Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).

IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8

Automated Irrigation Scheduling for Different Crop

using IoT
2022 Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC) | 978-1-6654-6941-8/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/I-SMAC55078.2022.9987433

M s. Swati V. Patel Dr. Satyen Parikh Dr. Savan Patel

Faculty of Computer Application Faculty of Computer Application Faculty of Computer Application
Ganpat University Ganpat University Ganpat University
Kherva (North Gujarat), India Kherva (North Gujarat), India Kherva (North Gujarat), India
swati.patel@ganpatuniversity.ac.in satyen.parikh@ganpatuniversity.ac.in savan.patel@ganpatuniversity.ac.in

M r. Haresh Patel
Einfochips
Ahmedabad, India
haresh.patel2865@gmail.com

Abstract—In the North Gujarat region, the implementation
of smart irrigation systems are less; one of the factors can be
considered as shared Tubewell culture. In shared Tubewell
culture small farmers irrigate their farm from nearer Tubewell
and pay for the water used to Tubewell owner. The major
source of irrigation in the North Gujarat region is Tubewell.
The water level in Tubewell goes dipper and dipper an d, as a
result, Tubewell loses its serving area. The soil type in the
North Gujarat region is loamy sand, which needs frequent
irrigation. In shared Tubewell culture, crop-specific or owner-
specific smart irrigation systems cannot be used. In this paper,
researchers tried to highlight smart irrigation systems that are
able to work in shared Tubewell culture. In proposed system,
different sensor data and weather data are used to compute
irrigation needs of all farms associated with a particular
Tubewell. IoT device Node MCU is used to read the sensor
data and forward to cloud using GS M module. Proposed
algorithm calculates the average of sensor data of all farms. It
also checks for erroneous data from sensors. It affects the
water sequencing of different farms with respect to their crop
water requirement. The proposed system is able to supply the
desired water to the crop by applying a sequencing algorithm
to different farm data.
Before starting irrigation, our proposed system also checks
for rain prediction. If the chances of rain are high, irrigation
will not start. In areas with less rain probability, we can have
partial irrigation. The proposed architecture was named as
IAA Architecture (Irrigation Anytime from Anywhere
Architecture).
Keywords— Irrigation, Smart Irrigation, shared Tubewell,
Irrigation Anytime from Anywhere Architecture, Global System
for Mobile communication, Internet of Things etc.
I. INT RODUCT ION
India is an agricultural nation as agriculture plays a vital
role in the Indian economy. To gain mo re productivity,
irrigation can be considered as the main factor. Indian
farmers are dealing with water scarcity in several places as
ground water reducing its level day by day[14]. It is one of
the region's problems. The use of technology in irrigation can
help to supply the desired amount of water with less water
wastage [15]. Saving a ground water is booming issue of
whole country. Proposed A smart irrigation system can help
to overcome this problem by identifying crop water needs
and providing the right amount of water. The use of IoT and
cloud help to find actual crop water need [8]. In north
Gu jarat region the major irrigation source is Tubewell
irrigation [16]. Farmers mostly depend on shared Tubewell
culture, a smart irrigation system for a single crop or single
farmer won't work. The proposed system architecture makes
for smart irrigation in shared Tubewell culture.
II. RELATED WORK
Smart irrigation systems have become a need of the era.
Different researchers have presented different technologies
used for smart irrigation systems, and upgrading is going on.
The researcher has gone through the below work carried out
by different researchers.
The system by Gutiérrez, J., Villa-Medina, J. F., Nieto-
Garibay, A., & Porta-Gándara, M. Á shows the
implementation of a wireless sensor network. The GPRS
module was used to provide a remote interface. The system
uses a moisture sensor -VH400 and a soil temperature
sensor-DS1822 to take input parameters. The input data was
first stored on a memory chip and then sent to the web. The
proposed system works on solar energy, so it's power
efficient. The system was tested in a greenhouse for organic
sage production. The system saves up to 90% of water
compared to traditional irrigation methods. The results are
shown by graphical representation [1].
The system suggested by Serdaroglu, K. C., Onel, C., &
Baydere, S. makes the decision from data taken by the soil
mo isture sensor and learns the irrigation schedule for the
crop. Water was supplied first manually to make the system
self-sufficient. The decision-making process is performed at
a central server as it stores all the data. A user can add or
update any plant irrigation information through their mobile
phone. It shows test results in graphical format [2].
In the system proposed by Laksiri, H. G. C. R.,
Dharmagunawardhana, H. A. C., & Wijayakulasooriya, J. V.
weather prediction algorith ms are used. The Sliding Window
algorithm and the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) are used
by the researchers to forecast rainfall. The author used
different sensors like moisture, temperature, and humidity to
predict the rain forecast. After getting a result, the predicted

