Drip Irrigation System Based on Internet of Things

(IoT) using Solar Panel Energy

Aisyah Rahma Kholifah Kelvin Islami Albar Sarosa Rurin Fitriana
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering
State Polytechnic of Malang State Polytechnic of Malang State Polytechnic of Malang
Malang, Indonesia Malang, Indonesia Malang, Indonesia
aisyahrahmakholifah@gmail.com albarsarosa@gmail.com rurinfitriana06@gmail.com

Inna Rochmawati Moechammad Sarosa

Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering
State Polytechnic of Malang State Polytechnic of Malang
Malang, Indonesia Malang, Indonesia
innarochma98@gmail.com msarosa@polinema.ac.id

Abstract — The limited availability of water on plantations at the river, so watering the garden depends on rainwater collected in
top of the mountain becomes an obstacle when farmers want to rainfed areas. This rainfed place is in the form of a hut with
irrigate the field. It makes farmers relying on dammed rainwater
gutters made of bamboo, then flowed to the excavation of the
in rainfed areas. However, it has not solved the main problem
because farmers need to make a proper use if their dammed water land with a depth of 5 meters and has a diameter of 2 meters.
so that it could last the entire year. Thus, a new irrigation system
technology is proposed. The purpose of this project is to design a
drip irrigation system that could be controlled via Internet of
Things (IoT) technology to raise the efficiency of water usage in
plantations using solar panel energy. Design used in this drip
irrigation system consists of hardware and software design,
including system development. As for the method used here is IoT
based. This drip irrigation system could monitor plant conditions
in real-time. NodeMCU is used to send information and automatic
valve controller with soil humidity as its parameter. With this
tool, farmers are expected to be able to monitor soil humidity, pH
and plantations conditions. Results show that soil humidity sensor
has an average reading error of 0.364% and soil pH sensor has an
average reading error of 0.378%. Solar panel testing shows that
at 11:00 GMT the accumulator output reaches a maximum power Fig. 1. Rainfalls Container
of 8.821 Watts, while its standard output power is 480Wh. The
battery can be full for 54.415 hours. The camera module can take
pictures well. The drip irrigation system can run well when the In the city of Pattaya, Thailand there is a study "Drip
humidity value is <70%. Irrigation Powered by Solar Cell for Dry Rainfed and No
Electricity Area". In this study, the design of drip irrigation
Keywords - Soil Moisture, Solar Panel, Drip Irrigation, Internet of systems with solar energy for rainfed areas and no electricity,
Things, the energy of solar panels is used to control water pressure. The
observation parameter in this study is to measure the flow rate
I. INTRODUCTION
of water at one time in the irrigation area. However, in this
Sweet orange is a plant that can grow well in tropical and study, the entire system is still done manually or the system
subtropical regions. Sweet orange can be used as a raw material does not run automatically [2].
for drinks, perfumes, and aromatherapy. Based on the Malang Based on these problems it is very important to create a
Regency Regional Government Work Plan (RKPD) in 2012, system that can optimize water use and use appropriate
which was launched by BAPPEKAB Malang (2012), Selorejo technology so that the system does not run manually.
Village in Dau Subdistrict was designated as a center for the Therefore, a drip irrigation system technology was made. Drip
production of sweet oranges Pacitan / orange baby Pacitan irrigation is watering plants with a low water speed right at the
(Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) even though it still has diverse root area of the plant. The current condition of farmers to do
productivity [1]. watering manually by taking water from soil excavation. To
facilitate the watering of farmers, this drip irrigation system
Mister Radiono's orange plantation is located on the slopes
uses technology based on IoT (Internet of Things). IoT is
of Gunung Kawi, precisely Petungsewu Village, Dau, Malang
communication between two devices that can transfer data
City. Plantation area of 3600 m2 with 450 trees of orange trees.
over the network without requiring human-to-human or human
At present, the obstacles faced are limited availability of water
interaction with the device. The system provides full control of
due to arid soil conditions and the location of land far from the

