Volume||4||Issue||11||November-2016||Pages-6071-6077||ISSN(e):2321-7545

Website: http://ijsae.in
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/ijsre/v4i11.10
Intelligent Automatic Plant Irrigation System
Authors
Shaikh Gauhar Zareen , Khan Sanna Zarrin2, Ansari Rabsha Ali3, Prof. S. D. Pingle4
1
1,2,3
M.E Student People’s Education Society’s College of Engineering, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.,
4
Associate Professor People’s Education Society’s College of Engineering, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.
Email: 1zareen_444@rocketmail.com, 2s_ping@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Irrigation is the key to a successful garden. Long gone are the days of manual watering or relying on a
friend to water when you are on vacation or away on business. The paper presented proposed an embedded
system for automatic control of irrigation. You can water your plants regularly when you are out for
vacation. The system has wireless sensor network for real-time sensing and control of an irrigation system.
This system provides uniform and required level of water for the garden and it avoids water wastage. This
system is intended to create an automated irrigation mechanism which turns the pumping motor ON and
OFF on detecting the dampness content of the earth.
In this embedded system we are interfacing Arduino board ATmega328 microcontroller through temperature
sensor, soil moisture sensor and also interfacing to GSM. This paper of “Intelligent Automatic Plant
Irrigation System” is implemented using the “ARDUNIO” software and hardware using “Embedded C”
along with the “ANDROID” for sending users command to the Ardunio for controlling the motor.
Keywords: Ardunio, Android, ATmega328, GSM, soil moisture sensor, temperature sensor, water motor.

INTRODUCTION
People enjoy plants, their benefits and the feeling related to nurturing them. However for most
people it becomes challenging to keep them healthy and alive. When the point comes to watering the plant
then what we just do is flows water through the lateral lines and ultimately ends up at the irrigation emitter
(drip) or sprinkler heads. Many sprinklers have pipe thread inlets on the bottom of them which allows a
fitting and the pipe to be attached to them. The sprinklers are attached at top of the head flush [1].
Healthy plants can transpire huge water, which results in increased humidity of the greenhouse air. a high
relative humidity (above 80-85%) should be avoided because this can increase the incidence of disease and
reduce plant transpiration. sufficient venting or successive heating and venting can prevent condensation on
plants surfaces and the greenhouse structure. the use of cooling systems during the summer months increases
the greenhouse air humidity. during periods with warm and humid outdoor conditions, humidity control
inside the greenhouse can be a challenge. greenhouses located in dry, dessert environments benefit greatly
from evaporative cooling systems because large amounts of water can be evaporated into the incoming air,
resulting in significant temperature drops [7].
The relative humidity alone does not tell us about the absolute water holding capacity of air, a different
measurement is used to describe the absolute moisture status of the soil. The vapor pressure deficit is a
measure of the difference between the amount of moisture the air contains at a given moment and the
amount of moisture it can hold at that temperature when the air would be saturated. Pressure deficit
measurement can tell us how easy it is for plants to transpire: higher values stimulate transpiration, and
lower values inhibit transpiration and can lead to condensation on leaf and greenhouse surfaces [8].

