AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO

Automated Irrigation System Using Soil

Moisture Sensor with Arduino Uno
Vishwesh Waingankar1, Divyansh Vishwakarma2, Rahul Yadav3, Suraj Vishwakarma4, Venkatesh
Anbumani5, Prof. Tanvi Thakur6
1,2,3,4,5
B.E. Electronics Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road, Thane, Maharashtra,
India.
6
Assistant Professor, Electronics and Computer Science Department, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering,
Mira Road, Thane, Maharashtra, India.

Abstract— With the advancement of automation technology, life AIM

is getting simpler and easier in all aspects. In today’s world For continuously increasing demand and decrease in
Automatic systems are being preferred over manual system. supply of food necessities, it’s important to rapid
Automatic system is a growing system of everyday object from improvement in production of food technology. Agriculture is
industrial machine to consumer goods that can complete tasks while only the source to provide this. This is the important factor in
you are busy with other activities. India's population is reached
human societies to growing and dynamic demand in food
beyond 1.3 billion and the population rate is increasing day by day
production. Agriculture plays the important role in the
then after 25-30 years there will be serious problem of food, so the
development of agriculture is necessary. Today, the farmers are economy and development, like India. Due to lack of water
suffering from the lack of rains and scarcity of water. The main and scarcity of land water result the decreasing volume of
objective of this project is to provide an automatic irrigation system water on earth, the farmer use irrigation. Irrigation may be
thereby saving time, money & power of the farmer. The traditional defined as the science of artificial application of water to the
farmland irrigation techniques require manual intervention. With the land or soil that means depending on the soil type, plants are
automated technology of irrigation, the human intervention can be to be provided with water.
minimized. Whenever there is a change in temperature and humidity
of the surroundings these sensors senses’ the change in temperature
OBJECTIVE
and humidity and gives an interrupt signal to the micro-controller.
There is an urgent need for a system that makes the
Keywords - Arduino Uno, IOT, Humidity sensor, Soil Moisture
agricultural process easier and burden free from the framer’s
sensor, Motor, LCD Display.
side. With the recent advancement of technology, it has
I. INTRODUCTION become necessary to increase the annual crop production
output entirely agro-centric economy. The ability to conserve
INDIA is the country of village and agriculture plays an
the natural resources as well as giving a splendid boost to the
important role for development of country. In our country,
production of the crops is one of the main aims of
agriculture depends on the monsoons which has insufficient
incorporating such technology into the agricultural domain of
source of water. So, the irrigation is used in agricultural field
the country. To save farmers effort, water and time. Irrigation
In Irrigation system, depending upon the soil type, water is
management is a complex decision-making process to
provided to plant. In agriculture, two things are very
determine when and how much water to apply to a growing
important, first to get information of about the fertility of soil
crop to meet specific management objectives. If the farmer is
and second to measure humidity content in air. Nowadays, for
far from the agricultural land he will not be noticed of current
irrigation, different techniques are available which are used to
conditions. So, efficient water management plays an
reduce the dependency of rain. And mostly this technique is
important role in the Irrigated agricultural cropping systems.
driven by electrical power and on/off scheduling. In this
technique, a Soil Moisture Sensor, temperature and humidity
TECHNICAL APPROACH
sensors are placed near the plant and near the module and
Irrigation Control System Function:
gateway unit handles the sensor information and transmit data
• User Interface: User interface allow the user to inter act
to the controller which in turns the control the flow of water
with the system by sending information to the controller by
through the pump.
presenting information to user about the system. It’s
generally a computer or a smartphone.
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO
• Controlled Devices: Controlled devices include a wide
range of equipment that this Arduino and sensor is capable COMPONENT LIST
of. Here in our project, it is a motor.
• Programming Computer: Some system controllers Sr. No. Name of Components Quantity
allow the user to program the system with the systems own 1 Arduino UNO 1
user interface. Other system requires PC to program. Here
Soil Moisture Sensor with LM393
we are accessing Arduino IDE with the help of a PC. 2 1
• Controllers: Relay controllers provide the intelligent Driver
control functions in automatic irrigation control. 3 Relay 2
• Sensing Devices: Sensing devices can report values, such
4 16x2 LCD Display 1
as temperature and humidity etc or states.
• I/O Interface Devices: These devices provide the logical 5 Water level Sensor 1
communication link between the controllers and the 6 DC Motors 2
controlled device systems.
7 Resistors 2

