International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Volume 116 No. 11 2017, 211-219

ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version); ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)
url: http://www.ijpam.eu
doi: 10.12732/ijpam.v116i11.22
Special Issue ijpam.eu

AUTOMATING THE
IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Latha.L1, Suriya.P2 and Sindhuja.V.P3
Dept. of CSE, Kumaraguru college of technology,
Coimbatore.
latha.l.cse@kct.ac.in, suryainc1995@gmail.com,
sindhubekct@gmail.com

Abstract
In India,agriculture plays a vital role in our day to day life
and the Future India depends on our agriculture.Agriculture
depends on monsoon condition, soil quality to make the crops to
grow and water is required to plant crops sufficiently.The field
of agriculture farmers face major issues in watering their crops.
It is a result of not having a correct plan concerning the supply
of water facility.The farmers have to make arrangements to
pump water and need to wait till the land is completely wet,
that compels them to prevent doing other activities. They lose
their precious time. Also irrigating water to the plant in excess,
which increases the concentration of high soil content and
endeavouring the plant(crops) to destroy.In this
paper,automation of irrigation system based on
Arduinomicrocontroller and GSM module is proposed and
implemented.This system controlsthe exact condition of water
level of the agriculture land based on the soil quality.

Keywords: Irrigation system,Soil moisture

sensor,GSM,Arduino Microcontroller,Arduino software.

1 Introduction
The main aim of this work relies on modernizing the
agricultural world by bridging the programming and
hardware components. To decrease the demand of food
scarcity, there is a strong need to improve the food
productivity. Agriculture is the backbone of any country and
high priority to be given to solve any challenges in this field.
Due to the scarcity of land water, which is decreasing
rapidly, there is a need to device a method for reducing the
water wastage. So a framework is developed with GSM,
microcontroller, water pump and sensors to irrigate the soil.
This model is driven by electrical
211 power and motor on/off
International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue

controlling mechanisms. The smart controller accounts for

gathering micro data on climate and schedule water
irrigation. An SMS is delivered to the person with regard to
the on/off condition of the motor pump. Instruction to switch
on/off motor may also be sent from the mobile to the
controller. Parameters like temperature, soil wetness and air
wetness sampled by the controller can even be sent to the
laptop or mobile by a GSM message.Bluetooth module is also
required to switch the state of motor to ON condition through
mobile.

2. Literature review

A microcontroller-based system was developed for

automating the measurement of soil and air temperature and
soil moisture status in cropped fields (1). It uses solid-state
components for handling sensor power and data storage
functions. Systems were built and tested in a corn field to
evaluate performance and suitability under local conditions.
Reliability of data collection and storage averaged 91%, with
missing data occurring during periods of inclement weather
and electrostatic interference (1). Automatic irrigation
system is at rapid growth, as at present cost-saving
technology and labour-saving are the key issues in irrigation
(2). This paper proposes a generic irrigation system based on
wireless sensors with GSM and Bluetooth as irrigation
controller and remote monitor. The system informs user
about any abnormal conditions like less moisture content and
temperature rise, via SMS from the GSM module or by
Bluetooth module to the farmer‟s mobile and actions are
taken accordingly by the farmer. In future, the farmer can
monitor and control the system parameters. Techniques
based on Cloud computing and internet of things can be
introduced into agricultural modernization which may solve
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the problem (3).
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4 Interfacing LM393 Comparator with

Arduino Microcontroller

LM393 comparator consists of a potentiometer (0-1023) and

the main purpose of potentiometer is to adjust the sensitivity
changes of moisture level. It has both Analog and digital i/o
lines.Analog input from the LM393 is connected with the
Arduinoanalog input pin (A0). Digital input from LM393 is
connected withArduinoanalog input pin (A10) and the layout
is shown infigure 1. The sensor output is detected by probing
two stiff copper wires into the soil with variable resistance
values. The sensor output is given to A/D converter which
produces digital values, thereby passed to controller as 0 or 1
signal. The resistance values are directly connected to
voltage referential meter. Voltage value is ensured by
measuring the resistance between two wires. Initially it was
tried with 100Ω and 50Ω resistance which determines that
the soil is in dry condition. If the sensor detection level is less
than 10Ω, then soil is in wet condition. The value of
potentiometer (range 0-1023) can also be adjusted to find
whether the land needs water or not. Temperature of the
irrigating land has been noted for every level.

Fig. 1 Connection of LM393 with Arduino.

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5 Connection of Arduino with GSM module

GSM module is connected to the digital pin of Arduino

board as shown in figure 2. The GSM module is connected to
the external 9V power supply. Through the GSM module the
message can be sent for a long distance and the Subscriber
Identity Module (SIM)should be inserted in the GSM Module.