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8
accuracy of days that are rainy or dry days found to be 76%
of the 29 predicted days [3].
In this system, Pavithra, K., & Jayalakshmi, M. indicate
that the use of different irrigation sys tems saves water by up
to 70% co mpared to traditional methods like surface
irrigation. The weather-based model utilizes temperature,
solar radiation, humid ity, velocity of wind, root depth, soil
texture, crop coefficient (Kc), and rainfall data for further
processing. The water need of the crop is calculated by all
these collected values. The crop's water need is measured by
Evapotranspiration (ET) [4].
In this system, Vaishali, S., Suraj, S., Vignesh, G.,
Dhivya, S., & Udhayakumar, S. proposed an automatic
irrigation and monitoring system. The system uses a
Raspberry Pi, temperature sensors and moisture sensors, and
a water pump. For system commun ication, a smart phone
module is used. The controller communicates with
Bluetooth. The Blue Term Android application is used to
compose system logical code and send it back to the
principal controller [5].
Rajalakshmi, P., & Mahalakshmi, S. D. have proposed a
system that uses Evapotranspiration (ET) and
electromagnetic soil moisture sensors. Both techniques are
used to assess soil moisture levels and crop water
requirements. It uses two different threshold values for
irrigation, one for light intensity and one for soil mo isture.
Using the ET method, water can be saved up to 47%, and by
using soil mo isture sensors, water can be saved up to 53%.
The suggested model can work on med iu m-grade land for
any yield [6].
Dr. V. Su ma indicates that the use of IoT in agriculture
can accelerate the productivity. The use of modern
technology in agriculture can bring revolution [7].
Bhanu, K. N., Mahadevaswamy, H. S., & Jasmine, H. J.
have proposed IoT based system which uses arduino uno
micro controller and cloud to store data. It shows the data
classification according to the different threshold values.
Two different techniques used to classify data and achieved
good result. These data classification helps to take right
decision from dataset used [9].
Kondaveti, R., Reddy, A., & Palabtla, S. indicated the
different problems faced during irrigating the crop. It shows
different soil type and different crops have different water
need. The machine learning techniques proposed by author
helps to take decision to supply right amount of water to crop
according to soil and rain prediction [10].
Gupta, S., Malhotra, V., & Vashisht, V. proposed IoT
based irrigation and flood preventing system. This system
contains arduino uno Controller, GSM Modules, Soil
mo isture sensor, water suction pump etc. When water level
reached to the threshold value the water suction pump
automatically ON and re move the excessive water. This
system helps to prevent crop from flood [11].
The system suggested by Sarala, S. M used raspberry pi
and cloud to store data. It uses hydroponic system to reduce
the water consumption. System also used data analysis to
provide nutrient solution in water for efficient yield growth
[12].
Yusof, Z. M., Billah, M. M., Kadir, K., Ali, A. M. M., &
Ahmad, I.proposed system to improve the crop production.
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System considers different input data like So il Moisture, Soil
Temperature, and Hu midity data. It store all the data to cloud
as a output of a system. This system monitors the condition
of crop. Farmer can monitor the soil condition fro m
anywhere [13].
III. SYSTEM DESIGN
The proposed system is able to work in shared Tubewell
culture. System Architecture, Working Phases of System
Architecture, and System Imp lementation are the three parts
of the system design.
A. System Architecture
The below mentioned system architecture is used in the
shared Tubewell culture. This architecture is named as IAA
Architecture stands for Irrigation Anytime Anywhere.
Firstly, let’s go through block diagram of IAA Architecture.
This block diagram indicates the different module at their
operational levels.
To make the irrigation scheduling automated IoT(Internet
of Things) technology was used in proposed system. The
Node MCU IoT device was used in proposed system.
For quick prototyping of the proposed system and
considering the requirement of system like ADC to sense the
mo isture, temperature, humidity data, GPIO to control the
relay, GPS interface for IoT connectivity arduino uno –
NodeMCU is selected.
The farm level module contains different components
like sensors, soil moisture, ADC-analog to digital converter,
NodeMCU (a microcontroller) and a GSM module. Different
sensors read the data from the farm. The analogue to digital
converter is used to convert the analogue sensor data into
digital form for further processing.
For the further control of this sensor data, NodeMCU is
used along with a GSM (Global System for Mobile
Co mmunication) module to transfer data to the cloud. The
Tubewell level module contains humidity and temperature
sensors, NodeMCU, GSM module, relay drivers, and
relay/solenoid valves.
The data sent by the farm level module is stored and
processed in the cloud. The processed data of the sequencing
algorithm is sent to the Tubewell module to start or stop
irrigation of the farm. The GSM module receives and sends
data to NodeMCU. It controls relays or solenoid valves to
start or stop irrigation.
The architecture in fig. 2 exp lain the overview of all the
involved modules/components in detail. It also shows the
successful implementation of IoT technology in proposed
system. The description of the components used in
architecture is as follows.
F1, F2, F3….Fn are different farms connected to
Tubewell. Fn is maximu m no of farm associated with
Tubewell.
Sensor Module at farm contains Soil moisture sensor,
ADC, Microcontroller and GSM module. Module at
Tubewell contains Humid ity and Temperature sensor, ADC,
Microcontroller and GSM Module.
101
 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8

