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Solar Powered Smart Irrigation System Using Internet of Things

Conference Paper · September 2018

DOI: 10.1109/ICDSBA.2018.00033

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 Solar Powered Smart Irrigation System using
Internet of Things
Kshirod Kumar Rout Samuchita Mallick
IIIT Bhubaneswar IIIT Bhubaneswar
kshirod@iiit-bh.ac.in A417002@iiit-bh.ac.in
Odisha, India Odisha, India
Abstract-- In the present scenario, availability of
power and water are insufficient to satisfy the farmer’s
requirements. Traditionally, implemented techniques
of irrigation are proving to be less futile as these are
not good at multitasking different concerns which is a
combination of availability of water, sources of energy
and timely soil profile analysis. With the merger of
automation and the methods of irrigation used earlier,
the scope to mitigate issues concerning water and
power crisis, is huge. In this paper, an Internet of
Things based solar powered smart irrigation system
with monitoring and control features, is designed and
implemented. The sensor enabled proposed model of
smart irrigation system along with its Android
Application and ESP8266 as its main controller is
successfully implemented and the results of the
implemented are presented.
Keywords—Internet of things, automated irrigation,
ESP8266
I. INTRODUCTION
IoT has become synonymous with progressive
ideation in the present day modern world. The
Internet of Things, abbreviated as IoT, is a n
ecosystem of agnate physical and digital entities,
provided with unique identifiers and has the
effectiveness of transferring data from one location
to another without any physical medium [1]. The
concept has touched every sphere of life including
field of energy and agriculture which are the basic
necessity for the survival of the human species. It has
not only circumscribed fields related to minimization
of energy consumption, Smart Home automation [2],
RFID tagging of the appliances, optimization of
sensors but also the minimal necessity for the human
survival which agricultural sector.
Agriculture is the backbone of all the global
economy and with its allied sectors, is the
incontestably the largest livelihood provider in India.
India supports 15% of the world’s water resources.
Irrigation plays an important role in agriculture.
According to the World Bank data, only 35% of
India’s agricultural land is irrigated, leaving the rest
65% of farming dependent totally on rain [3].
Understanding the sources of water for irrigation and
Sivkumar Mishra
CAPGS BPUT Rourkela
sivmishra@gmail.com
Odisha, India
how water quantity and quality effects irrigation
methods is one of the key factors in this direction [4].
The irrigation methods used since ages includes:
a. Surface irrigation
b. Sprinkler irrigation
c. Drip/Trickle irrigation
d. Sub-surface irrigation
The above mentioned techniques are not much
efficient as they result in wastage of water and can
also propagate disease such as fungal formation due
to over-moisture in the soil. With globalisation
making world a global village, the system of
irrigation can also be benefitted with the merger of
Information and Communication Tools (ICTs) and
usage of Internet of Things (IoT) into the traditional
methods of irrigation. IoT based automation systems
are becoming extremely popular and effective in
recent times [5]. Coupling automation with
irrigation process is going to result in efficient and
optimal usage of water, hence, reducing wastage
drastically. In automation system, the available
source is monitored via sensors and as per
requirement, watering is done through micro-
controller controlled irrigation system. The entire
mechanism of a smart irrigation system is powered
via solar energy which is the most abundant and a
renewable source of energy in the world. Solar power
generation via PV module not only saves energy but
also an environment friendly option which in long
run is cost effective option.
With the on-going research many developments
have been proposed in the automated irrigation
system where monitoring actions have been
implemented via wireless sensor network with an
algorithm controlling the operation via maintaining
continuous threshold [6]. Many other proposed
models have implemented monitoring via low cost
moisture sensor [7], using WSN (Wireless Sensor
Network) and water pumps [8], implemented using
GSM module [9], via Bluetooth and Cloud
technology [10], Arduino based irrigation system
[11] and using LoRa [12]. With the advent of cloud
technology and decentralisation of data, individual
crop types and their complementary requirements in
terms of moisture requirements, daylight exposure
and nutrients demand can be monitored and
necessary controlling actions can be taken to avoid
the risk of food crisis [13-16]. This has given rise to
the requirements of Precision Agriculture [17-18]
where the methods of irrigation by schedule or
feedback based irrigation is implemented.
