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Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Water is essential for crop and energy production, industrial manufacturing, and human

and ecosystem needs. According to the AQUASTAT database (AQUASTAT, 2016), agriculture

consumes 69% of total harvested freshwater, industry consumes 19%, and domestic consumes

the remainder. Thus, water can be considered a critical need in agriculture for future global food

security. However, continued growth in water demand from domestic and industrial sectors, as well

as increased concern about environmental quality, has created a challenge for all countries to

reduce farm water consumption while meeting fresh food requirements (Flörke et al., 2013). As a

result, there is an urgent need to develop science- and technology-based solutions for water

sustainability. Industrialists and researchers are collaborating to develop robust and cost-effective

automated systems for water use control to eliminate much of the wastage.

The rate of irrigation development in the Philippines has been alarmingly slow. The level of

irrigation development in terms of the ratio of actual to the total potential irrigable area of 3,019,609

hectares increased from 45.2% in 1985 to only 60.35% in 2017 (NIA, 2017). As a result, the

country has resorted to rice importation for many years to address food security instead of boosting

self-sufficiency for a more inclusive economic growth. 

In Eastern Samar, specifically in Borongan City, farming is the major industry in the

locality. As of the present, the Local Government of Borongan had their program initiative dubbed

as “Dukwag Agrikultura”. This program aims to elevate the production in agriculture and provide

assistance both financial and technical among local farmers. Moreover, advancing the practices of

farming with the aid of science and technology will greatly help the farmers and eventually will

boost the local economy. The present study may help boost the local programs among farmers.
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Partnership with the local government units is a strong avenue to leverage the extension and

production of both parties.

Irrigation is the process of artificially watering land for agricultural production. Water

requirements for the soil are determined by soil properties such as moisture content and

temperature. Effective irrigation can have a significant impact on the entire growth process, and

irrigation systems can be automated using modern technology to provide improved irrigation

management. By and large, the majority of irrigation systems are manually operated. These

conventional irrigation techniques can be replaced with automated irrigation techniques to

maximize water efficiency and effectiveness. Farmers have to visit their fields to water them from

time to time. Farmers, however, must now manage their agricultural activities in addition to their

other jobs. A wireless irrigation control system is an attractive option for farmers since it eliminates

the requirement for a farmer to be present in the field during irrigation.

The need of increasing plants production entails great water supply throughout farming

season. This would mean that water supply is very important in the agricultural sector specifically in

rice farming. Challenge lies on the proper, adequate and up-to-date irrigation system that will

answer the premise of the country. Drip irrigation will be used in this study because it is a low-cost

and water-saving technology. At its most basic level, it is a network of perforated tubes connected

to a source of water. Water trickles through the tubes and out through the perforations into the

earth. Water is stored in a reservoir elevated above the farm and pumped through tubes below. As

a result, the researcher venture to conduct a study entitled “PROTOTYPING OF WIRELESS

IRRIGATION CONTROL WITH WATER SOURCE LEVEL AND SOIL HUMIDITY MONITORING

SYSTEM USING ARDUINO MICROCONTROLLER WITH SMS NOTIFICATION” that would save

the consumer time and energy in maintaining their farm. This device will primarily track the plants'

water consumption by calculating the water content of the soil using a soil moisture sensor. The
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moisture level measured by the sensor is compared to the value set in the Arduino. If the plant's

moisture content is too low, the Arduino will send a command to water it, and vice versa. Water will

be turned off until the sensor reading reaches the programmable value defined for the farm soil. As

a result, this technology enables reports to be delivered directly to the consumer via their cellular

phone in an easily understandable format.

Objectives of the study

This study aims to develop a wireless application for rice field irrigation and soil humidity

monitoring system using Arduino microcontroller and other sensors integrated with SMS

notification.

Specifically, this aims to:

1. To improve water sustainability using automated water control systems.

2. To determine exact water requirement to irrigate on fine, medium and coarse soil type

using drip irrigation technique

3. Evaluate the developed system using ISO 9126 in terms of functionality, reliability,

usability, efficiency, maintainability and portability.

Conceptual Framework

The study is guided by the researcher’s conceptual framework developed. To work

effectively with the Wireless Irrigation System, a sensor module will be developed to sense out the

soil humidity and water content of the soil. As the humidity of the soil decreases, automatically the

Irrigation System will flow out water to irrigate the rice fields. To evaluate the usability of the

system, ISO 9126 will be used.

Figure 1.0 shows the conceptual framework of the study.

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Figure 1.0 Conceptual framework of the irrigation system.

Two sensors are connected to Arduino ATMega to get soil humidity data and water level

data, these are soil humidity sensor and water level sensor. These data are transmitted to another

Arduino-based device through a transceiver. Received data are displayed graphically and

numerically in a desktop application. This desktop application can be accessed after entering valid

user data from the database. The system requires the user to select the soil type of the farmland.

