Automatic Crop Irrigation System

Lala Bhaskar, Barkha Koli Punit Kumar, Vivek Gaur

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Students of B.Tech. Electronics and Communication Engineering
Amity University, Noida, India Amity University, Noida, India
lbhaskar1@amity.edu, bkoli@amity.edu punitkumar9010@gmail.com, gaur.vivek@outlook.com

Abstract— India is agriculture based nation. It is
necessary to improve the productivity and quality of agro based
products. The proposed design is an automatic system that aids
the famers in irrigation process. It keeps notifying the farmer
through an on-board LCD display and messages that is sent on
the farmer’s cellular number. This proposed design is also
helpful for the farmers who are facing power failure issues to
maintain a uniform water supply due to power failure or
inadequate and non-uniform water supply. The automatic
irrigation system also keeps the farmer updated with all the
background activities through a SIM900 Module that sends
messages on the registered number. This device can be a turning
point for our society. The device is easily affordable by the
farmers of the country. This proposed design is helpful for
reducing the human labour. This is a low budget system with an
essential social application.
humidity, water storage levels and on top of it all, it keeps the
farmer updated with regular alerts send through SMSs. A SIM
900 Module is used to send the messages on the registered
cellular phone number. Such alert nullifies the need of constant
supervision and thus buying time for the farmer for extra work
apart from irrigation. This system is useful for the farmers who
have plenty of farm area, and the farmers who travel more and
cannot give proper attention to their farms, as irrigation
demands constant supervision.
II. BLOCK DIAGRAM OF CROP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Keywords—: GSM module (mobile); SMS; automatic

irrigation; Temperature sensor; Microcontroller; Humidity sensor;
sprinkler

I. INTRODUCTION
In most country’s economy, agriculture has been playing a
vital role. Agriculture is the basis of livelihood for the
population through the production of food and important raw
materials. Moreover, agriculture continues to play an important
role in providing large scale employment to the people [5]. In
general, most of the farmers use manual system to water their
crops in the farm, this system is inefficient. There are many
advantages in developing microcontroller based circuits and
incorporating new sensor technologies into agricultural
applications [3][6][10]. At present, labor-saving and water-
saving technology is a key issue in irrigation [11]. The
proposed system has been started with a goal to automate
irrigation process and make the best use of technologies for
farmers. If we water manually, the possibility to over watering
is high. Some crops can drown when we supply too much
water to them. In order to overcome this problem, automatic
watering system is used. Some sensors such as temperature
sensor and humidity detector are used to control the watering
system. The system also has the capability to indicate the water
level. Farm automation includes monitoring humidity,
temperature, water level of wells and uniform supply of water
using water sprinkler and drip water irrigation. This includes
automated supply of water to the farm fields according to the
crops sown and the depth of indicator strip. Farm automation
will definitely prove to be a boon in the countryside where
frequent power failures occur and ensuring continuity of water
supply or storage is a cumbersome task. The proposed system
is mainly works with the idea of automating the irrigation
process and make it farmer friendly. It senses temperature,
Fig.1. Block Diagram of Crop Irrigation System
The block diagram of Crop Irrigation System is shown in
Figure 1, the reason for choosing AT89S52 as the
microcontroller is due to its numerous advantages and cost
effectiveness. Microcontroller consumes low power [7], and is
a high performance 8-bit MCU and has 8K in built flash
memory. It belongs to a very reliable ATMEL family. SIM900
GSM module is used because it operates on quad band
frequencies and also has a memory card slot for further
additions. The software used to compile and flash the code to
the Microcontroller Unit is Kiel C51 as it is the most widely
used software and easy to work on.
The system makes use of two sensors for sensing the
atmosphere around the field so as to give an idea of how much
watering the crops will require. The humidity sensor used in
the paper is an SY-HS-230A. This sensor is used to measure
the humidity of the surrounding. The specifications of the
module are as listed: Related Voltage - DC 5V, Related Power