FLOW CHART SYSTEM 8 Inductor 1

9 Capacitor 1
10 Diode IN4007 2
11 Battery 1
12 Potentiometer 3
DHT11 Temperature and
13 1
Humidity Sensor

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT

Arduino Uno

PIN DESCRIPTION OF ARDUINO UNO:

The Uno is a microcontroller board based on the
ATmega328P. It has 14 digitals input/output pins (of which 6
can be used as PWM outputs), 6 Analog inputs, a 16 MHz
quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header and a reset button. Each of the 14 digital pins can be
used as an input or output, using pin Mode (), digital Write (),
and digital Read () functions. They operate at 5 volts. Each pin
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO
can provide or receive 20 mA as recommended operating
condition and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by
default) of 20-50k ohm. A maximum of 40mA is the value that
must not be exceeded on any I/O pin to avoid permanent
damage to the microcontroller.
In addition, some pins have specialized functions:
• Serial: 0(RX) and 1(TX). Used to receive (RX) and
Transmit (TX) TTL serial data.
• External Interrupts: 2 and 3. These pins can be
configured to trigger an interrupt on a low value, a
rising or falling edge, or a change in value.
• PWM: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11. Provide 8-bit PWM
output with the analog Write () function.
• SPI: 10(SS), 11(MOSI), 12(MISO), 13(SCK). These
pins support SPI communication using the SPI
library.
• LED: 13. There is a built-in LED driven by digital
pin 13.
• TWI: A4 or SDA pin and A5 or SCL pin. Support
TWI communication using the wire library.
The Uno has 6 analog inputs, labelled A0 through A5, each of
which provide10 bits of resolution. By default, they measure
from ground to 5 volts, through is it possible to change the
upper end of their range using the AREF pin and the analog
Reference () function.
There are a couple of other pins on the board:
• AREF Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used
with analog Reference.
Reset. Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller.
Typically used to add a reset button to shields which block the
one on the board.
Soil Moisture Sensor
Although soil water status can be determined by direct (soil
sampling) and indirect (soil moisture sensing) methods, direct
methods of monitoring soil moisture are not commonly used
for irrigation scheduling because they are intrusive and labor
intensive and cannot provide immediate feedback. Soil
moisture probes can be permanently installed at representative
points in an agricultural field to provide repeated moisture
readings over time that can be used for irrigation management.
Special care is needed when using soil moisture devices in
coarse soils since most devices require close contact with the
soil matrix that is sometimes difficult to achieve in these soils.
Most of the currently available volumetric sensors suitable for
irrigation are dielectric. This group of sensors estimate soil
water content by measuring the soil bulk permittivity (or
dielectric constant) that determines the velocity of an
electromagnetic wave or pulse through the soil. In a composite
material like the soil (i.e., made up of different components
like minerals, air and water), the value of the permittivity is
made up by the relative contribution of each of the
components.
Soil moisture is an important component in the atmospheric
water cycle, both on a small agricultural scale and in large-
scale modelling of land/atmosphere interaction. Vegetation
and crops always depend more on the moisture available at
root level than on precipitation occurrence. Water budgeting
for irrigation planning, as well as the actual scheduling of
irrigation action, requires local soil moisture information.
Knowledge of the degree of soil wetness helps to forecast the
risk of flash floods, or the occurrence of fog.
Relay
Relay is an electromagnetic device which is used to isolate
two circuits electrically and connect them magnetically. They
are very useful devices and allow one circuit to switch another
one while they are completely separate. They are often used
to interface an electronic circuit (working at a low voltage) to
an electrical circuit which works at very high voltage. For
example, a relay can make a 5V DC battery circuit to switch a
230V AC mains circuit. Thus, a small sensor circuit can drive,
say, a fan or an electric bulb.
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO

16x2 LCD Display

Water Level Switch
The Water level Switch Contains a Reed-Magnetic Switch
surrounded by a floating magnet. When water is available it
Conducts.

DC Motor
A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical machines that
converts direct current electrical energy into mechanical
energy. The most common types rely on the forces produced
by magnetic fields. Nearly all types of DC motors have some
internal mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic, to
periodically change the direction of current flow in part of the
motor. DC motors were the first type widely used, since they
could be powered from existing direct current lighting power
distribution systems. A DC motor's speed can be controlled
over a wide range, using either a variable supply voltage or by
hanging the strength of current in its field windings. Small DC
motors are used in tools, toys, and appliances.

