PROJECT

ON

GSM BASED AUTOMATIC WATERING

SYSTEM

AMRESH KUMAR 4125454003

RAKHI SINGH 4125454004
VISHAL KUMAR 4125454006
VIVEKANAND MAURYA 4125454013
KANIKA GUREJA 4125454021

B.Tech Electronics
Department of Physics and Electronics
Hansraj College
University Of Delhi

Year 2013-2017
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our gratitude towards our supervisors, Dr. MAMTA SAINI and
Ms. SWATI GUPTA for their support and valuable suggestions during our project work.
Without their help we could not have presented this dissertation up to the present standard.
We also take this opportunity to thank all others who gave us support for the project or in
other aspects of our study at Hansraj College, University of Delhi.

Date: 25-05-2017
Amresh Kumar
(4125454003)

Rakhi Singh
(4125454004)

Vishal Kumar
(4125454006)

Vivekanand Maurya
(4125454013)

Kanika Gureja
(4125454021)

2
 ABSTRACT

In India, agriculture is one of the influential sectors which affects the masses and has direct
consequences towards the growth of our country. Farmers in our country, have to go through
a lot of hardships to meet the demands of high yield. Conventional ways of watering leads to
loss of soil nutrient, leaching, under/over irrigation which affect the crop yield severely.
Further, due to numerous issues such as resource management, availability of electricity,
changes in environmental conditions, etc., a need for efficiently managed irrigation system is
required. Hence, to address such issues, through this endeavor, we present a design for
automated irrigation setup which operates on GSM network and hence can be remotely
controlled. In this technology, the humidity and temperature of plants are precisely
controlled. The design provides a user friendly and reliable system which automatically
intimates the user if any change of electricity or soil moisture transpires. To implement this,
information is collected from the field through sensors and the inputs of the controller. To
save the farmer’s time and effort just to check the electricity status, a status check feature is
also added. Lastly, an attempt is made to streamline the system in an economical way.
Due to the varied atmospheric circumstances, the soil conditions sometimes may vary
from place to place in a large farmhouse, which makes it very difficult to maintain the
uniformity at all the places in the farmhouse manually. It is proposed that an android phone
can control the Irrigation system, which could facilitate the maintenance of uniform
environmental conditions. The Android Software Development Kit provides the tools and
Application Programmable Interface necessary to begin developing applications on the
Android platform, using the Java programming language.

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CONTENTS

Chapter Page No

1. Introduction 5
2. Objective 6
3. Components used 8
4. Design of proposed system 9
5. Interaction with the system 12
6. Control system 14
7. Power supply 16
8. Arduino 17
9. Motor 20
10. Relay circuit 21
11. Structure of GSM 23
12. LCD 25
13. Soil moisture sensor 27
14. Temperature sensor 29
15. Water level indicator 30
16. Merits 31
17. Outcome and Discussion 32
18. Conclusion 33
19. Future Scope 34
20. Reference 35
21. Apendix 36

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 INTRODUCTION

Even post industrialization, agriculture still has a pivotal role to play in the overall socio-
economic development of the county. This is mainly due to the fact that India still has an
economy based on agricultural produces. As per statistics, 43% of India’s land still falls
under the category of agricultural land. Therefore, to sustain high agricultural produces,
technology should aid the practices exercised by the farmers. Although the development of
technology in water saving irrigation and automatic irrigation is gaining popularity in India,
most of the available technology is still too expensive to put to use by the farmers. Further, it
is always difficult for the farmers to adapt when it comes to new technology. Expensive
technology and devices are often used in farms for experiment or demonstration but not
readily accepted by farmers. Thenceforth, our design aims at providing a cost effective and
simple operating system for easy adoption by the Indian farmers. Streamlining in this field is
required due to numerous issues in the agricultural watering system.
Drip irrigation is artificial method of supplying water to the roots of the plant. It is also called
micro irrigation. In past few years there is a rapid growth in this system. In this design, the
user communicates with the centralized unit through SMS. The centralized unit
communicates with the system through SMS which will be received by the GSM with the
help of the SIM card. The GSM sends this data to ARM7 (microcontroller) which
continuously receives the data from sensors in some form of codes. After processing, this
data is displayed on the LCD. Thus in short, whenever the system receives the activation
command from the subscriber it checks all the field conditions and gives a detailed feedback
to the user and waits for another activation command to start the motor. The motor is
controlled by a simple manipulation in the internal structure of the starter. The starter coil is
indirectly activated by means of a transistorized relay circuit. When the motor is started, a
constant monitoring on soil moisture and water level is done & once the soil moisture is
reached to sufficient level the motor is automatically turned off & a massage is send to
subscriber that the motor is turned off. The water level indicator indicates three levels low,
medium, high and also empty tank.

