7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO(OHFWULFDO(QJLQHHULQJ&RQJUHVVL((&21
IOT based Wireless Sensor Network for Precision
Agriculture
Nisar Ahmad Ali Hussain
Department of Computer Department of Electrical
Engineering, and Computer Engineering
The University of Lahore, CUI, Abbottabad Campus
Lahore, Pakistan Abbottabad, Pakistan
nisar.ahmad@dce.uol.edu.pk ali0403hussain@gmail.com
Abstract— With the passage of time the trend of technology usage
by farmers has been increasing to improve the quantity and
quality of crop production. The multi parameter monitoring
system is presented in this research where farmers/users will be
updated with the help of internet. In this research two different
technologies, Internet of things (IoT) and wireless sensor network
are combined in an innovative way for smart remote monitoring
system of crops. Sensor nodes are deployed in fields which gather
data about different parameters. At transmission side these values
are displayed and then transmitted to the base station using a
network of XBee sensors. A database is established for
maintaining sensor values which could be helpful for research and
analysis of environmental factors such as soil moisture, UV index,
rain, air pressure and humidity on crop production.
Keywords—Internet of Things (IoT); Wireless Sensor Networks
(WSN); XBee; Sensor; Precision Agriculture (PA)
I. INTRODUCTION
As Agriculture sector plays leading role in the economy of
many developing countries, therefore, it is highly important to
focus on the improvement of cultivation techniques. These
countries not only fulfill the requirement of their own but also
contribute to provide quality food items to the rest of the world.
Irrigation and unequal water distribution for crops not only
effects the crop production but also results in possible water
wastage which is a precious resource.
Important parameters in cultivation that need to be
addressed are soil moisture, Humidity, Air Pressure,
Temperature and weather forecast etc. Additional sensors can
be installed to monitor crop health and any kind of infestation.
Based on the information collected, measures can be taken to
avoid any damage or improve crop production. The data
gathered can be interpreted by scientists for forecasting crop
production or for policy making.
A. Precision Agriculture (PA)
In Precision Agriculture information technology is used to
improve the yield by precisely monitoring the various crop
parameters. In result, better crop irrigation, suitable herbicides,
pesticides and sowing techniques are achieved [1].
B. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)
Wireless Sensor Network is a wireless network of separately
placed sensor nodes which gather and share data with each other
‹,(((
Ihsan Ullah Bizzat Hussain Zaidi
Department of Electrical Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering Engineering
CUI, Abbottabad Campus DHA Suffa University
Abbottabad, Pakistan Karachi, Pakistan
ihsan@ciit.net.pk bizzat.hussain@dsu.edu.pk
forming a network. A sensor node consists of transceiver,
sensor, processor, power source (battery), analog to digital
converter (ADC), antenna and memory unit. WSN are preferred
due to low cost, low power, easy to maintain that share their
contribution in home automation, agriculture, health sector and
in military applications.
C. Internet of Things (IoT)
The internet of things (IoT) is a network of globally
connected devices and machines which communicate with each
other. IoT is one of the latest technology trends that are gaining
popularity among vast majority of industries. It has been
forecasted that till the year 2020 IoT based units will reach up to
26 billion. IoT applications include human to device and device
to device interactions in reliable way. Main application areas are
categorized as data and business analysis, monitoring and
control, and collaboration and information sharing [2].
1) Cloud Computing
IoT applications need space for data storage and huge
data manipulations for real time decision making [2]. Cloud
computing is a platform that provides solution for high data
transfer and data storage in real time.
In this paper, a smart and low cost IOT based Precision
Agriculture (PA) system is presented. Data related to the
parameters responsible for crop growth are collected by
placing sensor nodes as shown in Fig.1 in random locations.
Solar panel with rechargeable battery is used to fulfill the
power needs. These nodes (XBee) are interconnected
according the cluster tree topology. Each node consists of
several sensors capable of measuring parameters such as
soil moisture and humidity, Temperature, Air quality and
atmospheric pressure. The data from these sensors is
transmitted through a network of interconnected nodes to
the server, which then uploads the data to a cloud. The
server consists of a separate processing unit responsible for
controlling the drip irrigation system. This data is made
accessible in visual form to the end user. A MATLAB GUI
is designed for visualization.
