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1 Introduction
Climate changes contribute to different issues that occurred in the agriculture domain.
To address them, the agricultural sector needs to adapt to the new technologies for data
monitoring and transmission [1].
The history of agriculture began thousands of years ago when humans started to
redirect nature’s regular flow of the food web towards the benefit of human civilization.
Since its beginning agriculture has suffered many changes in order to achieve improved
productivity and increased quality. Significant improvements became obvious when
machines and new tools such as milling machines, irrigation systems, harvest machi-
nes, farmland clearing machines, etc. were introduced in the primitive agriculture,
where these activities were performed mainly by humans and animals. Still, agriculture
has been affected by weather disasters (such as storms or extreme temperatures) and by
biological disasters (such as pests and plant diseases) [2–4].
Smart Agriculture is a modern concept in which information and communication
technologies are used to manage all activities and processes related to the agriculture
field. Internet of Things (IoT) has the capability to influence many areas worldwide
such as advanced industries, smart cities and novel technologies in connected vehicles
[5]. However, IoT could have an even more significant impact on the agriculture
domain. The presented solution for IoT-based smart agriculture consists in a system
built to monitor the crop field using sensors (temperature sensor, the temperature of
leaves and flower buds, level of oxygen in the soil, global shortwave radiation, UV
global radiation, etc.) and to improve the irrigation system. One of the impacts that the
system has is to enhance productivity while keeping the costs to a minimum [6, 7].
Water management and irrigation programming became the main subjects in
numerous studies lately, taking into consideration their increased significance in pre-
cision agriculture. Irrigation quality is an indicator of performance, the influence which
can be perceived both directly and indirectly. The need for crop irrigation differs
depending on the area climate; therefore energy efficiency and economic use of water
resources are strongly interconnected with the type of plantation and soil [8].
Protecting natural water resources through rational and effective use of water is one
of the main challenges faced by the specialists. This way, concrete and sustainable
measures are needed. Irrigated agriculture accounts for 20% of the total cultivated land
with different irrigation solutions currently available, such as drip irrigation, irrigation
surface leakage and sprinkler irrigation.
This paper proposes efficient energy system architecture for irrigation management
and a demonstrative experimental part where motivation of soil irrigation is outlined. In
order to establish an optimal configuration of the system, the monitored parameters
having a significant influence on crop productivity (temperature and humidity) are
explained as well as their use. Further the main control methods used in irrigation
management are illustrated. Next an integrated automation and telemetry solution for
water management in precision agriculture is detailed, by considering the criteria of
energy and economic efficiency, as well as the leading driving technologies presented.
Using this telemetry system different crop can be monitored.
The paper is structured as follows: Sect. 2 presents related work for smart agri-
culture, Sect. 3 introduces the main parameters monitored in irrigation, Sect. 4 presents
the architecture for system irrigation, Sect. 5 the experimental data and finally, Sect. 6
concludes the paper.
2 Related Work
Agriculture plays a vital role in the lives and well-being of people throughout the
world; it is also a process of producing food and a source of food for both the popu-
lation and domestic animals. Over time, the climate has undergone changes that people
had to adapt to and implicitly adjust the solutions used to ensure food or water quality,
both irrigated and used daily [9]. In the field of agriculture, crops need to be watered
Telemetry System for Smart Agriculture 575
whenever necessary and only with the amount of water required by the soil at that
specific time of irrigation.
Water is eternally a needy part of everyone’s survival. Due to environmental con-
dition, water management and conservation will play a requisite role for human sur-
vivals. Lately, there were tremendous needs for consumer-based humanitarian projects
that could be immediately improved using the Internet of Things (IoT) [10–14]. This
introduces an IoT-based water monitoring scheme that measures the water level in real-
time. The ideals are based on the water level which can be an essential parameter when it
comes to the flood particularly in disaster regions. A water level sensor is employed to
recognize the water level and depending on the fixed setting, and if the water level
strikes the parameter, the alert will be feed in real- time to a social network like Twitter
[15]. A cloud server was set up and configured as the data container. The ultrasonic
sensor could be compensated by a specific water level sensor so that the system can
function more accurately and provide greater accuracy of water level detection [15].