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 OBJECTIVE

The GSM based irrigation system may offer users the flexibility to regulate and control the
operations of their irrigation systems with little intervention to reduce runoff from over
watering for improvement in crop yield. This enables users to take the advantage of the
globally deployed GSM networks with its low cost SMS service to use mobile phones and
simple SMS commands to manage their irrigation system. It will be possible for users to use
SMS to monitor directly the conditions of their farmland, schedule the water needs of crops,
automatically control watering, and set control operational conditions in accordance with the
water need of crops. This will help in minimizing the overwatering and crop production cost.
Further, it will also help the users to take advantage of the prevailing GSM networks to
provide value added services.
The major objectives of the present work are
 The system supports water management decision, which determines the controlling time
for the process and monitoring the whole system through GSM module.
 The system continuously monitors the water level in the tank and provide accurate
amount of water required to the plant or tree in a farm.
 The system checks the temperature, humidity and dew point so as to forecast the weather
condition.
 Economical and effective with less power consumption using sensors for remote
monitoring and controlling devices which are controlled via SMS using GSM technology.

6
Fig. 1 Need for Streamlining

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 COMPONENTS USED

 Arduino uno Board (or any other controller such as PIC, Arduino mega)
 GSM Module (SIM900A)
 Relay Driver Board (4 Channel)
 Water Pump
 Soil Moisture Sensors
 AC to DC Adapter (240V to 5V)

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 DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

The system includes an Arduino Uno board which has a microcontroller. To communicate
with the GSM module, Attention (AT) commands have been used. A SIM900A GSM module
is used to interact with the user. Four Channel relay, and an AC to DC adapter is included to
check the electricity status. To check the soil moisture, sensors are used which measure the
volumetric water content of soil. A water tank level measurement circuit is made, whose
output is given to the controller and it is further intimated to the user through the GSM
module by a SMS. The data collected is processed in the controller and required actions are
taken on the basis of the algorithm. To indicate the status of pump and valves, LEDs have
been provided to visually check the status. Block diagram of the setup is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Block Diagram of the Setup

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 The user communicates with the controller unit through SMS using the GSM
network. A SIM card is installed in the GSM module which is on the field and connected to
the controller. The GSM module sends the data received to the controller i.e. Arduino Mega
which is also continuously receiving the data from the sensors. Input pins have been used on
Arduino for electricity status and water level of tank. Whenever the system receives the
activation command from the user it checks the electricity status and reverts back with the
actual status of the system. Further, when the user sends in activation code for initiating the
pump and energizing the solenoid valves, the system does the same and again gives the user a
feedback intimating the status of the pump and the valves. The pump is controlled by a
simple transistorized relay circuit. When the pump starts, a constant monitoring on soil
moisture is done and once the present soil moisture set point is reached, the system is
automatically turned off and a message is sent to the user that the pump and valves are turned
off. A schematic of the design is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Schematic of Proposed Design

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 FLOWCHART

Figure 4: Flowchart

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 INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM

