TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents............................................................................................1
List of Figures.................................................................................................2
List of Table....................................................................................................2
Abstract ..........................................................................................................3
Introduction.....................................................................................................4
Features of the project....................................................................................6
1.1. Block Diagram and Working...................................................................6
1.2. Circuit Diagrams......................................................................................7
1.3. Component Description...........................................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................20

LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 1.1-Basic Diagram of Project..............................................................3
Figure 1.2-Automatic Plant Watering Block Diagram...................................6
Figure 1.3-Automatic Plant Watering Circuit diagram..................................7
Figure 1.4 -Arduino Uno................................................................................8
Figure 1.5-Moisture Sensor............................................................................14
Figure 1.6-Relay Module................................................................................14
Figure 1.7-Water Pump..................................................................................16
Figure 1.8-Servo Motor..................................................................................17
Figure 1.9-Ultrasonic Sensor..........................................................................17

LIST OF TABLE
Table 1.1-Arduino Specifications...................................................................9

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ABSTRACT
In Srilanka, agriculture in villages play an essential role in developing the
country. Basically, agriculture depends on the monsoons which have not enough
water source. To overcome this problem, the irrigation system is employed in
the field of agriculture. In this system, based on the soil type, the water will be
provided to the agricultural field. In agriculture, there are two things, namely,
the moisture content of the soil as well as the fertility of the soil. At the present
time, there are several types of techniques available for irrigation to reduce the
need for rain. This type of technique is driven by on/off schedule using electrical
power. This article discusses the implementation of a smart irrigation system
using Arduino

Figure 1.1-Basic Diagram of Project

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INTRODUCTION
Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to
assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and re
vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate
rainfall. When a zone comes on, the water flows 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 usually installed with the
top of the head flush with the ground surface. When the water is pressurized, the
head will pop up out of the ground and water the desired area until the valve
closes and shuts off that zone. Once there is no more water pressure in the
lateral line, the sprinkler head will retract back into the ground. Emitters are
generally laid on the soil surface or buried a few inches to reduce evaporation
losses.
Healthy plants can transpire a lot of water, resulting in an increase in the
humidity of the greenhouse air. A high relative humidity (above 80-85%)
should be avoided because it 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 warmer 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.
Since the relative humidity alone does not tell us anything about the
absolute water holding capacity of air, a different measurement is sometime
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
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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
(but too high can cause wilting), and lower values inhibit transpiration and can
lead to condensation on leaf and greenhouse surfaces.
In the mid20th century, the advent of diesel and electric motors led to
systems that could pump groundwater 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. The
application of technology in the areas of irrigation has proven to be of great help
as they deliver efficiency and accuracy.

Climatic suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieve optimum utilization of

the available resources in rainfed rice cultivation. Therefore, a study was
conducted to assess the climatic factors and to map their suitability for rainfed
paddy farming in Mahananeriya, Ibbagamuwa and Alawwa ASC regions
representing dry, Intermediate and wet areas of Kurunegala District in Yala and
Maha seasons using Geo-Informatics. Daily weather data of maximum
temperature, minimum temperature, and relative humidity for 10 years were
averaged on a weekly basis. The IDW interpolation technique was used to
prepare thematic maps. The maximum temperature was grouped as 27 0C - 32
0C, 32 0C - 35 0C, and more than 35 0C. The minimum temperature was
grouped as less than 19 0C and more than 19 0C. Relative humidity was
grouped into three classes as 60% - 80%, 80 % - 85% and more than 85%. The
temperature maps and relative humidity maps were overlaid with the weighted
sum technique giving weights as 0.75 and 0.25 respectively to produce