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In the 20th century, the advent of diesel and electric motors led to systems that could pump ground water out
of major aquifers faster than drainage basins could refill them. This can lead to permanent loss of aquifer
capacity, decreased water quality, ground subsidence, and other problems.
Apart from all these problems and failures, there has been a considerable evolution in the methods to
perform irrigation with the help of technology. To accommodate this challenge we have developed a
prototype, which makes a plant more self-sufficient. The implementation of technology in the areas of
irrigation has proven to be of great help as they deliver efficiency and accuracy.
This project has wireless sensor network for real-time sensing and control of an irrigation system. This
system provides uniform and required level of water for the agricultural farm and it avoids water wastage.
When the condition of water in the plant is seems to be abnormal then the system automatically switches ON
the motor. When the water level reaches normal level the motor automatically switch OFF. In this project we
are interfacing microcontroller through temperature sensor, humidity sensor and also interfacing to GSM In
this project we also sense the temperature humidity and the conditioned is uniformly monitored by Ardunio
and stored at server.
The GSM based irrigation system may offer users the flexibility to regulate and control the operations of
their irrigation systems with little intervention to reduce runoff from over watering for improvement in crop
yield. This enables users to take advantage of the globally deployed GSM networks with its low SMS
service cost to use mobile phones and simple SMS commands to manage their irrigation system.
It will be possible for users to use SMS to monitor directly the conditions of their farmland, schedule the
water needs of crops, automatically control watering, and set control operational conditions in accordance
with the water needs of crops. This will help minimize overwatering and crop production cost. The
functionality of the GSM was tested by connecting it to the microcontroller board which was programmed to
turn on-and-off.
The Android app helps in sending the command to the microcontroller and by this user as control on the
whole system.
Arduino Uno:
Arduino is a microcontroller for making computers that can sense and control different devices. It's an open-
source platform based on a ATmega328 microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing
software for the board. Arduino projects are stand-alone, and they can be operated on displaying devices
with software. The preassembled devices are available or they can be assembled as per our need; the open-
source IDE is open source. The Arduino programming language is working done on wires, a similar physical
computing platform, which is based on the Processing multimedia programming environment. The same
Arduino Uno ATmega328 microcontroller is used in this project. The hardware consists of a simple open
hardware design for the Arduino board with an on-board input/output support. The software consists of a
standard programming language compiler and the boot loader that runs on the Arduino board [1] [2].
GSM Module:
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), I a standard developed by the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital
cellular networks used by mobile phones, first deployed in Finland in July 1991. As of 2014 it has become
the default global standard for mobile communications - with over 90% market share, operating in over 219
countries and territories.
2G networks developed as a replacement for first generation (1G) analog cellular networks, and the GSM
standard originally described a digital, circuit-switched network optimized for full duplex voice telephony.
This expanded over time to include data communications, first by circuit-switched transport, then by packet
data transport via GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution or EGPRS).

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Subsequently, the 3GPP developed third-generation (3G) UMTS standards followed by fourth-generation
(4G) LTE Advanced standards, which do not form part of the ETSI GSM standard.
"GSM" is a trademark owned by the GSM Association. It may also refer to the (initially) most common
voice codec used, Full Rate [7].
Android:
Android is a mobile operating system that is based on a modified version of Linux. Android software
development is the process by which new applications are created for the Android operating system.
Applications are usually developed in the Java programming language using the Android Software
Development Kit. The Android software development kit (SDK) includes a comprehensive set of
development tools. These include a debugger, libraries, a handset emulator based on QEMU, documentation,
sample code, and tutorials. The SDK also supports older versions of the Android platform in case developers
wish to target their applications at older devices. Development tools are downloadable components, so after
one has downloaded the latest version and platform, older platforms and tools can also be downloaded for
compatibility testing. Android applications are packaged in.apk format and stored under/data/app folder on
the Android OS (the folder is accessible only to the root user for security reasons). APK package
contains.dex files (compiled byte code files called Dalvik executable), resource files, etc.
Soil Moisture
The Soil moisture sensors are used specially to measure the water content in soil. A one soil moisture probe
is made up of multiple soil moisture sensors. Technological methodology used it soil moisture sensor is the
electrical resistance of the soil.
The health of a plant is influenced by many factors, one of the most important being the ready
availability of moisture in the soil. Soil moisture is an important component in the atmospheric water
cycle, both on a small agricultural scale and in large-scale modeling of land/ atmosphere interaction.
Vegetation and crops always depend more on the moisture available at root level than on
precipitation occurrence. Water budgeting for irrigation planning, as well as the actual scheduling. The
gypsum block is used to measure soil moisture. In this particular project, we have used the moisture sensors
which can be inserted in the soil, in order to measure the moisture content of the soil [2] [5] [6] [7].
Temperature Sensor:
It is a measure of temperature at different levels of the Earth's atmosphere. It is governed by
many factors, including incoming solar radiation, humidity and altitude. This variable should be defined as
a continuous signal (normally as a sine wave which simulated the day and night temperature
changes). An analog temperature sensor that is LM35 is a chip that tells us what the ambient
temperature is. These sensors use a solid transistor. By precisely amplifying the voltage change, it is easy to
generate an analog signal that is directly proportional to temperature. These sensors have no moving
parts, they are precise, never wear out, don't need calibration, work under many environmental
conditions, and are consistent between sensors and readings. Moreover they are very inexpensive and
quite easy to use.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig 1: (a) Arduino Uno, (b) GSM Module, (c) Moisture Plate Sensor
Shaikh Gauhar Zareen , et al IJSRE Volume 4 Issue 11 November 2016 Page 6073
LITERATURE SURVEY
There is existing projects on plant irrigation using 8051 microcontroller. The project has a disadvantage that
it uses 8051 whose signal processing ability and operating speed is not good as PIC 16F877. Also it has
limitation on memory this controller has only one serial port therefore interfacing more sensors become
difficult [4].There is another project by name automatic plant irrigation it is quite similar to our project but it
has disadvantage that it does not display any parameter values remotely, but just controls the pump action.
Then one project discusses Automation System for irrigating plants that they have used two wires for
moisture sensing. This kind of arrangement does not give accurate result compared to soil hygrometer
humidity detection module. There are lots of other small scale demo projects for indicating automatic plant
irrigation system using Arduino [1] [5], but they are not capable and feasible enough to be implemented
practically as they all have one or the other minor issues such as insufficient pump driver power, limited
reservoir capacity, etc. Another researcher Yandog Zhao has researched on water irrigation control system
based on internet papers. This paper discusses that user can use mobile phones or wireless PDA to control
farm irrigation.
There is another embedded system of automatic irrigation for cardamom fields like high, low, sloppy and
flat areas. This system uses PIC16F877A microcontroller. The temperature and humidity sensors detect the
field temperature and field humidity, the moisture sensor detects the soil moisture these conditions are
updated at their base station. Xbee PRO is the technology used by base station for controlling and
communication with field stations [3].
From other papers the conclusion is that the cost of the system is little bit high. In addition to it the system is
not robust because of the microcontroller architectures used. Our proposed system is low cost wireless
automation system using ATmega328 microcontroller to control farms, garden or landscape using GSM for
communication.

