2020 International Conference on Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ICE3-2020)

AI and IoT Based Monitoring System for

Increasing the Yield in Crop Production
Sarthak Srivastava
Richa Singh Rajan Mishra
Department of Computer Science
Department of Electronics and Department of Electronics and
Engineering
Communication Engineering Communication Engineering
Madan Mohan Malaviya University of
Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Madan Mohan Malaviya University of
Technology
Technology Technology
Gorakhpur,India
Gorakhpur, India Gorakhpur, India
sarthak.srivastava14apr@gmail.com
richa.999singh@gmail.com rajanmishra1231@gmail.com

Abstract— Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of things
(IoT) based monitoring systems are in great demand and gives
a precise extraction and analysis of data. In this paper, the
research is performed on a marigold plant to detect the most
suitable conditions for plant growth. The philosophy behinds
this work is to reduce the risks in agriculture and to promote
smart farming practices. The effect of physical conditions like
humidity, temperature, soil temperature and moisture and
light intensity on the plant growth, is monitored using IoT
based monitoring system. The data responsible for the plant
growth is obtained using different sensors units like DHT11,
LDR, DS18B20, Soil Moisture sensors, Noir camera, single-
board microcontrollers and Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs). The variation of plant growth rate w.r.t. the
intensity of sunlight was observed within the range of 1000 lx-
1200 lx, category-2 (best). The further analysis of the extracted
parameters is done using different Machine Learning (ML)
algorithms. Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting Classifier
and Linear Support Vector Classifier (SVC) algorithms are
found best for analysis of physical parameters responsible for
the marigold plant growth.
Keywords— Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Smart
farming, Agriculture, Artificial Intelligence, OpenCV, Python,
Thingspeak.
I. INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the main source of our food and a majority
of people in India are dependent on agriculture as their
prime source of income. According to the United Nations
Food and Agricultural Organization, almost 800 million
people are chronically hungry and 2 billion suffer
micronutrient deficiencies. Further, another report from the
State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019
showed, 194.4 million people are undernourished in India. It
is high time where the agriculture sector needs to be
digitized and smart. Robert J. Mc Queen et al. (1995) [1],
predicted the abilities of automatic process which could the
combination of various systems. These systems could be
applied in the farming sector for the welfare of humankind.
This era of 21st century focusses on automatic technologies
like Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), and
Data Science (DS). However, the application of these
technologies in the agriculture domain is challenging.
Because of regular variations in physical and chemical
conditions of the surrounding, increasing the yield in the
production of the crop is a real-time challenge and a
problem needed to be solved. Hence, continuous monitoring
and strict management is needed for agro parameters like
humidity, temperature of the environment as well as of soil
and light intensity, etc.
Cor Verdouw et al. [2] developed a framework which
comprised a systematic set of architectural viewpoints and
directions. These viewpoints are then used to design IoT
based systems in agriculture and food domain but it requires
more viewpoints for structuring of IoT based system in agri-
food domain. M. A. Zamora-Izquierdo et.al., [3] proposed a
resilient system for greenhouse using IoT platform,
comprised with Cyber-Physical System, Edge Computing
and Cloud Computing tiers. They did experiment on two
cycles of tomato crop for the validation of the model. It was
found that 30% of saving in irrigation operation and up to
80% in some macronutrients. N. Ahmed et al. [4] proposed
a network structure for tracking and controlling agriculture
practices in rural areas. The key concern of this system was
to reduce the end to end delay. Antonis Tzounis et al. [5]
defined the 3-layer system i.e., the Perception layer,
Network layer and Application layer in IoT. They also
explained the applications and hardware and software
challenges in IoT. Mohanraj et al. [6] proposed an e-
agricultural application, consisted of knowledge base and
monitoring modules. They framed the algorithm to estimate
the water need of the plant. A comparative study was done
between various systems available in the market but the
approach lacks in monitoring various other parameters that
effect the agriculture. Anna Chlingaryan et al. [7] explained
the various ML techniques to predict the crop yield and
nitrogen content in a plant in precision agriculture method.
Further, it reviewed various techniques which were used in
production estimation as well as reported optimal nitrogen
management for plant. But there is no discussion about the
other micro and macronutrients of soil or fertilizer.
The major issues for the failure of crop production and
low yield is lack of nutrients and suitable environmental
conditions. Thus, the foremost motivation of this work is to
provide an agricultural research solution. For this the ML
algorithms is applied on the data generated by the technique
of the Internet of Things. Here, we first create a data-set
with the help of the Internet of things and the data collected
is stored on the cloud. The data has features that consist of
physical properties of surrounding like soil humidity, soil
temperature and intensity of light. The target variable for
our dataset is the rate of increase in height and width