Users have to interact with the system through SMS using their registered mobile number. In
this design, SMS will be accepted by the system only by the authorized person’s mobile
number, thereby curbing unauthorized access. If SMS from an unregistered mobile number is
sent to the system, it reverts back with the message ‘Unauthorized Access’. Apart from this
security feature, the user can also do the following things.
 Check the current electricity status of the field.
 Check the water level of the tank.
 Check the moisture content of the soil.
 Turn on and off the pump and solenoid valves.
 Put the system on auto cut off mode.
 Change the set point for auto cut off.
A list of commands for interacting with the system is mentioned in Table 1.
When the system is powered ON, it is initialized by sending‘s’ through SMS. Then, it
checks for the electricity status, and intimates about the same to the user. At any point the
current status of electricity and water level can be known by sending ‘x’ and ‘w’ respectively.
To turn ON the Pump and Solenoid Valve 1, 2; the user needs to send ‘#a1b1c1’. As the SMS
reaches the GSM module, it forwards this message serially to the Arduino. Arduino takes the
desired action according to the received code and sends back the notification to the user.
Message ‘z’ is required to know the moisture content of soil in the manual mode. To turn off
the one of valves and get water with more pressure, the user has to send ‘#a1b0c1’ or
‘#a1b1c0’. Finally, to shut down the system completely in manual mode, ‘#a0b0c0’ has to be
sent. Again the GSM module will intimate the user once the pump and solenoid values have
been shut down completely. Moreover, auto cut off functionality has can be activated by
sending the message ‘d’. This automatically sends a SMS to the user once it detects any
change in moisture content. The system gets turned off by itself once the pre-set moisture
value reaches.
The above mentioned system has been implemented on a test bed as shown in Fig. 4
and it works as per its objective.

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Fig.5 Irrigation Test Bed

13
 GSM Based Irrigation Control System

The connections between the two mobiles are done by using GSM. The GSM module and
microcontroller are connected using UART (universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter).
When the moisture sensor senses the low moisture content of the soil, it gives a signal to the
microcontroller. The microcontroller then gives a signal to the called mobile (which is kept in
the auto answering mode). The called mobile activates the sensor.

Fig. 6 Block Diagram of the Irrigation Control System

Therefore when calling mobile calls, that buzzer is heard indicating the valve needs to
be open. By pressing the button in the called function, the signal is given back to the
microcontroller. The microcontroller gives signal to the valves which causes it to get open.
The water is given to the root of the plant drop by drop, and when the moisture content
becomes sufficient, the sensor senses this and gives back the signal to the microcontroller and
the buzzer becomes off. Then by pressing the button in the calling function again, the valve is
made off. The entire unit is as shown in Fig. 6.

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 The power supply needed by the controlling system is +5V. An UART is responsible
for performing the main task in serial communications with computers. The device changes
incoming parallel information to serial data which can be sent on a communication line. A
second UART can be used to receive the information. The UART performs all the tasks such
as timing, parity checking, etc. needed for the communication. The only extra devices
attached are line driver chips capable of transforming the TTL level signals to line voltages
and vice versa.
The Microcontroller ARM7 structure is a general purpose 32-bit microprocessor,
which offers high performance and very low power consumption. The ARM architecture is
based on Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) principles, and the instruction set and
related decode mechanism are much simpler than those of micro programmed complex
instruction set computers.

Fig. 7 GSM based Automatic Irrigation Control System

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 POWER SUPPLY

Power supply section basically consists of the following components:

Component List

1. Step down transformer

2. Voltage regulator
3. Capacitors
4. Diodes

Fig-8: Block diagram of power supply

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 ARDUINO

Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and

software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a
Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED,
publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of
instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming
language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

Over the years Arduino has been the brain of thousands of projects, from everyday objects to
complex scientific instruments. A worldwide community of makers - students, hobbyists,
artists, programmers, and professionals - has gathered around this open-source platform, their
contributions have added up to an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of
great help to novices and experts alike.