Fig. 1 Block Diagram of system

This block diagram is further explained in detail IAA Architecture; Irrigation Anytime from Anywhere.

Fig. 2 IAA Architecture

The sub-diagram of the architecture depicts the internal
details of the sensor module at the farm, cloud, and data
processing.
B. Working Phases of System Architecture
The proposed system architecture works in different
phases like: Data acquisition, Data analysis, Decision
controller, Peripheral controlling, System Application.
After complet ion of the data collection phase, the next
phase is data analysis. Signal processing and conditioning is
performed on sensor data output to remove unwanted noise.
Signal processing is the process which removes the
unwanted noise and extract the original signals fro m received
signals. Imp lementation of software based low pass filtration
remove the noise.

The first working phase is Data Acquisition. Data is
collected from different sensors: soil moisture sensor,
humidity sensor, temperature sensor. Data from weather
applications includes humidity data and rain forecasting .
data. Tubewell hardware data like the status of valves and
relays connected to the farm.
This process makes the signal immune to the external
noisy environment. Using an ADC data read by different
sensors is converted to digital form as it was in analogue
form. The collected data from each farm is analyzed against
an average sensor value. It helps to minimize the prediction
errors and find the faulty sensor.

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8

At the decision controller phase, different algorith ms are The table: 2 contain component used at tubewell, these
processed on the analyzed data. Data received fro m humidity component can be implemented as shown in fig. 4
sensors at Tubewell level is used to compare with humidity T able: 2 Components used at tubewell
data of the weather application to predict the chances of rain
Component Used at Tubewell
in the Tubewell area. A ll the collected data is analyzed to
Sr. No. Component
predict the irrigation sequence. The flow chart and algorith m
1 Arduino UNO
shown in the system imp lementation part can better explain
2 GSM Module (SIM800/SIM900)
the decision controller phase of the system.
3 DT H11 (Humidity and T emperature sensor)
The peripheral control phase controls and integrates all 4 9V/12V battery
the hardware as well as software components. Hardware 5 Connecting wires
devices are sensors in the farm, sensors at Tubewell,
controller modules, relays/solenoid valves, and software 6 Solenoid Valves(For one farm)
7 Relay Driver circuit(For one relay)
components are UI at Tubewell etc.
8 General purpose PCB
The last phase of system deployment includes the
deployment of sensors and controllers at the farm and at
Tubewell. This phase makes the whole system work. System
deployment contain different component as explained in
system implementation part.
C. System Implementation
System design includes following co mponents. Working
of all the used components is explained in system
architecture. The table: 1 contain component used at farm, all
these component can be implemented as shown in fig. 3

T able: 1 Components used at farm

Component Used at farm
Sr. No. Component
1 Arduino UNO
2 GSM Module (SIM800/SIM900)
3 Soil moisture sensor
4 9V/12V Battery
5 Connecting wires
6 General purpose PCB

Fig 4. Controller system for farm

After implementing these entire hardware components at

the farm and Tubewell, the logical implementation part has
taken place.
The procedure to find soil moisture in a farm and error in
sensors can be implemented as follows:
The flowchart in fig. 5 shows the way data is read from
soil moisture sensors and the detection of error in the any
deployed sensor at a farm. Receiving erroneous data from a
sensor indicates the problem in the sensor.
Mistaken data should be identified before processing the
data for irrigation sequence. This entire procedure will be
carried out in the cloud.