Fig. 2 Interface of GSM with Arduino

If the required water level is reached, the LED blinks and

alerts the farmer by throwing messages using GSM
technology.The 2 pins in the centre of GSM board are used
for connecting speaker and other devices. There are 3 pins
used for data transmission, in that 1st pin is connected to the
ground, 2nd pin of GSM module Tx is connected to the Rx in
the Arduino, 3rd pin of GSM module Rx is connected to the Tx
ofArduino.

6 Operation of the system

A soil wetness sensing element is employed to gather

information about wetness of the land. This system consists
of a ArduinoATmega328microcontroller that receives a
logical signal 0(or)1 and pulls the motor driver to vary its
state.Thus the Microcontroller is used for managing the
sensor. The ATmega328 on the Arduino BT comes preburned
with a bootloader that allows to uploada new code to it
without the use of an external hardware programmer.It
communicates through the STK500
214 protocol.
International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue

Fig. 3 Experimental setup of Automated Irrigation System.

The prototype model of experimental setup of irrigating

land is shown in figure 3. Arduinoboard is often powered
either from the laptop through a USB or through
externalbattery. „In Circuit-serial Programming‟ facility
allows uploading of software into the microcontroller without
opening it every time for inserting the code.

7 Results

After uploading the coding to Arduino,water is poured into

the irrigation model (glass jar which is planted) as shown in
figure 4.

Fig. 4 Sample output screen shot

The soil value is recorded in order to irrigate water to land.

The 13th pin LED will glow until the motor switches into OFF
state.The below tabular column explains the temperature
condition of the soil, which is to be watered.

The soil value is recorded in order to irrigate water to land.

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The 13th pin LED will glow until the motor switches into OFF
International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue

state.The below tabular column explains the temperature

condition of the soil, which is to be watered.
Table 1 Condition of soil

Soil type Range (0-1023) Soil condition

Sandy soil Sensor value>700 Dry condition
Sensor value<700 Wet condition
Clay soil Sensor value>400 Dry condition
Sensor value<400 Wet condition

Volumetric water content for both sand and clay soils:

In sand, plants in 20% moisture is good as sand readily

releases its moisture and the maximum value sand can hold
is around 30%.However, in clay, a plant in 20% moisture will
be extremely stressed. Clay soils often have a maximum
moisture reading of 50% or more, so 20% is very dry. The clay
particles also bind water to themselves and at low moisture
contents like 20%, clay will not give water up for the roots to
use.

8 MIT App Inventor

The MIT App Inventor consists of designs and blocks as

shown in figure 5. Based on the user perspective, the
properties can be changed. The main purpose of this App is
to control the machine on/offconditions. Thus it basically
needs Bluetooth to send a control to the machine. Using the
MITAPP Inventor,the motor is switched to ON state via a
Mobile.After reaching the particular level,it automatically
switches OFF the motor and throwa message to the
concerned farmer whose number is mentioned in code. For
land irrigation, the farmer can harvest different crops with
same soil in four different seasons like spring, summer,
autumn, winter(according to weather conditions).In this
experiment,clay soil and sandy
216 soil are only used to plant
International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue

crops. The pH level of soil is noted to determine acidic,base

and neutrality of the soil. If the pH level is less than 7,it is
acidic.If pH level is less than 7, it is basic.If pH level is 7, it is
neutral.

Fig. 5 MIT App Inventor ExecutionProcess

In sand, plants in wet condition feel better as sand with no

delay releases its wetness and also mostly sand will hold
wetness around half-an-hour.However, in clay, a plant in wet
condition is extraordinarily stressed. Clay soils usually have
a maximum wet reading of 50 or more, thus it is incredibly
dry. The clay particles conjointly bind water to themselves
and at low wet condition,clay cannot provide water up for the
roots to use.

9 Conclusion

“Nature is the Mother of Science” which is preserved by

devising a methodology that conveys an indication of water
level to the farmer, thereby the farmer can carry out other
activities. This system provides several operational benefits
and requires less manpower. This system should supply
water when the measured soil temperature is below a certain
referencevoltage. Bydoing this way, good air condition and
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green revolution can evolve in our agriculture lands.
International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Special Issue

References

1] Daniel K. Fisher, HirutKebede, A low-cost microcontroller-

based system to monitor crop temperature and water status,
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 74, 168–173, 2010

2] Purnima and S r n Reddy. Article: Design of Remote

Monitoring and Control System with Automatic Irrigation
System using GSM-Bluetooth. International Journal of
Computer Applications 47(12), 6-13, June 2012

3] TongKe, Fan. Smart agriculture based on cloud computing

and IOT, Journal of Convergence Information
Technology, 8.2, 2013.

4] Abbasi, Abu Zafar, Noman Islam, and Zubair Ahmed

Shaikh. A review of wireless sensors and networks
applications in agriculture, Computer Standards &
Interfaces., 36.2, 263-270, 2014.

5] Bo, Yifan, and Haiyan Wang.The application of cloud

computing and the internet of things in agriculture and
forestry, Service Sciences (IJCSS), 2011 International Joint
Conference on.IEEE.

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