Arduino was born at the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as an easy tool for fast prototyping,
aimed at students without a background in electronics and programming. As soon as it
reached a wider community, the Arduino board started changing to adapt to new needs and
challenges, differentiating its offer from simple 8-bit boards to products for IoT applications,
wearable, 3D printing, and embedded environments. All Arduino boards are completely
open-source, empowering users to build them independently and eventually adapt them to
their particular needs. The software, too, is open-source, and it is growing through the
contributions of users worldwide.

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Arduino Uno

The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328 (datasheet). It has 14
digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16
MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button.
It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer
with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Uno
differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip.

Fig-9 : arduino uno board

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 Inexpensive - Arduino boards are relatively inexpensive compared to other microcontroller
platforms. The least expensive version of the Arduino module can be assembled by hand, and
even the pre-assembled Arduino modules cost less than $50
 Cross-platform - The Arduino Software (IDE) runs on Windows, Macintosh OSX, and
Linux operating systems. Most microcontroller systems are limited to Windows.
 Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino Software (IDE) is easy-to-use for
beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well. For teachers,
it's conveniently based on the Processing programming environment, so students learning to
program in that environment will be familiar with how the Arduino IDE works.
 Open source and extensible software - The Arduino software is published as open source
tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be expanded
through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the technical details can make the
leap from Arduino to the AVR C programming language on which it's based. Similarly, you
can add AVR-C code directly into your Arduino programs if you want to.
 Open source and extensible hardware - The plans of the Arduino boards are published
under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can make their own
version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively inexperienced users can
build the bread version of the module in order to understand how it works and save money.

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 MOTOR

The motor or an electrical motor is a device that has brought about one of the biggest
advancements in the fields of engineering and technology ever since the invention of
electricity. A motor is nothing but an electro-mechanical device that converts electrical
energy to mechanical energy. Its because of motors, life is what it is today in the 21st century.
Without motor we had still been living in Sir Thomas Edison’s Era where the only purpose of
electricity would have been to glow bulbs.

In simple words we can say a device that produces rotational force is a motor. The very basic
principal of functioning of an electrical motor lies on the fact that force is experienced in the
direction perpendicular to magnetic field and the current, when field and current are made to
interact with each other.

Fig-10: motor

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 RELAY CIRCUIT TO CONTROL THE MOTOR

A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to mechanically

operate a switch, but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-state relays.
Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a separate low-power signal, or
where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were used in long
distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated the signal coming in from one circuit
and re-transmitted it on another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges
and early computers to perform logical operations.

A type of relay that can handle the high power required to directly control an electric motor
or other loads is called a contactor. Solid-state relays control power circuits with no moving
parts, instead using a semiconductor device to perform switching. Relays with calibrated
operating characteristics and sometimes multiple operating coils are used to protect electrical
circuits from overload or faults; in modern electric power systems these functions are
performed by digital instruments still called "protective relays".

Magnetic latching relays require one pulse of coil power to move their contacts in one
direction, and another, redirected pulse to move them back. Repeated pulses from the same
input have no effect. Magnetic latching relays are useful in applications where interrupted
power should not be able to transition the contacts.

Magnetic latching relays can have either single or dual coils. On a single coil device, the
relay will operate in one direction when power is applied with one polarity, and will reset
when the polarity is reversed. On a dual coil device, when polarized voltage is applied to the
reset coil the contacts will transition. AC controlled magnetic latch relays have single coils
that employ steering diodes to differentiate between operate and reset commands.