Fig 3. Controller system for farm

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8

The procedure to start irrigation in farm is shown in Fig

6.
Rain prediction data were checked for every time when
farm irrigation starts. This predicted data is used to check
rain prediction value. The high value of rain data indicates
that rain is possible and that irrigation should not be started.
In other cases, it will check the final average mo isture of all
farms for irrigation sequence. It will start the associated relay
of the farms that needs irrigation. This process remains
continuous till the value of i reaches Fn. The Fn indicates the
maximu m number of farms.

Fig 5. Read soil moisture at farm with error detection in sensor

The above flowchart shows the way data is read from soil
mo isture sensors and the detection of any error in the
deployed sensor at a farm. Receiving erroneous data from a
sensor indicates a problem in the sensor. In this case, two
count variables, "i" and "j", are used: j is the farm counter,
and i is the sensor counter deployed at the jth farm. Sn
indicates the maximu m number of sensors deployed at a
given farm. Fn indicates the maximu m nu mber of farms
associated with Tubewell. It stores all the s ensors' data
starting fro m 1 to Sn. Each sensor value is verified and is
compared with the 1000. There could be errors in sensor data
if we found the value more than 1000. If an error is found,
the error counter for ith sensor and jth farm will be increased
by 1. If no error is found, then the system starts to analyse Fig. 6 Start Irrigation in farm
data for the next farm. This process continues till all the
farms' data is stored, or we can s ay the farm counter reaches The average soil mo isture of the farm has been
Fn (Maximum no of farm). continuously observed during irrigation. At the specified
The output value of the soil moisture sensor can be varies reach point system sent STOP signal to controller to stop the
in the range of 0 to 1023. If the sensor detect the value 1000 irrigation in farm. The threshold value can be different for
or more than 1000 then sensor is disconnected from soil, different crop and type of soil. Threshold value is minimu m
values between 370 to 600 indicates humid soil and below moisture value that soil should contain to sustain the crop.
370 indicates sensor is in water.
After comp letion of this process, an average sensor value
is calculated for all farms. Simultaneously, weather data is
also stored in a database to predict the rain for irrigation
sequencing.
After finding the average soil moisture of all farms, the
sorting algorithm was run to make irrigation sequencing of
farms according to their average soil mo isture level.
Algorithm arranged farm with lowest mo isture value as first
and so on. After making sequence of farm the next step
performed in system was staring irrigation in farm.

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC-2022).
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP22OSV-ART; ISBN: 978-1-6654-6941-8
Fig. 7 Atmosphere data
Fig. 8 Sensor data
Figure 7 and figure 8 shows the atmosphere data and
sensor data taken at different time interval. These data were
used to take irrigation decision. Both the data read through
API and converted to compatible format for further use.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed IAA architecture works with a shared
Tubewell, wh ich serves many farmers’ lands. The proposed
IoT based system automates the irrigation scheduling of
different farms associated with one Tubewell. The IoT based
smart irrigation system automates the micro irrigation system
for shared Tubewell culture, having many advantages
compared to current irrigation or flood irrigation systems.
Water consumption can be reduced in variable range of 20–
80%. It also reduces the water wastage as system provides
water to crops root zone. A single Tubewell can serve more
land and expand the irrigation area, which accelerates the
‘More Crop Per Drop’ objective of the Pradhan Mantri
Krishi Sinchayee Yojana.
V. CONCLUSION
The proposed IoT based architecture efficiently works for
the smart irrigation system in shared tubewell culture. Water
scarcity is a booming issue where agriculture is more
dependent on Tubewell irrigation like the North Gu jarat
region. The model helps to serve more land as it reduces
water wastage and supplies water as per crop needs.
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