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plants starting from monitoring plant conditions in real-time to Table 1. Literature Review of Referenced References
automatic watering. Existing Method Proposed method
The system is still done The system runs
II. LITERATURE REVIEW manually [2]. automatically with soil
In the dry season, there is very little water available, while moisture parameters.
the need for water is more or less the same as the rainy season. Information provided uses Information provided via the
To overcome the need for water in difficult times water is to GSM, the microcontroller internet is not only the pump
use drip irrigation. The principle of drip irrigation or what is sends a message to farmers status (on/off) but also the
about the status of the value of soil moisture, soil
commonly referred to as a Trickle Irrigation or Drip Irrigation
pump (on/off) [4]. pH, and garden’s
is irrigation that uses flow networks utilizing gravity. The drip
neighboorhood.
irrigation system has a good control method since the water
flows until it is absorbed by plants. Besides, the drip irrigation The android application The system uses an android
system reduces the evaporation process, where nutrients can be system displays images of application to display real
plant colors which are images then stored in history.
directly given to plants through irrigation. Irrigation systems
green or red [5]. In addition, images can also
are suitable for plants grown in rows [3].
be stored on the SD card
Based on research [2] the design of drip irrigation systems
automatically every hour.
with solar panel energy power for rainfed areas and no
The system uses the The system uses the
electricity area. In the city of Pattaya, Thailand, the energy of Arduino ATMEGA 328 NodeMCU ESP8266 micro-
solar panels is used to control the water pump. The observation microcontroller to send controller that can send data
parameters in this study are the measurement of find out data to the database via to the database directly.
maximum number of drip tape usage at a time, drip flow rate, Zigbee [6].
emission uniformity of drip supply, precipitation rate and
irrigated area per time of supply. Of this research is the whole III. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
system is still done manually [2].
Based on research [4] design of equipment Sensor based This system uses solar panel energy. The parameters in this
Solar Tracker System using Electronic Circuits for Moisture study soil moisture sensor which was controlled using
Detection and Auto-Irrigation. This system works when ESP8266 NodeMCU. The android application was designed
moisture level of the soil reaches to low, the soil moisture for monitoring the system and controlling the system. Data is
sensor is sending the signal to microcontroller to start the pump uploaded to Firebase and then to the user. This application
by using stored solar energy. At the same time, using GSM, provides information to the user which are, on/off watering
microcontroller sends message on farmers mobile about pump status, watering date, time of watering the value of soil
status. Of this research is that giving information to farmers moisture, pH value and image of the garden condition. The
still uses GSM, the microcontroller sends a message to farmers camera used here is the Raspberry Pi Rev 1.3 controlled by
about the status of the pump [4]. Raspberry Pi Zero W V1.1.
Based on research [5] explained the controls and monitors
of the drip irrigation process using the Internet of Things (IoT). IV. SYSTEM DESIGN
The system uses soil moisture sensors to determine the value The image below is a block diagram system in the research
of soil moisture in real time, then stored in the database to that will be shown in Fig. 2. In the block diagram, it can be
analyse plant water requirements and then displayed on a seen that there are parameters that are controlled in plants,
smartphone. Of this research is that the camera used does not namely in the form of soil moisture, soil pH, camera module,
display images in real, only detects the color of the plant, green and automatic watering
or red [5].
Based on research [6] explained that the proposed system
helps users to improve the quality and quantity of their
agricultural products based on environmental temperature and
moisture values. Microcontroller used is Arduino ATMEGA
328. The value of soil moisture as the main parameter so that
the system can be light up then transmitted through Zigbee then
the data is stored on stored on the cloud server. Of this research
is that the system uses the Arduino ATMEGA 328
microcontroller and to send data to the database still has to go
through Zigbee [6].
The following table show the comparison between the
existing methods and the proposed method.

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 Fig. 2. Block Diagram of the Drip Irrigation System.
The power source to run the system uses solar panel energy
which is then stored by the battery for distribution to all Fig. 3. Results of Prototype
devices. Soil Moisture sensor detects the value of soil moisture
in the plant and then passes it to ESP8266 NodeMCU. In B. The Results of Software
NodeMCU ESP8266, soil moisture data will be selected, if the
detected soil moisture is <70%, the solenoid valve will open so
that watering will live otherwise if the soil moisture is ≥70%
the solenoid valve will close or watering will stop.
The camera module used is the Raspberry Pi Camera Rev
1.3 with the microcontroller is the Raspberry Pi Zero W, this
camera module serves to take pictures when the user wants to
see the atmosphere of the garden. Besides, this camera module
can also take pictures every hour automatically and stored on
the SD Card.
Information on the value of soil moisture and soil pH
through ESP8266 NodeMCU to the data server is stored in the
database. Then information on soil moisture, soil pH, and
images will be accepted for display on android. Android also
displays information on soil moisture, soil pH, garden image,
date, time, and watering status ON/OFF.

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Results of Hardware
The prototype of Drip Irrigation System Based on Internet
of Things (IoT) using Solar Panel Energy that has been tested
in State Polytechnic of Malang laboratory.

Fig. 4. Splash Screen Application

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 C. Test Results of Soil Moisture Sensor
In table 2 shows the level of soil moisture at analog meter
humidity, table 3 shows the results of the value of the accuracy
of the soil moisture sensor with an analog meter humidity.

Table 2. Soil Moisture Level in Analog Humidity Measuring

Instrument
Level Humidity Range
Dry 1 – 3.9
Moist 4 – 7.5
Wet 7.6 – 10

Table 3. Test Results for Soil Moisture Sensors

Humidity Moisture
Error
Fig. 5. Home Page Application Sensor Value in Moisture
No Percentage
Value of the Analog Meter Level
(%)
Based on Fig. 5, it can be seen the home page application System Humidity
of watering history, camera, watering status, soil moisture 1 1 1 Dry 0%
value, and soil pH value. 2 1 1 Dry 0%
3 1 1 Dry 0%
4 1 1 Dry 0%
5 1 1 Dry 0%
6 6.27 6.2 Moist 1.116%
7 6.36 6.3 Moist 0.943%
8 6.39 6.3 Moist 1.408%
9 6.39 6.3 Moist 1.408%
10 6.35 6.3 Moist 0.793%
11 8.24 8.2 Wet 0.485%
12 8.22 8.2 Wet 0.243%
13 8.21 8.2 Wet 0.121%
14 8.22 8.2 Wet 0.243%
15 8.19 8.2 Wet 0.121%