978-1-4673-7231-2/15/$31.00©2015 IEEE
- ≤3mA , Operating Temperature - 0~60°C, Operating
Humidity - 10~90% , Accuracy - ±5% (at 25°C, 60%RH).
Temperature sensor LM35D is readily available and known
for higher precision and wider range of linear working [1]. it
can provide ±1/4°C common precision of room temperature
without need additional calibration or fine-tune [4][9][12]. It
guarantees 0.5°C accuracy at room temperature of 25°C. It also
has a wide range of operation that rests as deep as -55°C and as
high as +150°C. The operational voltage is also decent for the
system i.e. 4-30V. It draws only 60μA from the supply and
thus has very low self-heating, less than 0.1°C in still air.
III. DESIGN FLOW OF IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Figure 2, shows the design flow diagram of the Automatic
Crop Irrigation System.
Fig.2. Design flow of Automatic Crop Irrigation System
Input Parameters
The data from the sensors is fed into the A/D Converter
ADC0809, which furthers feds this data into the AT89S52
microcontroller. An ADC basically includes two major parts,
multiplexer and converter.
The solar panel benefits from its purpose in this complete
system. The main feature of this model is to combat the drastic
effects caused due to power failure. The automatic crop
irrigation system is run through a 12V DC battery which may
also be recharged by this solar panel. And the fact that such
irrigation setups are found in the open fields, the solar panel
may sufficiently draw the energy from sunlight and keep the
12V DC battery charged for emergency purposes. One of the
major advantages of using a solar panel comes from the clean
and environment friendly working of the solar panel. It does
not produce any harmful residual like the usual diesel
generators produce, which is beneficial for both the field and
the environment. Solar panel is a pollution free way of utilizing
energy. The solar panel provides power to the controllers and
the action units, so additional power sources and wires are
taken off [2].
Output Parameters
GSM technique is used to transfer data from distant places
such as from one area to the area of the same city or from
another city. In this design we are using SMS technique to
instant or quick transfer of data or notice to the required
destination. It is a convenient facility of the GSM network [9].
A wireless communication system can provide dynamic
mobility and cost free relocation [8]. A message consisting of a
maximum of 160 alphanumeric characters can be send to or
from a mobile station. If the subscriber’s mobile unit is
powered off or has left the coverage area, the message is stored
and offered back to the subscriber when the mobile is powered
on or has re-entered the coverage area of the network. This
function ensures that the message will be received. SIM900 is
used for transfer of data from weather station. Interfacing with
PIC is done with RS-232. The system sends all the activity
information to the registered mobile number. It sends
information regarding temperature, humidity, farm field water
level and also the main tank water level. If main tank water
level is low then it also shows low water level indication mark
and tells the farmer that now the water supply is being
switched from main supply to drip supply, for conservation of
water.
IV. DISPLAY OF RESULTS
Figure 3, shows the design set up of the Automatic Crop
Irrigation System.
Fig.3. Design set up of Automatic Crop Irrigation System
The System draws water from its two storages, main and
drip. The main storage is the primary storage that holds good
amount of water and is generally used at first. The drip storage
is for emergency purposes like power failure and low water
level in the main water storage. The system first try to draw
water from main storage, but if the storage is low on water,
then the system displays and sends a message “Main Line
Water Level LOW” and automatically switches to the drip
storage which is again notified through LCD display and a
message.
In the field tank where the indicator strips is attached, the
water level is below OK, so it will take water from tank as it is
our main tank. Once the water level rises to OK mark the
supply is automatically cut and the field retains the desired
water level, once the water level drops below to OK mark and
the water inside Main tank is LOW then it is a condition where
our switching come into play and the supply will switch to
Drip storage. Here we have kept the motor running time of the
Drip storage lower than running time of Main storage, and
keeping same all parameters like moisture, humidity,
temperature etc. Microcontroller collects the all inputs from
the sensors and after the mathematical calculation it represents
the actual value in predefined unit.
Fig.5. Messages received on Mobile Phone
A. Message Displayed on LCD Panel
After the first welcome message the system goes into
checking the main water storage level and indicates whether TABLE I. DATA RECORDED AT FIELD
the storage has enough water for irrigation or not. If not, then it
Date Atmosph Atmosph Water Main Drip
switches to the drip water storage with a message shown on the eric eric Level Water Water
LCD Panel. Then the display shows that Main Water Line is Tempera Humidit in Line Line
Empty and the system has switched onto the Drip water storage ture (0C) y (%) Field
and is shown in Figure 4.
11/05/15 33 47 OK OFF OFF
11/05/15 33 47 LOW ON OFF
11/05/15 37 35 LOW ON OFF
11/05/15 37 35 LOW ON OFF
12/05/15 37 35 LOW Empty ON
12/05/15 33 47 LOW ON OFF

Fig.4. LCD displays source of water to field CONCLUSION

B. Message Display on Mobile Phone
Figure 5 shows the messages are received sequentially
while the system is on work.
1. The system sends sequential messages keeping the farmer
informed of the background activities being carried out by the
automatic system. The first message comprises of temperature
and humidity details stating Main Water line is OFF and the
field level is OK and it does not need irrigation.
2. The second message is a different scenario message, where it
shows temperature and humidity as usual and states Main
Water line is now ON and the water level in the field is LOW.
3. Then the fifth message shows switching system. In this
scenario Main Water line is EMPTY and the Drip Water Line
is switched ON for the irrigation purpose.
This is a low cost device which is easily affordable by the
farmers of the country. This model visions eliminating human
labour completely. Farm automation includes monitoring
humidity, temperature, water level of wells and uniform supply
of water using water sprinkler and drip water irrigation.
Sensors such as temperature sensor and soil moisture detector
are used to control the watering system. The system also has
the capability to indicate the water level. This is a low budget
system with an essential social application which can be further
enhanced using technology. The current design is a prototype
which quite wonderfully shows our vision. It can be upgraded
with high cost or can be used in the current for. This is a small
effort on behalf of all the engineers towards the farmers of our
country. This design is targeted to a vast sector of economy,
farming. A good share of the population is related to farming
and this design clearly shows what technology can add up to
farming by making it more environment friendly while
conserving water and increasing accuracy in water distribution
to the crops.

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