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suitability maps for rice cultivation on weekly basis throughout the year. Results
show that minimum temperature is not in the critical level for rice cultivation
within Kurunegala District throughout the year. Maximum temperature is
optimum (27 0C - 32 0C) for rice cultivation in all three ASC regions during
Maha season and in Ibbagamuwa and Alawwa ASCs during Yala season.
Relative humidity in all three ASCs is more than 85% during Maha season and
in between 80 % and 85 % during Yala season. Considering temperature and
relative humidity, whole rainfed paddy lands in Ibbagamuwa and Alawwa ASCs
are highly suitable for rice cultivation in the Yala season. Rainfed paddy lands
in all three ASCs are in suitable category in terms of the suitability of
temperature and relative humidity during Maha season. Spatial variations of the
suitability of the interactive outcome of the maximum temperature and relative
humidity appear among Mahananeriya, Ibbagamuwa and Alawwa ASC regions
representing Dry (DL1b), Intermediate (IL1a) and Wet (WL3) zones in
Kurunegala District. Intra regional spatial variations are very rare. Temporal
variations among two seasons of Yala and Maha and the intra variations within
the seasons also evidence. Date of seed sowing or crop establishment should be
aligned according to the suitability levels matching with the flowering and grain
filling stages of rice.

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FEATURES OF THE PROJECT
1.1. BLOCK DIAGRAM & WORKING
There are two functional components in this project. They are the moisture
sensors and the motor/water pump. Thus the Arduino Board is programmed
using the Arduino IDE software. The function of the moisture sensor is to sense
the level of moisture in the soil. The motor/water pump supplies water to the
plants according to the desired rate of water flow. The time is determined by a
timer.

Figure 1.2- Automatic Plant Watering Block Diagram

This project uses Arduino Uno to controls the motor. Following the
schematic to connect the Arduino to the motor driver, and the driver to the water
pump. The motor can be driven by a 12 volt battery, The Arduino Board is
programmed using the Arduino IDE software. The moisture sensor measures the

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level of moisture in the soil in here three soil humidity sensors were used and
average value of the moisture is evaluated and sends the signal to the Arduino if
watering is required. When it require the water the solenoid valve will be
operated and water flows through the tube to the plants. The water level in the
tank is measured using ultrasonic sensor and when the water level is low water
pump will pump the water to the tank.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS

Figure 1.3- Automatic Plant Watering Circuit diagram

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1.2. COMPONENT DESCRIPTION
ARDUINO UNO
The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328. It has 14
digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog
inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the

Figure 1.4 -Arduino Uno

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Microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it
with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

The Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI
USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it features the Atmega16U2 (Atmega8U2 up
to version R2) programmed as a USB-to-serial converter.

Table 1.1-Arduino Specifications

The Arduino Uno can be powered via the USB connection or with an external
power supply. The power source is selected automatically. External (non-USB)
power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery. The
adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center-positive plug into the
board's power jack. Leads from a battery can be inserted in the Gnd and Vin pin
headers of the POWER connector.
The board can operate on an external supply of 6 to 20 volts. If supplied
with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the
board may be unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator may
overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.

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Programming
The Arduino Uno can be programmed with the Arduino software. Select
"Arduino Uno from the Tools > Board menu (according to the microcontroller
on your board).For details, see the reference and tutorials.

The ATmega328 on the Arduino Uno comes preburned with a boot loader that
allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an external hardware
programmer. It communicates using the original STK500 protocol (reference, C
header files).We can also bypass the boot loader and programs the
microcontroller through the ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header; see
these instructions for details.

The ATmega16U2 (or 8U2 in the rev1 and rev2 boards) firmware source code
is available. The ATmega16U2/8U2 is loaded with a DFU boot loader, which
can be activated by:
• On Rev1 boards: connecting the solder jumper on the back of the board
(near the map of Italy) and then resetting the 8U2.
• On Rev2 or later boards: there is a resistor that pulling the 8U2/16U2
HWB line to ground, making it easier to put into DFU mode.

The Arduino Uno has a number of facilities for communicating with a

computer, another Arduino, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega328
provides UART TTL (5V) serial communication, which is available on digital
pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). An ATmega16U2 on the board channels this serial
communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the
computer. The '16U2 firmware uses the standard USB COM drivers, and no
external driver is needed. However, on Windows, an .inf file is required. The
Arduino software includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to

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be sent to and from the Arduino board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will
flash when data is being transmitted via the USB-to-serial chip and USB
connection to the computer (but not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).
A Software Serial library allows for serial communication on any of the Uno's
digital pins. The ATmega328 also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication.
The Arduino software includes a Wire library to simplify use of the I2C bus.
.