PROPOSED SYSTEM
Objectives
The major objectives of the present work are,
 The system supports water management decision, which determines the controlling time for the process
and monitoring the whole system through GSM module.
 The system continuously monitors the water level in the tank and provide accurate amount of water
required to the plant or tree (crop).
 The system checks the temperature, humidity and dew point so as to forecast the weather condition.
 Low cost and effective with less power consumption using sensors for remote monitoring and controlling
devices which are controlled via SMS using a GSM using android mobile.
Fig 2: Block Diagram
The system setup and connections of project intelligent automatic plant irrigation system is shown in Fig 2.
After setting the system the microcontroller keeps the overall control by monitoring the sensors and android
application. Sensors sense the plants status and repeatedly report it to microcontroller so as to take the
proper decision of whether to supply the water or not by ON/Offing the motor. The moisture sensor inserted
in the soil, in order to measure the moisture content of the soil. As shown in Fig 3 the connection setup and
in Fig 4: the working of whole system. In Fig 5 the output of temperature sensor and moisture sensor is
displayed at Ardunio interface displaying the sensed results.

Shaikh Gauhar Zareen , et al IJSRE Volume 4 Issue 11 November 2016 Page 6074
 Fig 3: Connections in circuit

Fig 4: Complete Connection Setup

Fig 5: Sensors Data at Ardunio Interface

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The control of end user is a very important aspect in our project this is a unique extension to our system that
makes it different from other systems. The Android app is been build to send the users command as on or off
to control the motor and supply the water to the plants as per users choice.
The phone number of end user is necessary to send the message to the Ardunio and this is done via GSM.

Fig 6: Android App

Advantages
Reducing the risk of electric shocks, deaths due to poisonous creatures in the fields.
Watering depends on the moisture level present in the field.
Automatic controlling of water pump.
Efficient and low cost design.
Fast response
User friendly.

CONCLUSION
This proposed technique is designed to operate a water pump automatically based on the soil moisture
sensor detection of sufficient water to the plant or in fields and also temperature sensor based fan speed
control. The switching mechanism can be done automatically with the help of microcontroller using relays.
The proposed controller eliminates the manual switching mechanism used by the farmers to ON/OFF the
irrigation system. The system is also designed for temperature sensor based fan speed control. Integrating
features of all the hardware components used have been developed in it. Presence of every module has been
reasoned out and placed carefully, thus contributing to the best working of the unit. Secondly, using highly
advanced IC’s with the help of growing technology, the paper has been successfully implemented.

REFERENCES
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Hyderabad, India, MSC 2nd Year, Department Of Electronics, HRD, Hyderabad, India. Website-
www.ijarcsse.com
2. “Soil moisture and temperature sensor based intelligent irrigation water pump controlling system
using Ardunio”, Dr. D.V.Pushpa Latha, Dr. Swati Devabhaktuni, Professor,Dept.of EEE,Gokaraju

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