"Prototype of an autonomous agricultural irrigation system based on Arduino and internet of the things at lab scale, powered by a photovoltaic system"

Abstract

The implementation of new technologies in all fields of society has increased since the '90s, and in the agricultural sector, it has brought enormous advantages allowing boosting the quality and productivity of crops. The lack of effectiveness and efficiency of traditional methods of monitoring and controlling used in agriculture leads to a loss of time and costs for farmers. This article describes the design, development, and implementation of an irrigation system using open hardware and software, wired and wireless sensor networks (WSN), actuators, wireless communication devices, and ICT tools, in order to create an environment where the Internet of Things (IoT) and Precision Agriculture offer the user a better irrigation control over the crop, taking into account evapotranspiration. Our goal is to create an irrigation system that allows the farmer to receive a notification on his cell phone, through SMS data communication networks, indicating the activation of the irrigation system. It also establishes the communication channel with the microcontroller, allowing the emission and reception of the signals generated by the system's sensors, thus minimizing the work of people.