This system is set to maintain soil humidity levels and embrace the different watering
needs.
To focus the consequence of using Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) in irrigation,
comparison research between the automated drip irrigation system and non-automated
drip irrigation was performed [16]. A similar method was implemented where the
primary purpose was to administer water use productivity by monitoring soil moisture
level [17, 18]. In [19], there is illustrated a process designed to achieve smart agri-
culture by applying automation and IoT technologies like ZigBee models, camera and
actuators to manage smart irrigation on actual real-time field data. In [20], an automated
irrigation system was developed using the wireless moisture sensor network and IoT
technology. Based on temperature, humidity and moisture sensors, an automated irri-
gation system was implemented in order to supply water to the plant at scheduled
intervals.
IoT technology is having disruptive impacts on an extensive range of industries
including public transport, agriculture, environmental science, and robotics. In many of
these fields, IoT is becoming a key enabler of innovation and success and corporations
are willing to invest in such new technologies.
shown that a 2°C increase in temperature leads to a rise of water demand of cultures
by 19% [22].
Each plantation requires a specific temperature; otherwise, the seeds will not
bloom and remain into the ground been therefore exposed to the attacks of some
pests, diseases, or loss of germination. Optimal temperature does not generally
correspond to vegetative growth, but it differs from one crop to another.
Absolute Humidity can be defined as the partial pressure of water vapour in wet
air, usually expressed in millimetres mercury column. The partial pressure of water
vapour in wet air and quantity of vapours contained in one m3 of wet air, expressed
in grams, are numerically equal [23].
Relative Humidity provides information on the water vapour in the air,
parameter strongly interdepend to the temperature. On the other hand, dew point
temperature explains the relationship between relative humidity and temperature
because, with an increase in relative humidity, a decrease in temperature occurs, and
if the temperature falls below a certain limit, the air reaches the point where it will
contain the largest amount of water vapour [24].
• Temperature and humidity of soil: The soil is an essential resource in irrigation
management, as it is a carbon storage tank. Soil humidity is identified as a critical
parameter in precision farming. It has been demonstrated that monitoring of soil
temperature and humidity are critical processes for precision agriculture. In some
regions, irrigated farmers when soil moisture exceeds certain limit (50%) [25].
The frequency of irrigation depends on the equipment used for drip irrigation or
the characteristics of deep wells. The primary objective of irrigation consists in
optimizing plant water requirements; it can be achieved through active monitoring
of soil moisture. It is considered that soil moisture should be measured by sensors
that do not have moving parts and do not require calibration [26].
Soil temperature is greatly influenced by solar and humidity radiation. Usually,
the soil temperature is higher than the air temperature, and the propagation of the
heat in the soil is a slow process [27].
• Evapotranspiration: Evapotranspiration is one of the basic components of the
hydrologic cycle. It influences the water balance from the moment it reaches the
ground through precipitation until the residual water reaches the ocean. The con-
sumptive use includes transpiration by vegetation, evaporation of water from the
soil and from the water surfaces, and the small amount of water from harvests.
These parameters continue to be very important in planning and managing water
resources and irrigation. The term evapotranspiration (ET) has become more
common than the term consumptive use. The difference between the term evapo-
transpiration and consumptive use is that the latter also refers to the amount of water
found in plant tissue.
ET is required both in planning and operating water resource projects and necessary
in problems regarding water supply, both surface and underground, water management,
and in the economics of multipurpose water projects for irrigation, power, water
transportation, flood control, municipal and industrial water uses, and wastewater reuse
systems [28].
Telemetry System for Smart Agriculture 577
The proposed telemetry and automation system were designed to closely monitor the
key parameters for agriculture. It brings to attention an automation system developed
for irrigation control and reduced energy consumption [30].
The architecture of the ADCON telemetry station is presented in Fig. 1.
All data collected from the stations can be accessed, visualized and downloaded as
table or graph. Every 10 min the acquisition platform (addVANTAGE Pro) receives
data collected from stations (through sensors) related to temperature, soil air humidity.