In this paper, the system of irrigation discussed is
not only catering to the irrigational requirements but
also is the solution to the power crisis which is the
imbalance between the demand and supply of energy
for different requirements.
II. PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed prototype for the automated solar
powered smart irrigation system (SSIS), comprises
of ESP8266 as its master controller, DC water pump,
DHT11 humidity and temperature sensors for
monitoring and controlling the irrigation facility
where it is mounted. In this model, the layered
architecture of the IoT system is considered which
compromises of the Physical/Perception Layer,
CHARGE MICRO-CONTROLLER
CONTROLLER
BATTERY
DC PUMP
Fig. 1. Basic Architecture of SSIS
Interface Layer, Network Layer and Application
Layer as shown in the fig. 1.
The physical or perception layer consists of the
sensors connected to the system for collection of
data. The data collected is transferred to the master
controller which directs information for control and
monitoring operation and acts as an intermediating
layer between physical and application layer. The
processing unit leads the accumulated data into
network layer hence facilitating the two-way
communication and connectivity pathway via cloud
infrastructure. Finally, the data reaches application
layer which is responsible for monitoring and control
functionalities. The master controller in the proposed
schema is ESP8266.
The proposed SSIS prototype has the below
functionalities:
a. It focuses on monitoring of status
(ON/OFF) of the DC water pump at the site.
b. GUI interfaces helps in viewing of the
status used for screening purposes.
c. Controlling action over working of water
pump based on periodically recorded data
The central theme of the control and monitoring
prototype is concerning implementation of M-2-M
(Machine-to-Machine) as the prominent feature.
CLOUD
MOISTURE
ESP8266 SENSOR
WIRED CONNECTION
WIRELESS CONNECTION
 III. COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION
a. ESP8266: ESP8266 is a cost effective and
optimal power consumption Wi-Fi microchip
with full TCP/IP stack and 32-bit
microcontroller capability which allows
microcontroller to connect to a Wi-Fi network
and make simple TCP/IP connections using
Hayes-style commands. It operated on a power
supply of +- 3.3 V and is programmed using Lua
Script. With chip clock rate acceleration and an
ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) to improve
the sensitivity, integrating with soil humidity
sensor is a common application.
b. Moisture Sensor: DHT11 is an ultra-low cost
digital humidity and temperature sensor. The
mechanism includes a capacitive humidity
sensor and a thermistor for measuring the air
and responding as a digital signal on the data
pin. It is compact in size and cost effective.
c. PV module: A PV module is congregation of a
number of PV cells in parallel to increase the
current and in series to magnify the voltage. The
harvesting of solar power in individual PV cell
is based on the principle of photovoltaic effect
which produces DC (Direct Current) power.
IV. IMPLEMENTATION
The prototype has been designed using the
algorithm as mentioned in the flowchart as given in
Fig. 2.
A. Irrigation Algorithm
The logic presented by the algorithm facilitates in
identifying if there is a necessity of watering the crops
/ plants. The cascading stages of the logic and decision
making conditions enables the maintenance of the soil
moisture levels and also has the feature of continuous
status monitoring of the DC pump by analysing the
logged data in the cloud infrastructure.
The process starts with moisture sensors sensing the
soil. The output of the sensors is relayed to the input
pins of master controller unit, comprising of ESP8266.
d. DC Pump: The source of energy for DC pumps
is from motor, battery, or solar power to move
fluid in a variety of ways. In this prototype, 12
V of DC power which is extracted from PV
panels with solar cells, producing DC power
when exposed to sunlight. It can operated
directly from a battery, hence rendering it more
convenient, portable, energy efficient and easy
to control.
e. Charge Controller: A charge controller,
otherwise known as charge regulator, retards
the rate of addition or withdrawal of electric
current from electric batteries. It helps in
enhancing battery lifespan and facilitates its
safe operation by preventing overcharging and
deep draining via controlled discharges along
with providing protection against overvoltage.
In this prototype, a series charge controller has
been used to control circuitry integrated with a
battery pack, rated at .
f. Battery: Battery is the storage unit whose
evaluation is based on factors namely battery’s
capacity and power ratings, depth of discharge,
round-trip efficiency and lifespan. In this
model, lead acid battery is used for its cost
effective and effectiveness in small-scale
operations.