The rest of the Paper is organized as; Section II presents
related work using WSN technology for precision
agriculture. Section III provides methodology adapted to
7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO(OHFWULFDO(QJLQHHULQJ&RQJUHVVL((&21
design and achieve smart irrigation system. Section IV
consists of hardware and software Implementation of the
system. Section V contains conclusion.
Fig. 1. A single Sensor Node being setup for data acquisition
II. RELATED WORK
In [1] an intelligent Greenhouse monitoring system
(IGMS) based on WSN is presented. Environmental
parameters such as humidity, soil moisture and temperature
are measured using IGMS. Sensors data is monitored using
software which activates the control system to irrigate and
fertile the crops according to a preset threshold. It is an
internet based application which uses open source
technologies.
A real time feedback control system is designed and
presented in [4] that uses drip irrigation to control the wastage
of water. Different types of sensors are used for precise
monitoring and control of agriculture fields. The control
circuit consists of ARM based LPC2148 microcontroller as
main part of circuitry. End user is informed about field
conditions using available mobile network structure. User
can investigate about field conditions by sending a message
through GSM. Sensors can be activated according to the
user’s request and required information will be sent to the
user by same medium.
A wireless monitoring system is used in [3] to enhance the
mango production. Eko nodes are deployed in fields to
monitor different environmental parameters. Nodes are
connected according the mesh topology to transmit sensor
values.
In [5] a Wireless sensor networks (WSN) based irrigation
system is designed for site specific irrigation management.
Six sensors are developed, deployed and used to gather soil
properties and sensor data is transmitted to a base station.
Programmable logic controller (PLC) based irrigation
machine is developed to irrigate the field and locate the
position of sprinklers using Global Positioning System
(GPS). This information is wirelessly communicated to the
base station. A stable and real time remote access to field
conditions was made possible by the Graphical user interface
based software.
III. METHODOLOGY AND MATERIALS
The proposed and implemented methodology is presented in
Fig.2, where different wireless sensor nodes are deployed in
field for data collection. These nodes are connected with each
other according the cluster tree topology. Different sensors
gathering information related to soil moisture, humidity,
temperature, ultraviolet index and air quality are directly
connected to Arduino UNO by analog pins. A program has been
written in C/C++ to read the analog pins where these sensors
are connected.
Fig. 2. Implemented System Setup
The measurements from each sensor are transmitted
wirelessly in the form of frames to the server. The sensor
measurements are also displayed on an LCD mounted on each
node. Automatic irrigation control mechanism is developed at
server side. Server directly controls the irrigation process by
sending control signals to open and close the electric valve for
water supply. Water supply is monitored using water flow
sensor. Data from sensor nodes are received serially at server.
At the server an Esp8266 device is configured to upload data
to cloud for access at base station. At base station sensors data
is made accessible using cloud and a MATLAB GUI is used to
filter and visually present the data. The end user can also access
this data using internet and take rapid measures related to crops
safety and health.
To create an effective filed deployable wireless sensor
network, optimization of power consumption by the hardware
components is necessary [6]. Communication protocol also
plays an important role in reduction of power consumption.
Efficient power management is required for wireless
communication by wireless sensor nodes [7].
Each sensor node is powered using a 12V, 2.5AH Battery
which is continuously charged using a 10-Watt solar panel. The
total power consumption of the system is 0.64WH. This gives
each continuously transmitting and receiving sensor node
approximately a battery life of 2 days when operating on battery
alone. However, the sensor node, when charged by the solar
plate can operate indefinitely.
7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO(OHFWULFDO(QJLQHHULQJ&RQJUHVVL((&21
When operating in power saving mode, where each sensor
node is programmed to transmit every 60 minutes and stay
active for 2 minutes, the system can operate for 62 days without
charging. The power saving mode can be activated when
installing each node, it can also be activated from the base
station by the end user.
