2013 Second IIAI International Conference on Advanced Applied Informatics

A Proposal for an Agricultural Irrigation Control System

Based on Support Vector Machine
Yuya Suzuki
Graduate School of Informatics
Shizuoka University
Shizuoka, Japan
Email: yuya@minelab.jp

Kazumi Nakamatsu
School of Human Science and Environment
University of Hyogo
Hyogo, Japan
Email: nakamatu@shse.u-hyogo.ac.jp

Hiroshi Mineno
Graduate School of Informatics
Shizuoka University
Shizuoka, Japan
Email: mineno@inf.shizuoka.ac.jp

AbstractIn recent years, various agricultural support systems for greenhouse horticulture have been proposed and
implemented. One such existing agricultural support system
is a cloud system that enables users to monitor the greenhouse
climate or remotely control some devices using smartphones
or tablet PCs. However, existing systems assume that users
have expertise in agriculture, because users decide to which
and when control devices should be run based on sensor data.
Therefore, it is difficult for non-experienced farmers to use
existing agricultural support system. In this context, it is aimed
to develop an agricultural support systems for non-experienced
farmers. In this paper, we propose an agricultural cloud
support system for greenhouse horticulture that is SVM-based
agricultural automatics irrigation system that automatically
adjusts the quantity of water based on sensor data. This system
enables users who dont have expertise in agriculture to irrigate
properly.

this paper, we focus on irrigation one of the most important agricultural considerations. Since the amount of water
needed for irrigation depends on many different factors, we
propose a support vector machine (SVM) based irrigation
prediction control system for non-experienced farmers. The
goal of our system is enabling automatic suitable irrigation
using SVM-based sensor data mining.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II,
introduces related work in agricultural support system. In
Section III, we describe the prototype system. Section IV,
we describe a predictive algorithm of soil moisture. Section
V, concludes the paper with a brief summary and some
concluding remarks.

Keywords-Sensor network; Agricultural support; Data mining in agriculture; Environmental control; Support vector
machine

II. R ELATED W ORK

A. Data Mining in Agriculture
Data mining in agriculture is a very recent research
topic. It analyzes the relationship between plants growth
and environmental iformation such as temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. Groundnut pest/disease interaction
and predictions has been analyzed using EM (ExpectationMaximization) algorithm and Naive Bayes classifier [2]. On
the other hand, the probability of pest/disease occurring was
calculated using two economic models that one being a
logistic model and the other a beta model [3]. In addition,
fruit trees irrigation time have been predicted using the
infiltration method [4].
Agricultural supports using data mining support farmers to
show necessary information of agriculture by analysis results
using some data mining methods. However, the abovementioned studies dont show farmers how to use the results
of the analysis. In addition, many researchers have focused
on how to analyze the relationship between plants growth
and environmental information. Thus, they dont consider
them to become practical applications. Accordingly, it is
difficult for non-experienced farmers to use these methods.
Therefore, studies of agricultural data mining suppose that
users have expertise in agriculture.

I. I NTRODUCTION
A demographic shift is occurring regarding Japanese
agricultural workers: the median age of workers is increasing
while their numbers are diminishing. Precious agricultural
expertise is in danger of being lost [1]. Accordingly, it is
necessary to propose a new technology to supplement the
expertise in agriculture. Therefore, many researchers have
investigated the agricultural support for greenhouse horticulture by ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
in recent years.
There are many agricultural support systems for greenhouse horiticulture using ICT. Many researchers have investigated the relationship between plants growth and environmental information. In addition, many environmental control
systems for agriculture have been developed. However, existing systems are not useful for non-experienced farmers,
because they assume that users implicitly have expertise in
agriculture, such as how to use the result of the correlation
analysis, and which and when control devices should be run
based on sensor data.
Since irrigation is important, punctuation is needed. In
978-0-7695-5071-8/13 $26.00 2013 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/IIAI-AAI.2013.65

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chine (SVM) based irrigation prediction control system for

non-experienced farmers. It is difficult for non-experienced
farmers to use existing agricultural support systems. Because, existing agricultural support systems have either the
function of data analysis or the function of climate control.
Accordingly, our proposed system has both the function of
data analysis and the function of climate control.
An agricultural irrigation support system becomes useful
for non-experienced farmers, if it has both the function of
data analysis and the function of climate control. Both functions make it possible to develop an agricultural irrigation
support system for non-experienced farmers that automatically analyzes sensor data, and automatically irrigation using
the results of this analysis. Thus, users do not consider how
to use analysis results, and which and when control devices
should be run.
In the following, we enumerate the required functions.
This system is required to have some functions.