MOISTURE SENSOR
Soil moisture sensor is one kind of sensor used to detect the soil moisture
content. This sensor has two outputs like the analog output as well as the digital
output. The digital o/p is permanent and the analog o/p threshold can be
changed. The working principle of soil moisture sensor is open & short circuit
concept. Here the LED gives an indication when the output is high or low.

When the condition of the soil is dried up, the flow of current will not flow
through it. So it works like an open circuit. Therefore the o/p will be
maximized. When the soil condition is soaked, the flow of current pass from
one terminal to the other. So it works like a closed circuit. Therefore the o/p will
be zero. Here sensor is coated with platinum, and anti-rust to make higher
efficiency as well as long life. The sensing range is also high which will pay for
the farmer at a minimum cost.

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 Figure 1.7-Moisture Sensor

Relay Modules 5V

Figure 1.8- Relay Module

The relay module is an electrically operated switch that allows you to turn on or
off a circuit using voltage and/or current much higher than a microcontroller
could handle. There is no connection between the low voltage circuit operated
by the microcontroller and the high power circuit. The relay protects each
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circuit from each other. The each channel in the module has three connections
named NC, COM, and NO. Depending on the input signal trigger mode, the
jumper cap can be placed at high level effective mode which ‘closes’ the
normally open (NO) switch at high level input and at low level effective mode
which operates the same but at low level input.

WATER PUMP
The water pump is used to artificially supply water for a particular task. It can
be electronically controlled by interfacing it to a microcontroller. It can be
triggered ON/OFF by sending signals as required. The process of artificially

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supplying water is known as pumping. There are many varieties of water pumps
used. This project employs the use of a small water pump 12V rated.

Figure 1.9-Water Pump

The pumping of water is a basic and practical technique, far more practical
than scooping it up with one's hands or lifting it in a hand-held bucket. This is
true whether the water is drawn from a fresh source, moved to a needed
location, purified, or used for irrigation, washing, or sewage treatment, or for
evacuating water from an undesirable location. Regardless of the outcome, the
energy required to pump water is an extremely demanding component of water
consumption. All other processes depend or benefit either from water
descending from a higher elevation or some pressurized plumbing system.

ULTRASONIC SENSOR

Figure 1.11.
Ultrasonic Sensor

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An Ultrasonic Sensor is a device that measures distance to an object
using Sound Waves. It works by sending out a sound wave at ultrasonic
frequency and waits for it to bounce back from the object. Then, the time delay
between transmission of sound and receiving of the sound is used to calculate
the distance.
It is done using the formula 
Distance = (Speed of sound * Time delay) / 2
We divide the distance formula by 2 because the sound waves travel a round
trip from the sensor and back to the sensor which doubles the actual distance.
The HC-SR04 is a typical ultrasonic sensor which is used in many projects such
as obstacle detector and electronic distance measurement tapes. In our project
The Detection water level in the tank is done by with help of ultrasonic sensor
by using the transmitting and receiving ultrasonic pulses.

SOLENOID VALVE

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 Figure 1.12 Solenoid valve
The solenoid valve was used in this project in order to flow the water through
the tube from water tank to the plants, 12v Relay was used to operate the
solenoid valve and external power supply was also used.

Timer

In our project timer circuit is also employed so the operator can configure a
time value using the timer to determine how much time the water needed to be
flow to the plants.

CONCLUSION
Thus the ARDUINO BASED AUTOMATIC PLANT WATERING
SYSTEM has been designed and tested successfully. It has been developed by
integrated features of all the hardware components used. Presence of every
module has been reasoned out and placed carefully, thus contributing to the best
working of the unit. And, the Arduino Based Automatic Plant Watering System
has been designed and tested successfully. The system has been tested to
function automatically. The moisture sensors measure the moisture level (water
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content) of the different plants. If the moisture level is found to be below the
desired level, the moisture sensor sends the signal to the Arduino board which
triggers the Water Pump to turn ON and supply the water to respective plant.
When the desired moisture level is reached, the system halts on its own and the
Water Pump is turned OFF.

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