2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia
IoT in Precision Agriculture
Applications Using Wireless Moisture
Sensor Network
Ibrahim Mat, Mohamed Rawidean Mohd Kassim, Ahmad Nizar Harun, Ismail Mat Yusoff
MIMOS, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation,
Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
{ibm, dean, nizar.harun, ismail}@mimos.my
Abstract- Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of
sensors and connectivity to enable application like
agriculture optimum irrigation. Wireless sensor
network (WSN) and Wireless Moisture Sensor
Network (WMSN) are components of IoT. One of
the important processes in agriculture is irrigation.
Improper irrigation will result in waste of water.
Proper irrigation system could be achieved by
using WSN technology. Monitoring and control
applications have been tremendously improved by
using WSN technology. It enabled efficient
communication with many sensors. WMSN is a
WSN with moisture sensors. In this study,
Precision Agriculture (PA) used WMSN to enable
efficient irrigation. In this paper, we describe about
IoT and WMSN in agriculture applications
particularly in greenhouse environment. This
paper explained and proved the efficiency of
feedback control method in greenhouse crop
irrigation. A test was conducted to see the different
these two methods. The methods are irrigation by
schedule or feedback based irrigation. Irrigation by
schedule is to supply water to the plant at specific
time periods. Feedback based irrigation is to
irrigate plant when the moisture or level of media
wetness reached predefined value. The test shows
that there is an average savings of 1,500 ml per day
per tree.
Keywords - Wireless Moisture Sensor Network
(WMSN), Sensor Network, Moisture
Sensor, Automatic Irrigation,
Greenhouse.
I. INTRODUCTION
Conventional agriculture is slowly changed
into digital agriculture namely Precision
Agriculture (PA). Currently, greenhouse is
starting to become a common method in crops
business. Previous greenhouses are equipped
with old technology and not suitable to be
embedded in the new precision agriculture
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technology. One of the objectives of this project
is for migrating small-scale agriculture into big-
scale agriculture in order to contribute to national
economic growth.
Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of
sensors and connectivity to enable application
like agriculture optimum irrigation. Wireless
sensor network (WSN) and Wireless Moisture
Sensor Network (WMSN) are components of IoT
[1].
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is able to be
the solutions for a large variety of applications.
The application examples are health monitoring,
agriculture monitoring, weather monitoring, air
quality monitoring and land slide monitoring.
WSN is combines various technologies such as
sensor technology, networking technology,
control technology, information storage and
information processing technology.
Precision Agriculture (PA) is a concept where
the farmer able to access parameters related to
his farm and able to control the related
parameters either manually, in schedule or
automatically. Reading and writing the
parameters are done digitally. Each plot of area
of the crops plantation would be able to be
monitored and controlled. Ultimately Precision
Agriculture (PA) would enable better production.
In this paper, Greenhouse Management
System (GHMS) is presented. GHMS is based
on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology.
In this particular application, GHMS is used to
manage the greenhouse condition. GHMS will
read the wetness of the soil media in the
greenhouse by using moisture sensor. GHMS
will read wetness of the air in the greenhouse by
using humidity sensor. GHMS read the heat of
 2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia

the air in the greenhouse by using temperature
sensor. Based on the sensors reading GHMS will
automatically decide to ON or OFF devices such
as water pump for irrigation, fan for air
circulation and mist for adding water in the air
and to increase the humidity.
XBee technology has been selected for this
project as an option for Wireless sensor network.
It is a product of Digi International. In 2005
XBee radios were introduced [11]. The design
was based the standard of 802.15.4-2003 [12].

In Section 2, overview on IoT is described. In

Section 3, wireless sensor network (WSN) and
the design or the architecture of the overall
system are explained. Sensor to detect the
wetness of the media will be explained in Section
4. Section 5 will explain about the calibration
about soil moisture sensor. Test and results are
shared in Section 6. The conclusion of the paper
finally presented in Section 7.

II. WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK AND Fig.2 WMSN or WSN Interconnection

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

There are multiple sensor nodes in a wireless
sensor network (WSN). Sensor node is to detect
physical phenomena such as temperature,
humidity and moisture [2]. Wireless Moisture
Sensor Network (WMSN) is referring to
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with the
networking of moisture sensors. These networks
III. control of
are bi-directional and also allow
sensor activity. Figure 1 shows a general WSN
node architecture.
Precision Agriculture (PA) system would
contain a map of information. Information is the
parameters of the soil and the parameters of the
weather for each specific location. Based of
those information correct irrigation could be
planed.
III. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The main processing unit in the system
architecture is the greenhouse main controller.
Figure 3 shows the layout basic irrigation system
architecture in each green house. The system
manages and optimizes all the input and output.
The moisture sensor reading is an input data and
transmitted to control panel wirelessly utilising
XBee based wireless sensor network (WSN)
technology.