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Fig-11 : relay circuit to control the motor

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 STRUCTURE OF GSM MODULE

At present the GSM module is used for Remote Control activities such as gate control,
temperature control etc. GSM/GPRS module consists of a GSM/GPRS modem assembled
together with power supply circuit and communication interfaces (like RS-232, USB) for
computer. The MODEM is the soul of such modules. They generate, transmit or decode data
from a cellular network, for establishing communication between the cellular network and the
computer. These are manufactured for specific cellular network (GSM/UMTS/CDMA) or
specific cellular data standard (GSM/UMTS/GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA) or technology
(GPS/SIM). They use serial communication to interface with the user and need Hayes
compatible AT (Attention) commands for communication with the computer (any
microprocessor or microcontroller system).
An RS-232 port was once a standard feature of a personal computer for connections to
modems, printers, mice, data storage, un-interruptible power supplies, and other peripheral
devices. However, the limited transmission speed, relatively large voltage swing, and large
standard connectors motivated development of the universal serial bus which has displaced
RS-232 from most of its peripheral interface roles. Many modern personal computers have no
RS-232 ports and must use an external converter to connect to older peripherals. Some RS-
232 devices are still found especially in industrial machines or scientific instruments.

Fig. 12 GSM Module Structure

23
The GSM shield that has been used with Arduino Mega is as shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 13 GSM Shield

24
 Liquid Crystal Display
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated
optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do
not emit light directly, instead using a backlight or reflector to produce images in color
or monochrome. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose
computer display) or fixed images with low information content, which can be displayed or
hidden, such as preset words, digits, and 7-segment displays, as in a digital clock. They use
the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made up of a large number of
small pixels, while other displays have larger elements.
LCDs are used in a wide range of applications including computer
monitors, televisions, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and indoor and outdoor
signage. Small LCD screens are common in portable consumer devices such as digital
cameras, watches, calculators, and mobile telephones, including smart phones. LCD screens
are also used on consumer electronics products such as DVD players, video game devices
and clocks. LCD screens have replaced heavy, bulky cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in
nearly all applications. LCD screens are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT
and plasma displays, with LCD screens available in sizes ranging from tiny digital watches to
huge, big-screen television sets.
Liquid Crystal Display are available in several sizes 8x1, 8x2, 10x2, 16x1, 16x2,
16x4, 20x2, 20x4 ,24x2, 30x2, 32x2, 40x2 etc. Several transnational corporations like Philips,
Hitachi, Panasonic, etc have built their own special, reasonably priced LCDs to be employed
in their product. All the LCDs perform constant functions like displaying characters,
numbers, special characters, ASCII characters, etc. Their programming is same and they all
have the same fourteen pins (0-13) and the alphanumeric display has usually sixteen pins (0
to 15). All LCDs have following pins.
 Eight (8) data pins
 VCC (connected to 5V)
 GND
 RS (Register select)
 RW (read - write)
 EN (Enable)
 V0 (Set alphanumeric display contrast)

25
8-Data pins carries 8-bit command or data to be displayed from an external unit such as a
microcontroller.
In this project, JHD 1602A Liquid Crystal Display has been used. This display
consists of 16 columns and 2 rows. The library that is used is <liquidcrystal.h>.

Fig. 14 LCD

The characters displayed usually on LCD screen are in 5x8 or 5x7 matrix, where 5
represents the number of columns and 7 represents the number of rows. The maximum size of
the matrix is 5x8. You cannot display characters greater then 5x8 dimension matrix on the
LCD. To display characters greater than this dimension, graphical LCDs are used.

26
 SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR

Soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content in the soil. Since, the
direct gravimetric measurement of free soil moisture requires removing, drying, and
weighting of a sample, soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content indirectly
by using some other property of the soil, such as electrical resistance, dielectric constant, or
interaction with neutrons, as a proxy for the moisture content. The relation between the
measured property and soil moisture must be calibrated and may vary depending on
environmental factors such as soil type, temperature, or electric conductivity.
Reflected microwave radiation is affected by the soil moisture and is used for remote
sensing in hydrology and agriculture. Portable probe instruments can be used by farmers or
gardeners.