978-1-7281-5846-4/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE

301
Authorized licensed use limited to: MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on November 03,2023 at 19:11:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 respectively which is the growth rate of the plant. After this
the supervised machine learning algorithm are applied on
the data which will give the best conditions for the plant for
maximum growth. The manuscript is organized into five
different sections. Section I contains the introduction about
the techniques. Section II proposes the architecture of the
plant monitoring system followed by methodology use to
extract the features in section III. Further, section IV
contains the detailed discussion about the results followed
by conclusion and outcomes in section V.
II. PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE
The below block diagram gives an overview of the system
architect. Here, marigold sapling is taken as a target plant
for continuous monitoring of various physical parameters,
through various sensors. These sensors are uniquely
designed for measuring the targeted parameters i.e.,
humidity and temperature of the environment, soil moisture,
soil temperature, and light intensity.
Fig.1. Block diagram of AI and IoT based monitoring system.
Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is
used to write the embedded C codes in Arduino Module,
compile and executes them. Arduino IDE is mainly used to
give guidelines to Arduino [25]. Thingspeak platform is
used to store and publish results online. It is an open-source
IoT service application and API to store and get back data
from various objects by using different HTTP and MQTT
protocols [26]. NodeMCU is an IoT open-source platform
that refers to the firmware, which is built on this
development kit. It can work as an entire operating system
using the Wi-Fi module of the NodeMCU. It uses the
MQTT/HTTP protocol to send the data on the cloud.
Arduino Uno is a single-board microcontroller developed by
Arduino.cc, based on Microchip ATmega328P [27]. It has a
bootloader that allows uploading new codes without any
external hardware.
The soil moisture sensor is used for measuring the
volumetric content of water in the soil [8]. It is a parameter
that determines the required amount of irrigation for the
growth of the plant. This sensor module built around the
LM393 comparator and consists of a variable resistor called
'potentiometer' for adjusting the sensitivity. DHT11 sensor
module senses the relative humidity and temperature of the
environment. Resistive type component is used to measure
humidity, and the negative temperature coefficient type
component is used to measure the temperature of the
environment [19]. The percentage of water vapor present in
the air is termed as Relative Humidity(RH) [9] which is an
important parameter for a healthy plant growth.
Authorized licensed use limited to: MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on November 03,2023 at 19:11:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Light dependent resistor is used to measure the light
intensity of the surrounding [9]. Light intensity tells about
how much energy absorbed by the plant. Light is a
significant source for plant growth, as it is responsible for
the process of photosynthesis. The intensity of light can be
measured in lux (lx) and foot-candle (fd) but these units do
not provide the number of photons. For the measurement of
photons, Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) is
utilized. PPFD gives information about the number of
photons absorbed by the plant surface (for performing
photosynthesis process) per square meter per second [20]. In
our experiment, we measured the light in terms of lux at
different instances of time in a day. This obtained value then
converted to measure the true intensity of the light. It is
measured in µmolm-2s-1 as shown in Table I [21].
TABLE I. LUX TO PPFD CONVERSION
Light Source Calibration
Factor
Sunlight 0.0185
Cool White Fluorescent Lamps 0.0135
Mogul Base High-Pressure Sodium Lamps 0.0122
Dual-Ended High-Pressure Sodium 0.0130
(DEHPS):ePapillion 1000 W
Metal Halide 0.0141
Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH942):Standard 4200 K 0.0154
color tempetaure
Ceramic Metal Halide(CMH930-Agro) 0.0170
3100 K colour temperature, spectrum shifted to red
wavelengths
*Multiply the Lux by the conversion factor to get PPFD .For example ,
full sunlight is 108,000 Lux or 2000 µmol m-2s-1( 108,000 x 0.0185)
As per the discussions, for measuring intensity, a voltage
divider circuit is designed. Here, LDR is connected to 5 V
supply via a 10K ohm resistor. The relationship between the
resistance of LDR and lux [22] is shown below equation 1,
lux= (1.25x 107) x R-1.4059 (1)
Where, R is the resistor of LDR
Further, to measure the temperature of the soil a digital
thermometer DS18B20 is used. The probe of the
thermometer is inserted inside the soil for measuring the
temperature. The unique characteristic of DS18B20 is direct
to the digital temperature sensor [23]. The upper layer of
earth 'Soil' is indispensable for plant life, support and
nutrients, and water supply. It collects the heat during the
day time and releases heat during the night [24].
III. METHODOLOGY
A. Capturing the plant’s height and width
To capture plants' height and width we used the concept of
image processing and with the help of open CV library. The
extracted height and width of the plant is stored in form of
CSV file. Meanwhile, all the environmental parameters are
collected and stored in the cloud by using IoT. These values
also extracted from a cloud in CSV form.
302
 B. Preparing the Dataset obtained data from the first microcontroller, it sends the
We have got the target variable data that was the plant’s data, using the HTTP protocol, to the cloud for storing and
height and width and then we found the rate of plant growth monitoring. Meanwhile, image of the plant has been
by using the formula in equation 2, captured through the camera as shown in Fig.2.