Fig.1 WMSN or WSN Node Architecture [1]

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in general

consists of processing component,
communication components which is for routing
purpose and for gateway purpose, graphical user
interface (GUI) for visual inspection or manual
user interaction, power source, sensors for
capturing sensing parameters. Most important
sensors for this project are moisture sensor,
temperature sensor and humidity sensor. Figure 2
shows the architecture of Wireless Sensor
Network (WSN) used in some Precision
Agriculture (PA) situations with multiple sensing
nodes.
Fig. 3 Irrigation Layout
There are many sensors used in this project.
The sensors are to measure temperature,
humidity and most importantly moisture. In this
paper only moisture data has been used as a
control input. Moisture is measured in
Volumetric Water Content Unit (VWC).
Volumetric water content is a numerical measure

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 2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia
of soil moisture. It is simply the ratio of water
volume to soil volume. Another equally valid
measurement is gravimetric water content
(GWC), which measures weight rather than
volume. Different type of crops requires different
level of VWC for their healthy growth. As an
example chilli (capsicum annum) tree would
require water level at 35 Volumetric Water
Content (VWC). The suitable levels of moisture
for crops are defined by agronomist.
Our system has several WMSN nodes located
in the green house area. One moisture sensor is
attached to WMSN. Each WMSN read moisture
condition of the crops media in the polybags to
detect the water level. One moisture sensor is
attached at each 100 chili polybags. After read
the moisture value WMSN will send data to the
gateway through xBee wireless module. Gateway
sent data to the Central System through WIFI
module or GSM module. Central system is also
called internet database. Central system displays
moisture data in graphical form in computer and
mobile phone for end user visualization.
Figure 4 shows the connection between
gateway Bee connector and WIFI module
ESP8266.
Fig. 4 Gateway and WIFI module through Bee connector
Fig. 5 Internet Graphical User Interface
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Collected data could be viewed through
internet. Figure 5 shows the sample of the
internet Graphical User Interface.
IV. SOIL MOISTURE SENSORS
In Precision Agriculture (PA), one of the
important sensors is moisture sensor. Moisture
sensor would provide level of water in the soil.
Level of water for specific crops is determined
by agronomist. Based on the water level
feedback system would have a knowledge on
how much water need to irrigate the crops. Too
much water in the soil would affect the usage of
Nitrogen of the roots. At the same time the
oxygen at the roots will be insufficient. Each
type of crops would require various level of
water. As such level of water indicate by
moisture would be different depend on the type
of crops. As an example chilli tree would require
water level at 35 Volumetric Water Content
(VWC).
There are two ways to measure soil moisture.
Two ways are contact-based and contact-free-
based. In contact-based method, detection area
of the sensor needs to be touched directly with
the detection media which is the soil that is being
detected. Contact-based sensors have various
methods based on detection parameters such as
capacitance sensors [3, 4] and heat pulse sensors
[5] as well as fibre optic sensors [6, 7].
Another way to measure soil moisture is
contact-free based. In contact-free based,
detection area of the sensor does not needs to be
touched directly with the detection media which
is the soil that is being detected. Contact-free-
based sensors are such as passive microwave
radiometers [8] and synthetic aperture radars as
well as thermal methods [9, 10].
V. MOISTURE SENSOR CALIBRATION
A standard soil preparation method namely
volumetric method has been used in this project.
This method can be used to prepare soil sample
of dedicated Volumetric Water Content (VWC).
VWC is equivalent to volume of water in a unit
of soil volume. Volumetric is related by the bulk
density of soil.
Wireless moisture sensor network (WMSN)
nodes would read data from three types of liquid
as a base or references of 3 levels of moisture
levels. The three types of liquid are glycol,
acetone and silicon oil. Each liquid has its own
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 2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia
dielectric permittivity, such as glycol (39.1),
acetone (22.9) and silicon oil (4.2). Wireless
moisture sensor network (WMSN) node would
pass data to the central collector which would be
attached to PC. From PC the raw data from
moisture sensors through several WMSN notes
could be viewed. These liquids can be used as
reference mediums to calibrate our moisture
sensor.
Fig.6 Setup for Moisture Sensor Calibration
Moisture sensors are used to sense the
moisture content in soil. The soil can be of those
from the plantation, green houses and open field.
Moisture sensor calibration setup is shown in
Figure 6.
There are water, solids and air in the soil. In
order to get the correct volume of soil solids, the
soil need to be baked in an oven for some period.
This step is shown in Figure 7. This is to make
sure only solids are left in the soil. The soil is
then compressed to remove trapped air in the
soil. At this stage volume of soil could be
measured. Predefined volume water is added into