Two power supply circuits are designed to supply power to
the system. The main power supply circuit is designed to supply
5V DC to the controller, whereas a buck converter is used to
supply 3.3V to the transceiver and the UV index sensor.
Irrigation system is a feedback system which is controlled
by the on-field server. Server receives sensor data wirelessly
from sensor nodes and takes decisions to open or close the
solenoid valve for water supply. The irrigation system can be
set to a time-based mode, a water flow-based mode or a manual
mode in where the end user controls it. The irrigation depends
on soil humidity and because sensors are prone to measurement
noise so, decision is made on running average of the soil
humidity measurements from the sensor.
Wireless sensor node is developed as main module of the
project. This sensor node is consisted of Arduino UNO, infield
sensors and XBee radio module. This research uses the Arduino
UNO- a microcontroller board based on ATmega328P
microcontroller. This board has 14 digital input/output pins.6
pins out of 14 can be used as PWM outputs, 6 analog inputs, 16
MHz quartz crystal oscillator, a power jack, a USB port, reset
button and ICSP header. It can be easily powered by an AC-DC
adapter or battery. UNO board is the first version in series of
USB Arduino boards. This controller is already programed with
bootloader. There is no need of external hardware to program
the device. To start working with UNO a software platform
known as Arduino IDE is also required [8].
XBEE is a low cost, easy to deploy radio frequency module
which provides end point connectivity with devices and
sensors. It follows 802.15.4 standard for communication. This
module is ideal for low latency applications, point to point and
multipoint configurations. It has 15 digital I/O pins. Suitable
supply voltage is 2.1 to 3.6V. Current consumption on
transmission is 33mA and 28mA [9].
Environmental data is obtained by placing wireless sensor
nodes in field. All the sensors are connected to form a sensor
node except the Anemometer which is installed on the in-field
server only.
Separate code is developed for each sensor measurement.
Each sensor’s functionality is verified before final
implementation. XBee is configured using XCTU
programming environment before connecting with the Arduino
UNO shield. The key components of an individual node are
represented by Fig. 3.
The characteristics of physical and MAC layers for Low-rate
Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPAN) are defined by
the IEEE standard 802.15.4. The benefits of such standard are
reliable data transfer, extremely low cost and reliable battery
life. Simple and flexible protocol stack is also maintained in
802.15.4 standard [10].
Fig. 3. Block diagram of the developed node with sensors
Few of the free spectrum bands spectrum devices use are:
2.4-2.48 GHz, 5.8-5.9 GHz and 902-928 MHz [11]. A device
which utilizes the frequency channel of 2.4GHz is used for
communication between the nodes.
XBee is serially connected with Arduino UNO using UART
communication interface. In this node setup sensors are
connected to the Arduino UNO which reads data directly from
sensors and then transmits the data to the XBee device serially.
XBee communication is made in the form of frames in API
mode.
An array of length 14 is used in code to gather all sensors
data. Each sensor’s measurement data follows a few bits
representing the sensor id, a total of 5 sensors were installed on
each node. along with a predefined data end stream. The data
frame consists of 10 node id bits, 3 battery power level indicator
bits, 4 sensor id bits followed by the corresponding sensor’s 10-
bit measurement and 18 node time bits. Single frame length of
each serially transmitted data packet to the XBEE is 8 bytes.
On the in-field server-side data received from all the nodes
is transmitted after placing a predefined 8 bit start-of-sensor and
end-of-sensor indicator. The in-field server then uploads the
received data on the cloud for end user access, analysis and
action.
In a cluster tree topology, a special node which identifies the
entire network is called root, the nodes that associate with other
nodes are routers, and end devices having no ability to associate
other nodes are known as child nodes [12]. Cluster tree
topology is implemented by connecting different XBee devices
having unique mac addresses. XBee is a full duplex data
communication device which uses mac address of other devices
to form a network and share data using unique channel.
Esp8266 is extremely cost effective board with self-
contained system on chip (SOC) and integrated TCP/IP stack.