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Agricultural Irrigation Prediction Control System Architecture

1) The function of collecting environmental data

We developed this function using a wireless sensor
network.
2) The function of processing sensor data
This function has two parts. The first is converting
sensor data to format for data mining, or database
format. The Second is data mining in irrigation.
3) The function of storing sensor data
We used a cloud computing system for this function.
4) The function of environmental control
This function irrigates automatically.
5) The function of monitoring sensor data
We realized this function as a web application.
6) The function of using a web application
We assume that user could use a web browser to use
the web application

B. Agricultural Environmental Control System

The agricultural environmental control system controls the
agricultural environment by operating some control device
such as an air conditioner. A greenhouse auto control system
using a wireless sensor network was developed [5]. The
representative practical application for greenhouse horticulture is Akisai: Greenhouse horticulture SaaS developed by
Fujitsu [6]. Akisai is a cloud system that enables users to
monitor and operate greenhouse climate by remote control
using a smartphone or a tablet PC.
The agricultural environmental control system supports
farmers to control an agricultural environment. However,
users of existing systems have to set a control period or a
threshold by themselves. Thus, if users use these agricultural
environmental control systems, it is necessary to know which
device they should move depending on the situation. Therefore, the agricultural environmental control system supposes
the users are experienced farmers.

B. System architecture
According to analysis requirement, Figure1 shows the
proposed agricultural irrigation prediction control system
architecture. In our studies, we assume that the application
system using sensor network consists of six basic functionalities: 1) Data source tier, 2) Processing tier, 3) Storage
tier, 4) Actuator tier, 5) Presentation tier, and 6) Client tier.
The functions that we required correspond with six basic
functionalities.
1) Data Sources tier:
1) This tier collects environmental data. Consequently, the
function of collecting environmental data corresponds to the
Data sources tier. We developed the function of collecting
environmental data using a wireless sensor network. Sensors
collect values of outside temperature, outside humidity,
greenhouse temperature, greenhouse humidity, solar irradiance, soil moisture, and sensing time. Since the wireless
sensor network has installability and expandability for system s usability, we used it to develop this tier.

C. Conclusion of Related Work

Although there are many agricultural support systems,
these systems suppose users have expertise in agriculture.
In this paper, we propose an agricultural cloud support
system for greenhouse horticulture that does not users
expertise in agriculture. The proposed system is an SVMbased agricultural automatic irrigation system that adjusts
the quantity of water based on sensor data. This system
allows users who dont have expertise in agriculture to
irrigate properly
III. AGRICULTURAL I RRIGATION P REDICTION C ONTROL
S YSTEM
A. Requirements Analysis
Since the amount of water needed for irrigation depends
on many different factors, we propose a support vector ma-

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2) Processing tier:
2) This tier has two components. One component is Data
Stream Processing, and the other is Data Mining. Consequently, the function of processing sensor data corresponds
to the the Processing tier.
The component of Data Stream Processing has three
functions. The first function converts sensor data to the
format of DBMS (Data Base Management System). The
second function stores sensor data to DBMS. The third
function converts sensor data to the format required for data
mining.
Sincce we intend for plants, it is preferable for the
environmental control to be carried out in real time Thus, in
order to control quickly, an agricultural irrigation prediction
control system can be determined real-time properties. Accordingly, this system incorporates a DSMS (Data Stream
Management System)to acquire real-time properties.
The component of Data Mining predicts future soil moisture based on sensor data, decides the amount of water
needed for irrigation based on a predictive value, and sends
control commands to the irrigation device. The method of
data analysis predicts future soil moisture using an SVM,
and the build method control algorithm decides the amount
of water needed for irrigation based on the predictive value.
After that, the send method control command sends control
commands built by the method of build control command.

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Agricultural Irrigation Prediction Control Algorithm

3) Storage tier:
IV. P REDICTIVE ALGORITHM OF SOIL MOISTURE

3) This tier stores sensor data. Consequently, the function

of storing sensor data corresponds to the Storage tier. The
Storage tier consists of DBMS, and it is cloud database.

A. Requirement specification
The goal of our system is enabling suitable irrigation
using SVM-based sensor data mining. It is important that
plants or crops photosynthesize properly in agriculture.
Accordingly, many farmers irrigate plants, and keep soil
moist in the daytime. On the other hand, many farmers dont
irrigate plants, and keep soil dry in the nighttime. Therefore,
they want to irrigate enough in the daytime to such an extent
that water does not remain in soil in the night time. Thus,
farmers want to irrigate the most in the daytime as long as
soil is not wet in the nighttime. Based on these ideas, it is
necessary to satisfy two requirements to realize our system.

4) Actuator tier:
4) This tier operates irrigation devices based on the control
command from the component of Data Mining in 2) Processing tier. Consequently, the function of environmental control
corresponds to the Actuator tier. The wireless actuator
network consists of universal remote sensors and irrigation
devices. A universal remote sensor sends control messages to
an irrigation device. After that, an irrigation device receives
a control message, and irrigates plants.
5) Presentation tier:
5) This tier visualizes sensor data from the monitoring
interface, and enables users to remotely operate irrigation
devices by a control interface. Consequently, the function of
monitoring of sensor data corresponds to the Presentation
tier. We realized this function as a web application. Users
have to input their ID and password to use this interface.