∂x
Height/Width Growth Rate = (2)
∂t
Where, ∂x changes in height or width. And ∂t is the
difference in time during which the properties are measured.

C. Data Analysis and Cleaning

We analyzed and visualized the data and how valuable our
features were and estimated a few predictions after features
selection. Further, some of the extracted data was used for
training the algorithm.

D. Applying Algorithms Fig. 2. Capturing the plant’s height and width.

After having the trained data, we applied supervised
machine learning algorithms over it. The following
algorithms were used to train our model.

a) Gaussian Naïve Bayes

This classifier uses the concept of Bayes’ Theorem which
assumes that every input value is independent of each other.
b) Linear Support Vector Classifier
This model is essentially representing various classes in a
multidimensional space hyperplane.
c) Decision Tree
A decision tree is a classifier with feature marked internal
(a)
nodes. Each node marked with possible output and leads to
a lower-ranked decision node on various input features.
d) Random Forest
This algorithm is used for classification as well as
regression predictions. It creates different decision trees on
data and gives predictions from them. Finally, provides the
best solution to the problem for which it is employed.
e) Gradient Boosting Classifier
It uses the boosting method to produces the ensemble
predication model of weak prediction models like a decision
tree.
f) Logistic Regression (b)
For predictive analysis in classification problems, this
algorithm is employed. It is based on the concept of
probability.
g) Stochastic Gradient Descent
Here, few samples are randomly selected instead of the
whole data and calculating the derivative from each trained
sample.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

All the sensors have been deployed in the field and scripted
using C++ in Arduino IDE. Jason script is used to maintain
the serial communication between Arduino Uno and (c)
Esp8266 Wi-Fi module. As soon as this Wi-Fi module

303
Authorized licensed use limited to: MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on November 03,2023 at 19:11:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 TABLE II. ACCURACY OF DIFFERENT CLASSIFICATION ALGORITHMS

Algorithms Accuracy (%)

