The Internet of Things in

Agriculture

DISHANT JAMES
PhD Scholar
Dept. Agri. Extension,
 OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the concept of IoT.
2. To know the applications of IoT in
agriculture.
3. To discuss the constraints for
implementing IoT in Indian agricultural
scenario.
4. To review the case studies related to IoT
in agriculture.
Internet Revolution
WHAT IS the INTERNET OF THINGS ?
Term was proposed by Kevin Ashton in 1999

Connection of each and every thing to the internet

Relationship will be people-people, people-things & things-things

IoT Kevin Ashton

 DEFINITION
 IoT is an environment where objects,
animals or people are equipped with
unique identifiers capable of data
transmission over Internet network
without the need for human-human or
human-computer interaction

-(Gluhak et al., 2011).

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the
network of physical objects or "things"
embedded with electronics, software,
sensors, and network connectivity,
which enables these objects to collect
and exchange data.
Structure of IoT
1. Tagging Things : Real-time item
traceability and addressability by RFIDs.
 RFID- Radio Frequency
Identification
• Widely used in Transport and Logistics
• Easy to deploy: RFID tags and RFID readers
2. Feeling Things : Sensors act as primary
devices to collect data from the
environment.
SENSORS
3.Shrinking Things : Miniaturization and
Nanotechnology has provoked the ability of smaller
things to interact and connect with smart devices.
4.Thinking Things :
Embedded intelligence in devices through
sensors has formed the network connection to
the Internet.
Efficient waste management in smart cities through IoT
 Devices
Light Motion sensors Temperature

Humidity
Soil
moisture
Sensors Weather conditions
Wind
Air pollution (dust and pollution gases) Rain
Lights

Electric Electric
switches Actuators valves

RFID tags for animal identification and monitoring

Drones Other Cameras

 Applications of IoT in agriculture

 Live farm data

 Applications of IoT in agriculture

 Monitoring soil moisture and temperature

 Controlled irrigation
 Efficient usage of inputs like water,
fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
Impact of IoT on irrigation
Field Connect
GREEN IQ
 Applications of IoT in agriculture

Reduced cost of production

Connected greenhouses and stables
Livestock monitoring
 The Connected Cow!

In the world of IoT, even the cows will be connected and

monitored. Sensors are implanted in the ears of cattle. This
allows farmers to monitor cows’ health and track their
movements. On average, each cow generates about 200 MB
of information per year.
 The Connected Tractor
3. Smart, connected tractor

2. Smart Tractor

1. Tractor
+

+ +
 5. System of systems
weather
weather forecasts
maps
weather data
4. Product system rain, humidity, application
temperature sensors

weather data
system farm
performance
planters database

combine farm Farm

farm seed
equipment management seed
equipment harvesters optimizing
system system database
system system

tillers seed
optimization
irrigation application
system

field irrigation
sensors application

irrigation
nodes
 Applications of IoT in agriculture

Pest monitoring
Storage monitoring
Tracking farm products
Prevention of illegal logging
Mobile money transfer
• IoT enables branchless banking services which
is beneficial to rural farmers who have no
access to banks within a reasonable distance.
Drones in Agriculture
 Prerequisites for designing IoT
models
1. Robust Models: The characteristic
features of agriculture sector such as
diversity, complexity spatio-temporal
variability, and uncertainties have to be
considered in developing the right kinds
of products and services.
2. Scalability: The size of farms varies
from small to large, and hence the
solutions should be scalable. The
architecture should be able to scale up
incrementally with less overheads.
3.Affordability: Affordability is the key
to success. The cost has to be
appropriate with substantial benefits.
Standardized platforms, tools, products
and services can bring the cost down
with increased volumes.

4. Sustainability: The issue of

sustainability is vital because of intense
economic pressure and fierce global
competition.
 Constraints for implementing IoT in
Indian agricultural scenario

• Small, dispersed land holdings

• Complexity, scalability and affordability
of the technologies
• Privacy and security concerns
• Internet connectivity and availability
• Low awareness of IoT devices and
systems among consumers
• Lack of investment and venture
capital funds
• Environmental impact
• Influences human moral decision
making
Strategies to familiarise IoT
among Extension personnel
SAUs can collaborate with
Technological Institutes to
obtain knowledge on IoT

Funds can be used to

provide IoT facilities in
Research Stations and KVKs,
on a pilot basis

Training can be provided

to Extension Personnel
Role of Extension personnel in
IoT farming
Awareness creation activities.
Skill trainings on use of
sensors, analysis of data and
decision making.
Introduction of innovations.
Case studies
 Case Study 1
Precision Agriculture through
Internet of Things
• AMAN KUMAR AND ANOOP
CHANDRA (2016) proposed a solution
that involves digitizing agricultural
metrics to build a crop
recommendation system to assist the
farmers in cultivating better crops.
• This system makes use of concepts of
Internet of Things and rule-based
classification algorithms to predict the
suitable crops according to the climatic
factors such as humidity, temperature,
soil moisture and soil nutrient contents
(nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).
• A farming set up is installed in the
farms which transfers the data
collected by the sensors to the server
using a micro-controller.
• At the sever side, the data is
processed using classification
algorithms.
• The recommended crop details will be
provided to the farmers via SMS or
IVR
Figure : Block diagram of the system
Frequency table for agricultural metric
Data collected by the sensors
 Case Study 2
• Farmer slashes water consumption
by 75 per cent
• Kurt Bantle, farmer and senior
solution manager at Spirent
Communications. He has 900 young
avocado trees planted in his “back
garden” in Southern California.
• He decided to experiment into how
avocados could be grown using less
water through soil moist monitoring and
automated irrigation.
• Bantle divided his farm into 22 irrigation
blocks and inserted two soil moisture
measurement units into each block.
• The units contain a LoRa unit for
narrow-band data communication to a
LoRa gateway which has broadband
cellular uplink connectivity
functionality.
• All soil moisture data is collected from
the avocado trees into a cloud and
visualised by a presentation layer.
• When a tree needs to be watered, the
solution turns the sprinklers on
automatically to get the correct level of
soil moisture for each tree. It then turns
them off when the correct moisture
levels are reached. The connected trees
are monitored constantly day and night.
• The case study showed water usage
reduction by 75 per cent.
 Case Study 3
KISAN Project and Hailstorm App
KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space
technology And geoiNformatics] launched on 5th
October 2015, by Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan,
Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’
Welfare.
• States covered: one District each of
Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra during Kharif season
of 2015 and two Districts each of these
States during Rabi season of 2015-16
on pilot basis.
• The project envisages use of space
technology and geoinformatics (GIS,
GPS and Smartphone) technology along
with high resolution data from
UAV/Drone based imaging for
delivering timely and accurate data on
the state of agricultural crops.
• Dr. Balyan also launched an Android App called
‘Hailstorm App’. It is designed by ISRO (National
Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad).
• This App will help in real time data collection
about hailstorm occurrences along with
photographs and geographical coordinates
(longitude and latitude).
• The App will help Government to get real time
data about the Hailstorms which will be
collected through the Agriculture Department
officials of different States. This will support in
deciding the crop loss more objectively and in a
very fast manner.
CONCLUSION