduce the cost of labors and to manage waste of water and fertilizer it can help effectively.

Scope of the Project

The aim of the current project was to demonstrate a total SIFS which is intelligent, flexible, easy-to-use but accurate irrigation scheduling system at an affordable cost that takes advantages of recent technological advances in wireless networking, environmental sensors and improvements in crop modeling.

System Design and Implementation

Hardware and software requirements:

Arduino, Sensors, Relay switch, Bluetooth module, Ethernet shield/ GSM module AC motor, LCD display, Programming Language “C”, Java, XML, JSON, JavaScript, Software Arduino IDE, Android studio.

The system has four major parts; sensing part, control section, communication section and the output section. The soil humidity was detected using YL-69 soil sensor (a resistance type sensor). The control unit was achieved using ATMega1280 microcontroller based on Arduino platform. The output was the control unit was used to control the irrigation system by switching it on and off depending on the soil moisture contents. Two stages of design were undertaken; hardware and software.

The SMS (YL-69) used is a resistance sensor type. Its output is the resistance in the soil between the two SMS probes. The obtained graph is an exponential one. The value of the soil resistance decreases with increase in water content to a certain point.

To come up with the results the three soils were dried using a frying pan until all the moisture content was lost. 250 grams was measured for the red soil, black soil and the sand soil. Water was added in steps of 25cm3 and sensor value recorded.

The value of soil sensor at dry soil was almost equal for the three soils at 1021, 1022, 1020 for black soil, sand soil and red soil respectively. On adding 50cm3 the resistance value reduced drastically to the range of 500. On adding more water the resistance value kept reducing. At around 100cm3 of water the reduction on the soil resistance stated reducing at a much lower rate. This is because at this point the soil is now becoming saturated with water and thus adding more water has a small effect on the soil resistance.

The sensor was calibrated and three states defined. The states are soggy, moist and dry. When the dry state was achieved the control unit (micro controller) switched the water pump on via a relay circuit. The three states were indicated using three different LEDs and an LCD. The LCD also indicated when the pump was running. The control circuit and the sensor circuit were powered using a 9V alkaline battery which was connected via a voltage regulator with an output of 5V

Conclusion

Finally we implemented a system which is to monitor the moisture levels in the soil and to put the fertilizer. The system was used to switch ON/OFF the watering pump according to the soil moisture levels. Also it will put the fertilizers in the soil by based on the time schedule and crops need. The control unit prototype was implemented using a microcontroller on Arduino platform while the sensing bit was implemented using a soil moisture sensor (sensor model).

Here, we used an LCD display to implement the display of the soil states like soggy soil, moist soil and the dry soil states. Also have five LED's to indicate the status of system and pump is ON or OFF. Relay switching circuit was used to switch between the control and the SIFS (Smart Irrigation and Fertilization System).

Acknowledgement

At first we would like to pay our heartiest gratitude to Almighty Allah to give us the scope for successful completion of our work.Interdependence is certainly more valuable than independence. We have been accompanied and supported by our family and friends. For this, we would like to pay our love and respect to them. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to our respectable supervisor, Md Ataullah Bhuiyan, Lecturer and co-supervisor Muhammad Muksitur Rahman Nabil lecturer Department of Computer Science & Engineering, City University Bangladesh,We would also like to thank Professor Dr. Md. Matiur Rahman Mian, Dean, Faculty of Science and Engineering and associate professor Md. Safaet Hossain, Head of the department, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, for their endless support..We are grateful to all other respective teachers of Department of Computer Science & Engineering, City University, for their valuable suggestions and inspiration. We are also thankful to the laboratory staff of CSE department for their co-operation and amiable behavior.