Radiation Monitoring and Environmental Assessment in Precision Agriculture: Development of an Integrated IoT Device with Comprehensive Data Analysis Capabilities

This paper presents the development of an integrated IoT-based device tailored for precision agriculture, offering a holistic approach to background radiation monitoring and environmental assessment. The system comprises a carefully designed front end powered by Arduino and NodeMCU microcontrollers. It features an array of high-precision sensors including DHT-11 for temperature and humidity, optical dust sensor for particulate matter detection, and calibrated MQ sensors for CH4 and NH3 gas detection, alongside a Geiger radiation counter. The back end is seamlessly integrated with the Blynk application, offering real-time mobile monitoring, Thingspeak for comprehensive data visualization, and a secure Google spreadsheet for reliable data storage. A rigorous sensor validation process was conducted, demonstrating that this device's measurements align statistically with those of commercially available devices, validated through paired sample t-tests in SPSS software. The prototypic data analysis system also forms a crucial aspect of this research. Over six months, data was gathered from three strategically significant locations in Bangladesh. This analysis not only validates our device's efficacy but also provides a template for future users to effectively interpret their data. Additionally, comprehensive data analysis, including a graphical representation of all six parameters, provides a detailed insight into environmental conditions. The proposed IoT device not only demonstrates its effectiveness in precision agriculture but also showcases its adaptability for deployment across diverse geographical locations worldwide.