The sensors integrated at ADCON station level are supplied for a short period of time
and their recorded data are read by the RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) every 5 min.
Every 10 min, RTU performs average of data within the measurement range. Every
hour, the RTU transmits the four average values computed for each parameter to Data
Presentation Server through the gateway.
578 C. M. Balaceanu et al.
For the assessment of the quality of soil and crops in different area, IoT devices
were deployed. Data flow architecture (Fig. 1) includes an acquisition platform
(addVANTAGE Pro) composed of modular acquisition nodes addSWITCH A724
device, which acts as IoT-Gateway. The data acquisition modules connect via 4G/WiFi
to the Internet or another (private) network and send data to it. The IoT gateway stored
the data in a MySQL database that ensures local persistence of data. Data are trans-
mitted to Cloud through a software component that serializes data to an MQTT broker.
Next, the Adapter component (a software application developed in Python program-
ming language), is basically an MQTT client that subscribes to several topics and stores
the data received from the sensor in the database. Data visualization is then realized
with an open platform for analytics and monitoring (Grafana).
The telemetry process for the proposed system (Fig. 2) is performed with an
ADCON station that will measure field parameters (soil and air humidity and air
temperature). All these monitored parameters are transmitted through the SCADA
(Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) to a system RTU and a communications
server. These elements are connected to an OPC (Object Linking and Embedding for
Process Control) and transmitted via a Gateway to the users.
Taking into consideration the specifications of the two stations and the fact that
ADCON station offers disease model, frost warming and degree days, for intelligent
580 C. M. Balaceanu et al.
agriculture in our case, ADCON represents the best solution for this monitoring and
forecasting implemented system.
5 Experimental Data
From Fig. 4 it can be noticed that the transition from winter season to spring season
is correctly registered by ADCON telemetry system. As expected, an increase in
temperature values is noticeable in the afternoon, starting at 11 o’clock, then the
temperature drops in the evening. This parameter is an indicator that helps the farmers
to choose the right period for tomato cultivation.
Correlating data in Figs. 4 and 5 it can be observed a good connection between the
variation of air relative humidity and temperature.
According to the technical data from the ADCON telemetry station, the relative
humidity of soil varies between 40% and almost 60%, which means that the ground
needs irrigation, although it is not yet very dry (values noticeable in Fig. 6). When soil
582 C. M. Balaceanu et al.
humidity falls below 30%, crops need water. For an efficient and rapid development of
tomatoes in the observed area an efficient telemetry system is necessary and the use of
ADCON telemetry station can help farmers within this zone.
Table 1 presents a statistical analysis of the parameters measured during the
monitored period.
From the analysis of statistical data, it can be observed that for each monitored
parameter, the confidence level (95%) is given by the probability that the studied values
are included within this range.
6 Conclusion
ADCON platform used for parameters monitoring in smart agriculture prove its effi-
ciency in various uses cases, including irrigation of soil. This paper aims to illustrate
that such a platform is necessary for Romanian farmers in agricultural field and it is
efficient in monitoring the humidity of soil and temperature of air (required parameters
for plant growth).
The measured values are transmitted through the gateway A850 for ADCON, and
they are validated and further sent to farmers. The emergence of these parameters
monitoring and transmission systems highlights the need for collecting the soil-plant-
soil actions crucial for agricultural production. The moisture of the monitored soil
outlines the need for soil irrigation, and the measurement of solar radiation, tempera-
ture, relative air humidity offers information on crop development in an optimal
environment. For example, the transition from winter season to spring season is
emphasized by the collected data for air temperature parameter monitored by ADCON
platform and farmers can use the values to determine the best period for crop planting.
The use of solar panels for powering the ADCON station leads to very good energy
efficiency.
As future plans, ADCON monitoring technology can be used to improve the health
of crops by reducing the use of pesticides, creating the most favourable conditions for
developing crops and by making farmers more aware of the use of IoT technology so
useful in agriculture of precision.
Acknowledgment. The work presented in this paper has been funded by the SmartAgro project
subsidiary contract no. 8592/08.05.2018, from the NETIO project ID: P_40_270, MySmis Code:
105976.
Telemetry System for Smart Agriculture 583
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