The decision and monitoring moisture content of the
soil is processed with the help of master controller. The
module checks for the below conditions:
a. If the soil is dry, the main controller actuates
the relay and water pump starts which leads to
water flow.
b. If the soil is wet, then the controller turns the
relay off as a result water pump is off and the
water flow stops.
The energy source for the entire setup is via solar
powered PV module, coupled with a charge controller.
The prototype has two modes of operation, first being
via direct supply from the PV module to the master
controller and second being via battery storage unit,
during low or no irradiance.

DATA FROM SENSORS (DHT11)
START
SOLAR PV MODULE FOR POWER GENERATION
MASTER CONTROLLER UNIT
CHARGE CONTROLLER
YES IS WATER REQUIRED ?
IS SUN
AVAILABLE ?
YES
NO
RELAY ON
BATTERY
DC PUMP ON
IRRIGATION
SPRINKLER
Fig. 2. Sequence depicting SSIS mechanism
B. Software Implementation
The working starts with creation of the graphic
interface based application. The application has been
developed over Blynk platform and the interface is as
shown in Fig.3. The interface provides the user with
two dominant functionalities:
a. Status monitoring (ON / OFF control)
b. Monitoring temperature and humidity via DHT11
sensor and controlling status based on the
monitored data as well as M-2-M feature.
It provides us with an interface with two predominant
options: “Registered user” and “Create a Dashboard”.
Clicking on the “Registered user” redirects us to
dashboard with all the appliances which have been
added into the application for monitoring and control
process. This feature helps the user to have a
customized dashboard according to one’s preference
related to control and monitoring application with a
volatile schema. Second option, “Create a Dashboard”
facilitates the user in building a graphic interface by
simply clicking on “Add Devices” push-button which
redirects us to an interface where the user can add
START
NO
If Temperature is High and NO
Moisture is High
YES
If Temperature is High and
Moisture is Low
NO
features specific to the control and monitoring of a
particular device. The controlling action is through
MQTT protocol which can be controlled from
anywhere in the world via ESP8266 module.
The authentication and authorization layer of schema
for ESP8266 module maps a particular user under a
specific account to the devices added under its
credentials for the control and monitoring purposes.
The credentials required are namely; SSID and user-
defined password.
The next stage is predominantly related to
communication layer of the schema which is sending
notifications from the ESP8266 via text message and
E-mail. IoT devices constantly alert users when
something is happening or simply at regular intervals,
for example to report data. We have used the ESP8266
to send e-mail as well as text messages. We have used
IFTTT web service that can put two web services in
contact via “recipes” that are activated by a trigger
which in return triggers an action. The implemented
hardware prototype is shown in Fig.4.
 Fig. 3. Blynk dashport display
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, SSIS in addition to a complementary
Android App has been successfully implemented. The
automated irrigation system prototype, namely SSIS, is
an efficient and cost effective alternative to the manual
irrigation systems which are labor intensive and results
in wastage of water resources. It helps in regulating the
water usage of an agricultural land by periodically
monitoring the soil moisture, humidity and temperature
via sensors. This mechanism not only helps in
maintaining the alkalinity and pH balance of the soil
but also prevents drought like situation by maintaining
the underground water table. The timely received data
for moisture levels of soil from the sensors at particular
intervals is recorded and analyzed via graphical
representation. When the moisture level is below the
desired level, the moisture sensor directs the signal to
the ESP8266 microcontroller, powered via PV module,
triggering the DC Pump to turn ON and supply the
water to site. The prototype also gives the status of the
motor and temperature on mobile. If there is absence of
solar power, the backup is provided by the lead-acid
battery in the system, hence, maintaining a continuous
Fig. 4. Implemented hardware proptype
monitoring and controlling operation. The scheme,
discussed above in the context of small scale domestic
application which uses an open source dashboard, can
be scaled up for commercial application by designing a
customized dashboard application.
VI. REFERENCES
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based Prototype for Smart Home Automation Network”
International Conference on Recent Innovations in Electrical
Electronics and Communication Engineering ICRIEECE,
Bhubaneswar, India, July-2018.
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draining-the-country-dry/ accessed on 9th September, 2018.
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