According to Laurenzi, (2017) with a soil moisture meter, it is possible to determine the moisture
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content available in the soil that plants can draw on. The gypsum blocks used by these moisture

meters absorb moisture from the surrounding soil, which lets farmers know how much moisture will

be available to their crops. If standard metal probes were used instead, farmers would only have a

reading of the soil’s moisture content—not the moisture content their plants could draw from it.

Also, because there are so many variables in soil, it’s effectively impossible to create a “soil scale”

for moisture meters. Using gypsum blocks bypasses these limitations and gives farmers data they

can use. In the case of the KS-D1, a reading of 81 would mean that fine (clay) soil would require no

irrigation, while medium (loamy) soil would need some irrigation, and coarse (sandy) soil would be

near the danger zone for insufficient moisture. This study will use this reference in terms of

identifying the humidity of the farmland. 

According to Folnovic, (2020), Agronomy Expert, drip or trickle irrigation, is the system in

which water is frequently and slowly applied directly to the crop root zone. The concept of this

irrigation system is to irrigate only the root zone instead of the entire field surface, thus making the

water content of the crop root zone at the optimum level. In a drip  irrigation system, water is

applied under the pressure, dripping one drop at a time through the small emitters. Water can also

be sprayed as a fine mist over a portion of the field’s surface or bubbled onto the soil in small

streamlets. Drip irrigation is the most efficient and appropriate irrigation system. Instead of wetting

the whole field surface, water is applied only to the plant root zone. The primary goal of drip

irrigation is to apply water at the time when plants need it most and in rates needed for proper plant

growth. Moreover, it provides a very favorable moisture level in the soil in which plants can flourish.

The system will use the drip irrigation technique in terms of irrigation scheduling and application.

The system can perform irrigation to farmlands depending on the soil typeset in the system

and the humidity level of the farmland. The system also stores soil humidity data and water level

data in the database and can be generated anytime. 

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Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This study will focus on developing a prototype of Wireless Irrigation Control and Soil

Humidity Monitoring System Using Arduino Microcontroller with SMS Notification.

This system shall be used as a prototype material or model for a bigger wireless irrigation

control system that can be used in irrigating farmlands. This study shall be conducted by the

experts from the National Irrigation Administration shall serve as primary respondents for testing

the system in its efficacy and effectiveness.

The researcher develop automated irrigation prototype using Drip Irrigation Technique with

drip irrigation pressure between 0.7 and 1.4 kg/cm 2 (10 and 20 psi).

The system is composed of two devices and one desktop application. One device will be

installed in the irrigation area where its task is only to monitor the soil humidity where the soil

humidity sensor is placed. Another function of this device is monitoring the water level available in

the water reservoir. Irrigation will take place depending on the soil type data entered in the desktop

applications database. The data retrieved from the sensors are transmitted to the receiver installed

in the desktop computer. This device serves as the middleware between the device in the field and

the desktop application. The desktop application will analyze the soil humidity data and water level

data. When the soil humidity reaches a specific value depending on the soil type, instruction will be

sent to the device in the farmland to perform irrigation procedures.

Significance of the Study

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The findings of the study will be helpful to the following which directly involved in the

development and integration of Information Technology to the Agricultural sector:

Farmers. The study would help farmers gain first-hand information on new trends such as

the use of system-based irrigation, thus eventually would help them to produced more agricultural

products.

National Irrigation Administration (NIA). The result will serve as a basis for evaluating,

planning and strengthening the current status of the irrigation system in the country.

IT Specialists. IT Specialists are expected to assess the foregoing effectiveness of the

system to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the system.

Future Researcher. This study will provide rich literature regarding system-based and

microcontroller irrigation systems, which will benefit the undergraduate, graduate, and post-

graduate students interested in pursuing research. More and more insights would be offered to

researchers that would cater to good reviews and available resources.

Definition of Terms
In the context of this study, the following terms were defined either theoretically or

operationally:

Arduino A microcontroller board used in storing the embedded code of the device. Served

as the brain of the hardware developed.

Arduino IDE Platform used in embedding the program to the device.

Coarse A type of soil which needs an irrigation when humidity reaches below 80%.

Fine A type of soil which needs an irrigation when humidity reaches below

60%.
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GUI Graphical User Interface. Interface where the user of the application can

interact in monitoring and viewing the actual data from the sensors.

Medium A type of soil which needs an irrigation when humidity reaches below 70%.

NIA National Irrigation Administration a government-owned and controlled

corporation primarily responsible for the irrigation system in the country.

Prototype A working sample of the proposed device.

Receiver A device connected to the computer used to transfer data from the

computer to the transmitter device installed in the farmland vice versa.

SMS Short for SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE. Used to update rice field owners

the soil humidity and water level status thru mobile phone

Soil Humidity The amount of water in the active layer of the soil, typically the top 1–2 m and is

monitored thru a soil humidity sensor.

Visual Studio A platform used in writing program of the desktop application.

Transceiver An Arduino module used for wireless transmission and receiving signals

Transmitter A device installed in the farmland that measures the soil humidity and

water level.

Wireless Using radio to transmit soil humidity and water level data to desktop

application.

XAMPP A platform used to host the application.

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