1) Building automatic irrigation control algorithm

It is necessary for an agricultural irrigation prediction
control system for non-experienced farmers to have an
automatic irrigation control algorithm. If the estimated
time of irrigation is forthcoming, the automatic irrigation control algorithm judges how much quantity of
water to irrigate based on predictive value.
2) Building future soil moisture prediction model
Agricultural irrigation prediction control system for
non-experienced farmers irrigates properly in the daytime based on predicted value in the nighttime. Since
this system uses predictive value in the nighttime, the

6) Client tier:
6) This tier is basic functionalities for users to use some
interface in the Presentation tier. Consequently, The function
of a web application corresponds to the Presentation tier. It
assumes that a user accesses the interface in 5) Presentation
tier by a web browser.

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farmers irrigated. We assume that the SVM-model trains

only training set of decreasing in soil moisture naturally.
Because if the model trains training sets that are affected
by farmers, it will not be a regular model. Accordingly,
a removing term is required which the value of future
soil moisture is larger than the value of current soil moisture shown (2)not training period in Figure3 to build an
appropriate SVM-model. Since farmers do not irrigate in
the nighttime, prediction values in the nighttime does not
include (2)not training period. Thus, the proposal system
can use this SVM-model.




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Figure 3.

Unpredictable domain

future soil moisture prediction model have to have

high predictability in the nighttime.

V. C ONCLUSION

B. A Proposal of automatical irrigation control algorithm

In this paper, we propose an agricultural cloud support

system for greenhouse horticulture. This system is an SVMbased agricultural automatic irrigation system that adjusts
the quantity of water automatically based on sensor data.
We developed a prototype agricultural automatic irrigation
system, and we proposed automatic irrigation control algorithm and future soil moisture prediction model based on
SVM.
The remaining issues are creating a future soil moisture
prediction model using sensor data, and evaluating the
predictability of the prediction model. In addition, we will
evaluate the automatic irrigation control algorithm.

Figure2 shows the agricultural irrigation prediction control algorithm. We explain this algorithm.
(1)
If the estimated time of irrigation, this algorithm
starts.
(2)
This algorithm predicts future soil moisture in the
nighttime by prediction model using sensor data.
(3)
If the prediction future value of soil moisture
is within an allowable range, (9) this algorithm
decides not to irrigate.
(4)
If the prediction future value of soil moisture lies
outside the allowable range, (9) this algorithm
decides not to irrigate.
(5)
This algorithm decides to irrigate. The current
value of soil moisture is increased a little.
(6)
This algorithm predicts future soil moisture by the
prediction model again.
(7)
If the prediction future value of soil moisture is
within allowable range, this algorithm decides to
irrigate. Otherwise, return to (5) method.
(8)
This algorithm sends a control signal that it irrigates to the allowable range to actuator networks.
(9)
This algorithm decides not to irrigate.
(10) This algorithm finishes.
In order to build this algorithm, it is necessary to build a
future soil moisture prediction model. Thereby, we explain
how to build a future soil moisture prediction model in the
next section.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research(C) Number 23500098.
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[3] I.Das, et al. WSN Monitoring of Weather and Crop Parameters for Possible Disease Risk Evaluation for Grape Farms Sula Vineyards, A Case Study , Geomatri Indian conference,
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C. How to build future soil moisture prediction model

We used a SVM (Support Vector Machine) to build a
future soil moisture prediction model. A training set is
necessary to build the SVM-model. The SVM-model is used
by (2) and (6) methods in Figure2.
When we build the SVM-model, we note the unpredictable domain shown Figure3. Since this system is in a
greenhouse, soil moisture is not affected by rain. Thus, if
farmers do not irrigate, value of soil moisture is decreased
by evaporation or imbibition shown (1)training period in
Figure3. Therefore, if the value of future soil moisture is
larger than the value of current soil moisture, it means that

[4] T.Yamamoto, et al. Simple Measurement of Leaf Stomatal

Behavior under Water Deficit in Fruit Trees and their Irrigation
Time Using an Infiltration Method , Reprinted from Bulletin
of the Yamagata UniversityAgricultural ScienceVolume 16
No.2, pp. 69-93, 2011.
[5] B.J.Kang, et al. A Study on the Greenhouse Auto Control
System Based on Wireless Sensor Network , Security Technology 22 , pp.41-44, 2008.
[6] Akisai Food and Agriculture Cloud
http://jad.fujitsu.com/exhibit/ceatec/pdf/id6-1-1e.pdf
, CEATEC Japan 2012, 2012.

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