Soil moisture sensor detects the presence of liquid or moisture between two wire leads
and gives active high output. The exposed wire is porous; therefore it allows transmission of
water vapors into the sensor. These exposed areas are engineered very thin. Therefore the
sensor responds very rapidly to the changes in the applied moisture, both when being dried
(on process start-up) and when called into action if there is moisture ingress into a process.

These types of sensors are mainly used for,

 Interfacing with Microcontroller to detect liquid levels.
 Moisture detection for automatic watering of plants.
 Liquid level detection by putting multiple probes at each liquid level.

Fig. 15 Moisture Sensor

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Agriculture

Measuring soil moisture is important for agricultural applications to help farmers manage
their irrigation systems more efficiently. Knowing the exact soil moisture conditions on their
fields, not only are farmers able to generally use less water to grow a crop, they are also able
to increase yields and the quality of the crop by improved management of soil moisture
during critical plant growth stages.

Landscape irrigation

In urban and suburban areas, landscapes and residential lawns are using soil moisture sensors
to interface with an irrigation controller. Connecting a soil moisture sensor to a simple
irrigation clock will convert it into a "smart" irrigation controller that prevents irrigation
cycles when the soil is already wet, e.g. following a recent rainfall event. Golf courses are
using soil moisture sensors to increase the efficiency of their irrigation systems to prevent
over-watering and leaching of fertilizers and other chemicals into the ground.

Research

Soil moisture sensors are used in numerous research applications, e.g. in agricultural science
and horticulture including irrigation planning, climate research, or environmental science
including solute transport studies and as auxiliary sensors for soil respiration measurements.

Simple sensors for gardeners

Relatively cheap and simple devices that do not require a power source are available for
checking whether plants have sufficient moisture to thrive. After inserting a probe into the
soil for approximately 60 seconds, a meter indicates if the soil is too dry, moist or wet for
plants.

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 TEMPERATURE SENSOR

Another important feature of this circuit is induction of Precision Centigrade Temperature

Sensors. The LM35 is an integrated circuit sensor that can be used to measure temperature
with an electrical output proportional to the temperature (in °C). With an LM35, temperature
can be measured more accurately than by using a thermostat. The sensor circuitry is sealed
and not subjected to oxidation. The LM35 generates a higher output voltage than
thermocouples and do not require the output voltage amplifier.

.
Fig. 16 Temperature Sensor

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 WATER LEVEL INDICATOR

The model consists of a series of tanks arranged one below the other. The volume of the
tanks is in descending order. Water flows from the top tank through outlets at the bottom.
Three tanks or tropic levels chosen for the model is the optimum number required to analyze
the effect of top down and bottom up controls. Each tank has two outlets, outlet A and outlet
B. Each outlet has the water flow through it regulated by means of valves. These valves are
controlled by floats in the tanks. The system uses microcontroller to automate the process of
water pumping in an over-head tank storage system and has the ability to detect the level of
water in a tank. It switches on/off the pump according to the level of water in the tank and
display the status on an LCD screen.

Fig. 17 Water Level Indicator

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 MERITS OF AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION

 Automating the irrigation process essentially removes manual intervention in closing and
opening of valves, turning on/off the pump etc., particularly in intensive irrigation
practices.
 The process can be remotely completed at night, thereby employing day time for other
agricultural activities.
 Precise control over the process through sensors on field aids in optimizing yield and
energy, further maintaining the health of the soil.

WATER TIMING
Times and intervals for watering differ according to the type of plant. The most important
factor to remember is the depth of the root zone and soil composition. The deeper the roots
and the finer the soil, the longer the watering time must be, then the frequency of watering
will be reduced.