Esp8266 is simple to start working with as it comes pre-
programmed with AT commands set firmware. It supports
external application specific devices or sensors to be connected
with its GPIO pins due to its powerful on board processing and
7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO(OHFWULFDO(QJLQHHULQJ&RQJUHVVL((&21
storage capability. It follows 802.11 b/g/n wireless
communication standard, has s 1MB flash memory and
supports GPIO, I2C, ADCC, SPI and PWM.
IV. RESULTS
To visualize the parameter values, Matlab GUI is designed
at user side. The raw data received is passed through a moving
average filter with a lag of 80 samples. The tested node
transmits data after every minute with an active session of 27
hours. The air quality measurements are displayed in Fig. 4. Air
quality trends are in line with the expected results.
Fig. 4. Air quality measurement
In Fig. 5 below soil moisture measurements are displayed.
Figure 6 shows the temperature measurements Temperature
rises in the day from morning to afternoon and gradually falls
in evening.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper presents an application of Wireless sensor
network (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) in precision
agriculture (PA). The self-powered precision agriculture based
experimental setup’s functionality is completely tested and real
time sensor measurements are successfully transmitted using
cluster topology to the server. This information is stored on
cloud and then accessed by the end user where it is visualized
using a GUI. Automatic control of irrigation is made possible
by setting a threshold value at server.
Fig. 5. Soil moisture measurement
Data reception at base station is verified in real time. This data
will be helpful for analysis of crops by analyzing the
environmental factors affecting crop production thus providing
the end user with decisions on improving crop yield. The
designed hardware may as well serve as mini weather station.
When deployed on mass scale the system will play a critical
role in policy making.
Fig. 6. Temperature measurement
REFERENCES
[1] Kassim, Mohamed Rawidean Mohd, Ibrahim Mat, and Ahmad Nizar
Harun. "Wireless Sensor Network in precision agriculture application."
International Conference on Computer, Information and
Telecommunication Systems (CITS), 2014. IEEE, 2014.
[2] Lee, In, and Kyoochun Lee. "The Internet of Things (IoT): Applications,
investments, and challenges for enterprises." Business Horizons 58.4
(2015): 431-440.
[3] Kodali, Ravi Kishore, and Nisheeth Rawat. "Wireless sensor network in
mango farming." IEEE Nirma University International Conference on
Engineering (NUiCONE),2013. IEEE, 2013.
[4] Prathyusha, K., G. Sowmya Bala, and K. Sreenivasa Ravi. "A real-time
irrigation control system for precision agriculture using wsn in indian
agricultural sectors." International Journal of Computer Science,
Engineering and Applications 3.4 (2013): 75.
[5] Kim, Yunseop, Robert G. Evans, and William M. Iversen. "Remote
sensing and control of an irrigation system using a distributed wireless
sensor network." IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement
57.7 (2008): 1379-1387.
[6] Slijepcevic, Sasha, and Miodrag Potkonjak. "Power efficient organization
of wireless sensor networks." IEEE International Conference on
Communications, 2001. ICC 2001. Vol. 2. IEEE, 2001.
[7] Pottie, Gregory J. "Wireless sensor networks." Information Theory
Workshop, 1998. IEEE, 1998.
[8] "Arduino Uno Rev3." Store.arduino.cc. N.p., 2018. Web. 5 July 2018.
[Online]. Available: https://store.arduino.cc/arduino-uno-rev3
[9] DIGI XBee S2C 802.15.4 RF Modules. DIGI. Web. 5 July 2018.
[Online].Available: https://www.digi.com/pdf/ds_XBee-s2c-802-15-
4.pdf
[10] Baronti, Paolo, et al. "Wireless sensor networks: A survey on the state of
the art and the 802.15. 4 and ZigBee standards." Computer
communications 30.7 (2007): 1655-1695.
[11] "Tech Stuff - Unlicensed Frequencies." Zytrax.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 5
July 2018. [Online]. Available:
http://www.zytrax.com/tech/wireless/free.htm
[12] Koubaa, Anis, Mário ALVES, and Eduardo TOVAR. "Modeling And
Worst-Case Dimensioning Of Cluster-Tree Wireless Sensor Networks."
27Th IEEE International Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS'06).
IEEE, 2006.