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other

electronic visual display that uses the light-modulating
properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light
directly.
This is a basic 16 character by 2-line display.16×2 LCD
module is a very common type of LCD module that is used in
8051 based embedded projects. It consists of 16 rows and 2
columns of 5×7 or 5×8 LCD dot matrices. The module we are
talking about here is type number JHD162A which is a very DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor
popular one. It is available in a 16-pin package with back light, DHT11 digital temperature and humidity sensor is a
contrast adjustment function and each dot matrix have 5×8 dot composite Sensor contains a calibrated digital signal output of
resolution. The pin numbers, their name and corresponding the temperature and humidity. Application of a dedicated
functions are shown in the table below. digital modules collection technology and the temperature and
humidity sensing technology, to ensure that the product has
high reliability and excellent long-term stability. The sensor
includes a resistive sense of wet components and an NTC
temperature measurement device, and connected with a high-
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO
performance 8-bit microcontroller. They consist of a humidity
sensing component, a NTC temperature sensor (or thermistor) CIRCUIT DIAGRAM AND LAYOUT
and an IC on the back side of the sensor. For measuring
humidity, they use the humidity sensing component which has
two electrodes with moisture holding substrate between them.
So as the humidity changes, the conductivity of the \substrate
changes or the resistance between these electrodes’ changes.
This change in resistance is measured and processed by the IC
which makes it ready to be read by a microcontroller. On the
other hand, for measuring temperature these sensors use a
NTC temperature sensor or a thermistor. A thermistor is
actually a variable resistor that changes its resistance with
change of the temperature. These sensors are made by
sintering of semi conductive materials such as ceramics or
polymers in order to provide larger changes in the resistance
with just small changes in temperature. The term “NTC”
means “Negative Temperature Coefficient”, which means that
the resistance decreases with increase of the temperature.

ARDUINO IDE SOFTWARE

ARDUINO The open-source Arduino Software (IDE) makes
it easy to write code and upload it to the board. It runs on
Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written
in C++ and based on Processing and other opensource
software.

