Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to: 1. Improve water sustainability using automated water control systems and 2. Determine exact water requirement to irrigate on fine, medium and coarse soil type using drip irrigation technique. Methods: To work effectively with the Wireless Irrigation System, a sensor module was developed to sense out the soil humidity and water content of the soil. The system is designed using drip irrigation technique as a model for testing irrigation control. It will focus on three soil types which include fine, medium and coarse in determining the need of soil humidity level in the system. The developed technology was compared to the existing irrigation control system in terms of speed of irrigation and amount of water used in the irrigation procedure. Findings : In the existing irrigation system, continuous distribution of water to farmlands takes place. The water sustainability was not controlled. The proposed irrigation control system analyzes the soil humidity level of the farmland, and only applies irrigation when a specific soil which needs irrigation based on humidity level; when the soil humidity is below normal, the reservoir will release water to plants. After a series of testing and comparing of the two-irrigation control system during testing, it is proven that the developed irrigation control system can be used to improve water sustainability in irrigation. An average of 52.777777775% of water from the reservoir was saved using the automatic irrigation control system. Novelty: The proposed system was used as a prototype material or model in testing lowland areas for a bigger wireless irrigation control system that can be used in automation of irrigating farmlands through drip irrigation technique. The developed system was tested in a farm land miniature where soil types are in different stations. The developed system can reduce the use of water in irrigation.

Keywords: Arduino; drip irrigation; wireless communication; desktop application; embedded system