Logistic Regression 83.33

Linear Support Vector Classifier 83.33

Gradient Boosting Classifier 83.33

Gaussian Naïve Bayes 66.67

Decision Tree 66.67

Random Forest 66.67

Stochastic Gradient Descent 66.67

(d)

The graph in Fig.4 showed the variation of plant growth

rate with respect to the intensity of light. We have classified
the growth rate of the plant into three categories i.e., 0, 1,
and 2. Category-2 is the best condition i.e., 1000-1200 lx
(observed from the graph) whereas category-0 is worst as
growth is less. Category-1 is an optimal condition.
Similarly, other parameters for best growth rate listed in
Table III.
TABLE III. FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR PLANT GROWTH
Parameters Suitable Conditions
(Observed Values)

Humidity of 58% to 78%

(e) environment
Fig. 3 Monitoring of different agricultural parameters on cloud: (a)
Humidity, (b) Temperature of environment, (c) Soil moisture, (d) Soil Temperature of 20 0c to 35 0c
temperature, (e) Light intensity. Environment

Soil Moisture 45% to 59%

Soil Temperature 19 0c to 32 0c

Light Intensity 1000 lx to 1200 lx

Fig. 4. The graph between growth rate v/s light intensity.
The image processing has done in python using the OpenCV
library. Fig.3 (a to d) showed the real-time values of various
agricultural parameters in the form of the graph during the
entire day. Here, some specific time instances have been
picked as, 06:00:00, 09:00:00, 12:00:00, 15:00:00, 18:00:00,
21:00:00 and 00:00:00 from vast dataset(more than 3,000)
obtained from cloud. All the obtained values have been
stored in the CSV file to maintain the database. We applied
machine learning algorithms to our dataset. The accuracy
obtained in different algorithms as shown in Table II.
V. CONCLUSION
We have found the best favourable conditions for the
marigold plant by data visualization and later on, this trained
model can be used to detect the rate of growth of marigold
plant just supplying it the environmental physical
conditions. Further, Logistic Regression, Linear SVC and
Gradient Boosting Classifier found to be the best fit
algorithms with 83.33% accuracy. This technique has a
great scope in the field of artificial farming. Not only we can
detect the best favourable conditions for particular crops like
millet, chillies, tea, coffee etc., but also we could prepare a
dataset using IoT which could tell us the best suitable plant
for a particular soil and climatic condition.
REFERENCES
[1] R. J. McQueen, S. R. Garner, C. G. Nevill-Manning, I. H. Witten,
“Applying machine learning to agricultural data,” Computers and
Electronics in Agriculture, vol. 12, pp. 275-293, 1995.
[2] C. Verdouw, H. Sundmaeker, B. Tekinerdogan, D. Conzon, and T.
Montanaro, “Architecture framework of IoT-based food and farm
systems: A multiple case study,” Computers and Electronics in
Agriculture, vol. 165, pp. 104939, 2019.

