Smart Drip Irrigation System using Moisture Sensors

Agriculture is the backbone of India's economy. However due to lack of rainfall in some regions it becomes very troublesome to grow crops. This has led to many suicides of farmers as well. Due to lack of water, selection of the most effective way to carry out irrigation must be implemented. Hence, drip irrigation has been implemented in the current study. Drip irrigation maybe common but the moisture sensors which are implemented to this system makes it unique. There are moisture sensors throughout the field which are connected to a microprocessor unit (an Arduino Uno board). The unit is synchronized with the pump which is connected to the pipes & a screen filter to prevent clogging of pipes. Hence by the study of soil conditions, delta, duty & wilting point of the crops the knowledge of the minimum & maximum moisture content required by the crops are known & the board is configured. Whenever the moisture reduces below the wilting point, the sensors report it to the board which in turn starts the pump & when there is sufficient moisture the board shuts down the pump accordingly. This helps in getting the maximum yield by using the least amount of water & it helps in saving cost, labor & time of the farmer.