A Smart and Intelligent Irrigation System With a Roadmap Ahead

Introduction

Agriculture provides employment to the rural people so, it is an important source of livelihood. Agriculture is the backbone of the economic system of a country. The resources for water is decreasing day by day, so consumption of water is vital. By science and technology, we can irrigate a field using stipulated amount of resources without wasting the water. The main objective of this work is to develop an intelligent irrigation system and to monitor agricultural environment such as soil moisture with temperature, humidity etc. so that necessary actions can be taken whenever required. In this paper, we shall describe the method where automated and intelligent irrigation is possible using a dielectric soil moisture sensor which give the moisture percentage of the soil and if it exceeds the threshold value (which can be programmed), the motor will be turned on and automatically starts the irrigation system which gives water to the plants using sprinkler (Kizito et al., 2008). Further, it can also stop the irrigation system automatically. A renewable energy source (a solar panel) and a battery is used where the battery can be automatically charged when sun rays falls on the solar panel. It needs different parts to be interfaced with one another for appropriate function of the system (Suresh et al., 2014). There are various types of plants which require only certain amount of water, different from other plants, and if the amount of water exceeds a certain amount then either the plant will die or it will get damaged. So, to satisfy the needs of such plants, implementing this idea will be a major step towards smart agriculture and intelligent irrigation. According to the farmer’s need, the Arduino or some other microcontrollers can be programmed, and in case if the need of the farmer changes, the microcontroller can be reprogrammed again and it is also easy to detect errors. So the system is completely customizable and modifiable as per the need of the farmers of the environment. Moreover the system can also be controlled from a remote location (Morais et al., 2005). So, the application of IoT helps us to shift towards the automated and smart irrigation system that helps us to make our life simpler. Traditional systems are getting replaced by the semi-automated and automated systems that helps us in efficient water uses. Moreover, lesser manual intervention is possible in the irrigation system. The system can be made more and more intelligent with the application of artificial intelligence with machine learning (S. Chakraborty et al., 2017a; S. Chakraborty & Bhowmik, 2015; Shouvik Chakraborty et al., 2015; Shouvik Chakraborty & Bhowmik, 2015, 2013; Shouvik Chakraborty & Mali, 2020b). One of the major advantages of these kind of system is that the irrigation system can be controlled by either automatically or by manual method (i.e. by sending instructions) from a remote area. Technologies are continuously evolving to uplift the quality of life. Most of the farmers from the different parts of the world are struggling to maintain their crop healthy throughout the lifespan of the crop more specifically in the hot and sunny summer session. In many parts of the world, scarcity of the water body or other water resources is an important issue. The ever-increasing need of the water leads towards the continuous extraction of the water from the earth which in turn coverts a fertile land into a barren land because not every type of water is suitable for the irrigation purposes. Therefore, the conservation of the water is one of the major points to be considered while designing the automated soil irrigation systems. In the proposed system, an intelligent system is used to control the irrigation. The proposed system can sense several environmental parameters and can adjust the flow of the water accordingly (Araya & Stroosnijder, 2011; Zwarteveen, 1997). This method is highly beneficial in preserving the water. The system only supplies the necessary amount of water which is required for a plant. Moreover, the system can use solar power which is a renewable and non-conventional energy resource. It is necessary to use such type of energy resourced and these types of energy resources are easily available in a field. The availability of the power is a necessary criterion for smooth operation. The solar power is not only an alternative for the conventional energy resources, but it is environment friendly and a rich resource. Generally, photovoltaic approach is used to utilise the solar power. Various applications of the solar energy can be observed in different domains like street lights, water heaters, small cars, domestic and corporate usage etc. The proposed model can be the appropriate one for the farmers from the present point of view of energy consumption. Farmers have to incur a cost for initial installation and maintenance only. Once the system is installed it can generate the solar power in presence of sunlight. If the system is maintained appropriately, it can endure for a long period which is necessary for the cost reduction and to save conventional energy resources. The “intelligence” factor of this technology depends on the hardware and the software parts. It not only irrigates but also gives different information of the surroundings like humidity, temperature etc. to the farmer remotely. So, the farmer can be stress less and relax as all the updated information will be sent to the farmer’s phone using GSM module. In the proposed system, the solar system is used drive the pump and other components of the system. So, the proposed system provides a smarter way of irrigation and helps to preserve water and save energy.