Authorized licensed use limited to: MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on November 03,2023 at 19:11:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
304
 [3] M. A. Zamora-Izquierdo, J. Santa, J. A. Martínez, V. Martínez, and
A. F. Skarmeta, “Smart farming IoT platform based on edge and
cloud computing,” Biosystem Engineering, vol. 177, pp. 4–17, 2019.
[4] N. Ahmed, D. De, and I. Hussain, “Internet of Things (IoT) for smart
precision agriculture and farming in rural areas,” IEEE Internet
Things Journal, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 4890–4899, 2018.
[5] Tzounis, N. Katsoulas, T. Bartzanas, and C. Kittas, “Internet of
Things in agriculture, recent advances and future challenges,”
Biosystem. Engineering, vol. 164, pp. 31–48, 2017.
[6] Mohanraj I,Kritika Ashokumar, Naren J, “ Field Monitoring and
Automation using IoT in Agriculture Domain,” 6th International
Conference on Advances In Computing & Communication, Cochin,
India, 6-8 Sept. 2016, pp. 931-939.
[7] A. Chlingaryan, S. Sukkarieh, and B. Whelan, “Machine learning
approaches for crop yield prediction and nitrogen status estimation in
precision agriculture: A review,” Computer Electronic Agriculture,
vol. 151 , pp. 61–69, 2018.
[8] R. K. Kodali and A. Sahu, “An IoT based soil moisture monitoring on
Losant platform,” 2nd International Conference on Contemporary
Computing and Informatics (IC3I), Noida, India, 14-17 Dec. 2016.
[9] P. Rajalakshmi and S. D. Mahalakshmi, “IOT based crop-field
monitoring and irrigation automation,” 10th International Conference
on Intelligent Systems and Control (ISCO), Coimbatore, India, 7-8
Jan.2016, pp. 1-6.
[10] M. R. M. Kassim, I. Mat, and A. N. Harun, “Wireless Sensor
Network in precision agriculture application,” International
Conference on Computer, Information and Telecommunication
Systems (CITS), Jeju, South Korea, 7-9 July 2014, pp. 1–5.
[11] S. Heble, A. Kumar, K. V. V. D. Prasad, S. Samirana, P. Rajalakshmi,
and U. B. Desai, “A low power IoT network for smart agriculture,” in
2018 IEEE 4th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT),
Singapore, Singapore 5-8 Feb. 2018, pp. 609–614.
[12] Nikesh Gondchawar, Prof .D.R.S.Kawitkar, “ IoT based smart
agriculture,” IJARCCE, Vol 5, Issue 6, June 2016.
[13] S. Pallavi, J. D. Mallapur, and K. Y. Bendigeri, “Remote sensing and
controlling of greenhouse agriculture parameters based on IoT,” in
2017 International Conference on Big Data, IoT and Data Science
(BID), Pune, India 20-22 Feb. 2017, pp. 44–48.
Authorized licensed use limited to: MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on November 03,2023 at 19:11:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[14] S. R. Prathibha, A. Hongal, and M. P. Jyothi, “IOT Based Monitoring
System in Smart Agriculture,” International Conference on Recent
Advances in Electronics and Communication Technology
(ICRAECT), Bangalore, India, 16-17 March 2017, pp. 81–84.
[15] G.Meena Kumari, Dr.V.Vidya Devi, “Real-Time automation and
monitoring system for modernized agriculture,” IJRRASE, vol 3
no.1.pp 7-12, March 2013.
[16] C. Yoon, M. Huh, S. Kang, J. Park, and C. Lee, “Implement smart
farm with IoT technology,” 20th International Conference on
Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT), Chuncheon-si
Gangwon-do, Korea (South), Korea (South), 11-14 Feb. 2018, pp.
749–752.
[17] M. Nagakannan, C. J. Inbaraj, K. M. Kannan, and S. Ramkumar, “ A
recent review on iot based techniques and applications,” 2nd
International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile,
Analytics and Cloud) 2nd International Conference on, Palladam,
India, 30-31 Aug. 2018, pp. 70–75.
[18] Konstantinos G.Liakos,Patrizia Busato,Dimitrious Moshou,Simon
Pearson and Dionysis Bochtis, “Machine learning in agriculture : A
revie,” ,Sensors , vol. 18, no. 8, p.2674, August 2018.
[19] mouser.com/datasheet/2/758/DHT11-Technical-Data-Sheet-
Translated-Version-1143054.pdf
[20] cropsreview.com/light-intensity.html
[21] apogeeinstruments.com/conversion-ppfd-to-lux/
[22] allaboutcircuits.com/projects/design-a-luxmeter-using-a-light-
dependent-resistor/(lux)
[23] datasheets.maximintegrated.com/en/ds/DS18B20.pdf
[24] precisionagricultu.re/soil-temperature-and-its-importance/
[25] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino_IDE
[26] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThingSpeak
[27] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino_Uno
[28] The World Bank : India :Issues and Priorities for Agriculture.
[29] Food and Nutrition Security Analysis, India,2019.
[30] United Nations Food and Agriculture Report 2019.
305