PROPOSED SYSTEM
The system has three major parts; humidity sensing part,
control section and the output section. The soil humidity was
detected using YL-69 soil sensor (a resistance type sensor).
The control unit was achieved using ATMega328
microcontroller based on Arduino UNO Development Board.
The output is irrigation system which is controlled by the
control unit by switching it on and off depending on the soil
moisture contents. Two stages of design were undertaken;
hardware and software.
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO
Figure shows System Flow Diagram
1. Power Supply 2. Relay module
3. Arduino Uno 4. Soil moisture Sensor
5. Amplifier circuit 6. Plant
7. Water pump 8. Water Tank
The main working principle behind this system is in
connecting the soil moisture sensor, which was previously
embedded into the plant, to the Arduino microcontroller,
which is also connected to other electronic components listed
above as shown in Figure.1. Measurement of soil moisture is
done by the sensor which forwards the information and
parameters regarding the soil moisture to the microcontroller,
which controls the pump. If the level of soil moisture drops
below a certain value, the microcontroller sends the signal to
the relay module which then runs a pump and certain amount
of water is delivered to the plant. Once the enough water is
delivered, the pump stops doing its work. Power supply has a
task to power the complete system and the recommended
voltage should respect the input supply range for the
microcontroller, that is, from 7V to 12V.
Figure shows Block Diagram of Smart Irrigation System
Relay module is a simple circuit consisting of a single
transistor, several resistors, diodes and a relay and it is
controlled digitally by microcontroller. Since the complete
system should be embedded in a small box, Arduino Uno is a
perfect microcontroller for this purpose because of its
dimensions and its work performance. Soil moisture module
is consisting of the two parts: amplifier circuit and probes. The
threshold is set by potentiometer. Analog output gives the real
time information regarding the moisture in the plant and this
output is used in the system. Water pump is connected to the
relay module and it only works when the relay module gets a
command from the microcontroller. The circuit diagram of the
automatic plant watering system is shown in Figure.2. The
circuit comprises an Arduino UNO board, a soil moisture
sensor, LCD display a motor, a 12V water pump and a motor
driver IC to run the water pump. You can power the Arduino
board using a 7V to 12V wall wart or plug-in adaptor or solar
panel.
IRRIGATION SYSTEM IN ACTION
An automatic plant watering system using Arduino
microcontroller UNO R3 is programmed such that it gives the
interrupt signals to the motor via the motor driver module. Soil
sensor is connected to the A0 pin to the Arduino board which
senses the moisture content present in the soil. Whenever the
soil moisture content values go down, the sensor senses the
humidity change, giving signal to the microcontroller so that
the pump (motor) can be activated. This concept can be used
for automatic plant watering system. The circuit comprises an
Arduino UNO board, a soil moisture sensor, a 5V motor
pump, a Motor driver L293D (IC1), motor driver IC to run the
water pump. You can power the Arduino board using a 5V to
9V wall wart or plugin adaptor or solar panel. You need a
separate 5V to 9v battery for the pump motor
ADVANTAGES
1) Relatively simple to design and install.
2) It is safest system and no manpower is required.
3) The system helps to farmer or gardener to work when
irrigation is taking place, as only the area between the plant
is wet.
4) Reduce soil erosion and nutrient leaching.
5) The system needs smaller water sources, as it consumes
less than half of the water.
6) Fertilizers can also be provided by using the system.
7) PH content of the soil is maintained Through the
suggestions which helps for healthy plant growth.
 AUTOMATED IRRIGIATION SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR WITH ARDUINO UNO
RESULT
Vishwesh Waingankar
Irrigation becomes easy, accurate and practical with the idea
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Fourth Year Student, B.E. in Electronics
above shared and can be implemented in agricultural fields in Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road,
future to promote agriculture to next level. The output from Thane, Maharashtra, India, Pass-out 2022.
moisture sensor and level system plays major role in
Divyansh Vishwakarma
producing the output. It is very easy to protect the field with
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Fourth Year Student, B.E. in Electronics
electric current circuit having in the fence with automatic Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road,
voice control as well as text control. By cell phone we can Thane, Maharashtra, India, Pass-out 2022.
operate the fence high current with the use of blue-tooth
Rahul Yadav
module.
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Fourth Year Student, B.E. in Electronics
Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road,
CONCLUSION Thane, Maharashtra, India, Pass-out 2022.
The primary applications for this project are for farmers and
Suraj Vishwakarma
gardeners who do not have enough time to water their
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Fourth Year Student, B.E. in Electronics
crops/plants and less manpower in their respective areas to Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road,
security purpose. The use of mobile phone gets extra Thane, Maharashtra, India, Pass-out 2022.
advantage by controlling the motor as well as fencing. An
Venkatesh Anbumani
animal control fence controls animal movement on a farm It
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Fourth Year Student, B.E. in Electronics
also covers those farmers who are wasteful of water during Engineering, Shree L.R. Tiwari College of Engineering, Mira Road,
irrigation. The project can be extended to greenhouses where Thane, Maharashtra, India, Pass-out 2022.
manual supervision is far and few in between. The principle
can be extended to create fully automated gardens and
Prof. Tanvi Thakur
farmlands. Combined with the principle of rain water Assistant Professor Shree LR Tiwari college of Engineering, Mira Road.
harvesting, it could lead to huge water savings if applied in the ME Elecronics from Mumbai University.
right manner. In agricultural lands with severe shortage of
rainfall, this model can be successfully applied to achieve
great results with most types of soil.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to our Guide for this Paper Prof. Tanvi
Thakur for assisting us to partially complete our project on
“Automated Irrigation System using Arduino”.
Her expertise and talent in circuit designing and
troubleshooting and logical regression helped us effectively
to partially complete this project.
Last but not the least special thanks to all the staff of
Electronics Engineering Department for their technical
support and constant motivation, without which this work
would not have become successful.

REFERENCES
[1] Special Issue – 2017, International Journal of Engineering Research &
Technology (IJERT) (ISSN: 2278-0181 N-Con-PCS - 2017 Conference
Proceedings) (Automated Plant Watering System).
[2] International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056 p-ISSN: 2395-0072 Published by, www.irjet.org
Volume: 05 Issue: 06 | June 2018 (SMART IRRIGATION SYSTEM
BASED ON SOIL MOISTURE USING IOT).
[3] International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics
and Instrumentation Engineering (A High Impact Factor, Monthly, Peer
Reviewed Journal) ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765 ISSN (Online): 2278 –
8875, Website: www.ijareeie.com, Vol. 7, Issue 5, May 2018 (Smart
Irrigation System Using 8051 Microcontroller and Fencing Control
Using Bluetooth Module).