the dried soil. The percentage for volume of
water over the total volume of soil is then
referred as Volumetric Water Content (VWC). In
real situation VWC are varies from one location
to another. VWC is different from time to time.
Fig. 7 Setup to remove water from soil
In this project moisture sensor is read at three
different liquids. It is then read at three different
VWC values of soils. From all these 6 conditions
average moisture reading is taken as a reference.
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The above test is done to a number of soil
moisture sensors as a sample. The purpose of the
above calibration test is to qualify the sensor.
Finally all soil moisture sensors that are to be
deployed will go through a simple calibration
step by capturing raw sensor reading in plain
water and in the air. These two points raw sensor
readings; in the air and in the water are used as
two points calibration for every sensors
produced. Based on these two raw electronic
readings, a linear formula is obtained as a
conversion formula from raw reading value to
VWC. Each soil moisture sensor will carry its
own conversion formula for accuracy purpose.
VI. TEST AND RESULTS
Here is to compare irrigation efficiency
between the two methods; schedule and
automated. This project used 1000 chili trees.
Each polybags used one water dripper for
irrigation purpose. Figure 3 shows the
configuration of water pumps and water valves
for irrigation. Irrigation liquid consists of water
and fertilizer at the ratio advised by an
agronomist.
Beside moisture sensor, temperature sensor
and humidity sensor are being used to monitor
level of heat in the greenhouse and level of air
wetness in the greenhouse. Data for temperature
and humidity during experiment period is shown
in Figure 8. During day time the temperature is
high while humidity is low. As such water from
media dried or vapoured much faster compared
to night time. As a result, during day time the
moisture level dropped faster compared to night
time to reach threshold value.
Fig.8 Temperature and Humidity during testing period
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 2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia
Sample sizes of 100 chili plants were chosen
randomly for this test. The moisture sensors were
used to capture moisture data at regular interval
of one hour. The moisture data shown in Figure 9
and Figure 10 are the average from the sample
size.
Fig.9 Moisture reading during scheduled watering
Fig.10 Moisture reading during automatic watering
This test was conducted in a tropical climate.
In the scheduled irrigation method, the irrigation
was done 5 times per day at 8am, 10am, 12noon,
2pm and 4pm. The duration of each irrigation
cycle was 5 minutes. Reading of moisture data
during Scheduled irrigation is shown in Figure 9
Irrigation with Automatic method keeps the
moisture condition of the media in the polybag to
be more than the threshold value which is
35VWC. When the moisture level less than
threshold value, irrigation pump and irrigation
valve were activated. Figure 9 and Figure 10
show the collected moisture data in 2 days.
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Reading of moisture data during Scheduled
irrigation is shown in Figure 9. Within 2 days the
irrigation was done for 11 times. Reading of
moisture data during Automatic irrigation is
shown in Figure 10. Within 2 days the irrigation
was done for 4 times. From these two cases, it
shows that Automatic irrigation optimises the
usage of water and fertilizer. Furthermore, it
keeps the moisture of the media not to be less
than 35VWC the value suggested by the
agronomist. As such water level of the media
was maintained at healthy condition for the
crops. Figure 9 shows that the first irrigation was
done on 13th August 8am even though the VWC
value was more than the threshold value. This is
an example of wastage of resources (water and
fertilizer).
Table I shows the amount of water and the
amount of fertilizer used in a day for scheduled
and automatic irrigation mode. Based on the data
in Table I, in scheduled mode irrigation, 2,500ml
of water fertilizer consumed in a day while in
automatic irrigation mode, the total amount of
water fertilizer in a day is 1000ml only. Average
saving for each chili crop in a day is 1,500ml.
1,000 chili trees saved 1,500 litres of water
fertilizer.
Table I Usage of Fertilizer with Water (WF) consumption:
Scheduled vs. Automatic Irrigation
Type of Total WF per Total WF
Irrigation Irrigation Irrigation (ml)
per day (ml)
Scheduled 5 500 2,500
Automatic 2 500 1,000
VII. CONCLUSIONS
In a greenhouse environment using WSN or
WMSN, our test shows clearly that a close loop
system or an automatic irrigation is more
efficient compared to scheduled irrigation. In
general Green House Management System plays
important roll to acquire crops production
environment condition, process and analyse and
ultimately controls all related devices to change
the climate and irrigation condition according to
the requirement. In this project, GHMS has been
used specifically to achieve optimum irrigation.
The experiment shows that there is an average
savings of 1,500 ml per day per tree. Automatic
irrigation will optimize the usage of water and
fertilizer and also keep the wetness or moisture
level of the crop to be about at the same level as
advised by agronomist.
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 2016 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS), October 10-12, 2016, Langkawi, Malaysia
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