The tests consist of 5 times tests each type of soil. There

are 3 types of soil, which are dry, moist, and wet. This test aims
to get the sensor reading error value of the measuring
instrument as a reference. Then to calculate is using the
formula:

Error Percentage
Fig. 6. History Features in Application
( )
= %

( )
= % (1)

Average Percentage Error = 0.364%

Accuration Percentage
= 100 % – Average Percentage Error
= 99.636 %

D. Test Results for Soil pH Sensors

Table 4. shows the soil pH level at the analog soil pH meter,
Table 5 shows the results of the accuracy of the soil pH sensor
Fig. 7. Menu Page Camera with an analog soil pH meter.

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 Table 4. Level of pH soil in Analog PH Meters 5 11:00 12.74 0.65 8.821
Level pH Range 6 11:30 12.81 0.61 7.8141
Alkaline 7–8 7 12:00 12.73 0.60 7.638
Acid 3.5 – 6.9 8 12.30 12.84 0.58 7.4472
9 13:00 12.88 0.54 6.9552
Table 5. Test Results for Soil pH Sensors 10 13:30 12.90 0.53 6.837
Analog Error 11 14:00 12.88 0.47 6.0536
Soil Soil pH Soil pH
No Soil pH Percentage 12 14:30 12.90 0.40 5.16
Condition Sensor Level
Meter (%)
1 7.77 7.8 Alkaline 0.384% For example the power calculation formula (P):
2 7.77 7.8 Alkaline 0.384% =
Where, V = Voltage (Volt)
3 Soil 7.77 7.8 Alkaline 0.384 % I = Current (Ampere)
4 7.80 7.8 Alkaline 0% P = Power (Watt)

5 7.80 7.8 Alkaline 0% F. Test Results of Camera

6 3.78 3.8 Acid 0.526% A camera was tested to check the functionality of the
7 3.78 3.8 Acid 0.526% camera module. The system uses an android application to
Soil plus display real images then stored in history. In addition, images
8 3.78 3.8 Acid 0.526%
Vinegar can also be stored on the SD card automatically every hour.
9 3.78 3.8 Acid 0.526%
10 3.78 3.8 Acid 0.526%

The tests consist of 5 times tests each type of soil. There

are 2 types of soil namely ordinary soil and soil plus vinegar.
This test aims to get the sensor reading error value of the
measuring instrument as a reference. Steering is calculated
using the formula:

Error Percentage
( )
=

%
( )
=

% (2)

Average Presentage Error = 0.378%

Accuration Percentage
= 100 % – Average Presentage Error
= 99.622 %

E. Test Results of Solar Panel Fig. 8. Camera Picture Result

Solar panels aim to provide resources for drip irrigation G. Results Entire of Drip Irrigation Systems
systems. Based on Table 6 shows that at 11:00 GMT the
battery output reaches a maximum power of 8.821 Watt. In Table 7 is the result of testing all drip irrigation systems,
Standard output power of the battery is 480Wh, the battery can it can be seen that when the humidity value is <70%, the
be full for 54.415 hours. watering will automatically turn on.
Table 6. Test Results of Solar Panel
Time Battery Output Table 7. Test Results of Drip Irrigation Systems
No Sensor Readings on Android
(GMT) Voltage (V) Current (A) Power (W)
1 09:00 12.82 0.48 6.1536 Module Time Applications
No
2 09:30 12.88 0.51 6.5688 Number (GMT) Soil Moisture Soil pH Watering
3 10:00 12.86 0.55 7.073 Sensor (%) Sensor Status
4 10:30 12.81 0.59 7.5579 1 15:00 57.70 7.2 ON
IOT 1
2 15:11 70.05 7.35 OFF
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 3 17:03 64.20 7.46 ON irrigation system was successfully done. Applications made in
4 17:07 70.03 7.39 OFF the form of software that can send information in the form of
5 15:00 39.22 8.07 ON soil moisture values, soil pH values, watering status and
6 15:34 70.01 8.07 OFF plantation conditions. This information is sent by Firebase via
IOT 2 internet network that can be received by smartphone to
7 16:23 67.84 8.35 ON
monitored and controlled. As for our partner, Mister Radiono,
8 16:28 70.09 8.37 OFF
his plantation can grow with less water in dry season after
9 15.00 62.27 7.91 ON using this drip irrigation system.
10 15:14 70.08 7.96 OFF
IOT 3
11 17:18 53.77 7.93 ON ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
12 17:30 70.14 7.2 OFF This research is supported by Ministry of Research,
Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of
For example the power calculation formula Soil Moisture Indonesia.
Sensor (%)
(%) = REFERENCES

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