AUTO CUT OFF FEATURE

Arduino takes in the sensor data and converts it into values from 0 to 1024 using its A/D
Converter. Then in order to have a smooth process we have scaled the data further into values
from 0 to 50. After reading the sensor data, it is compared with the set point (can be changed
by the user). If it is higher than the set point, it signifies that soil is dry and it needs irrigation.
Hence, Arduino opens the solenoid valve so that water can flow in and vice versa. For
example, if set point is 40 and current sensor value is less than that i.e. the pump is OFF.
Then as sensor value crosses set point then pump starts and it remains ON until sensor value
drops to a predefined value let’s say 35. Thus, until sensor value reaches 35 the pump will
remain ON and after that it will turn OFF and remains OFF until it again crosses set point.
Whenever there is change of state of solenoid valve i.e. ON to OFF or from OFF to ON, user
will be notified about it. Solenoid valve is triggered ON and OFF using a Relay Board
Module.

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 OUTCOME AND DISCUSSION

In the proposed solution of designing an automated water irrigation system, the goal was
successfully achieved. The soil moisture sensors were tested at different moisture levels and
different fields. Result shows that this design is very useful for irrigating the field with
greater efficiency. Further, this system is low cost and designed to improve irrigation
efficiencies and reduce resource wastages. In addition to this, the project checks the
electricity status at the field and keeps the farmer informed. Also, if there is change in state of
electricity i.e. if electricity is ‘available’ from the state of being ‘not available’, automatically
a SMS is sent to inform the farmer. The project also aims at the problem of water
management besides prevention of over-irrigation and under-irrigation. Thus, this can be
applied extensively. The designed system is inexpensive and also be used in personal gardens
as well.
We could successfully implement our design completing all its objectives. The flow
of water in the two grids was efficaciously controlled by controlling the opening and the
closing of two solenoid valves. The developed system is easy to operate and its feedback
makes its remote usage reliable.

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 CONCLUSION

Irrigation has been the backbone of human civilization since man has started agriculture. As
the generation evolved, man developed many methods of irrigation to supply water to the
land. In the present scenario, the conservation of water is of high importance. The aim of
present work is to save the natural resources available for human kind. By continuously
monitoring the status of the soil, we can control the flow of water and hence reduce its
wastage. By knowing the status of moisture and temperature through GSM with the use of
moisture and temperature sensors, water flow can be controlled by just sending a message
from the mobile. Since, the system is automatic they do not require continuous monitoring by
farmer. Hence, it reduces man power too.
As desired, any valve can be controlled along with the pump which increases the
efficiency of water usage. The water is stored in tanks at the irrigation lands. One can get the
status of the water level, temperature sensor and moisture content in soil through SMS
generated by microcontroller present at the irrigation land. The system has an incorporated
Bluetooth for remote monitoring which reduces the problem of range with GSM network and
saves SMS cost for the farmer. The smoke sensors can be used to send emergency
information to user in case of fire in field or burning of motor. The design is low power, low
cost, small size, robust and highly versatile. Thus, this system avoids over irrigation, under
irrigation, top soil erosion and reduces the wastage of water. The main advantage is that the
system’s action can be changed according to the situation (crops, weather conditions, soil
etc.). By implementing this system, agricultural, horticultural lands, parks, gardens, golf
courses can be irrigated. Thus, this system is cheaper and efficient when compared to other
type of automation system. In large scale applications, high sensitivity sensors can be
implemented for large areas of agricultural lands. A stand by battery or solar cells can be
implemented which comes into use in case of power cuts. A secondary pump can be used in
case of failure of the pump.

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 FUTURE SCOPE

With this present set up, addition of temperature, smoke, and wind sensors can be done to
increase the number of parameters for improving the controller decision. However, that will
lead to an intricate algorithm and will also increase the cost of system. So, depending upon
the requirement, two solutions can be developed – Low Cost - Less Features, and High Cost -
More Features.

1. Low Cost Solution

It will have fewer features such as there might not be an auto cut off system. Sensors will be
less which will be sufficient only to intimate the wetness of soil at random places. On the
basis of farmer’s knowledge about agricultural practices, he will have to feed pre-set time for
irrigation depending upon the type of crops.

2. High Cost Solution

High cost system can be used for irrigation in fields where the field is large and the farmer is
willing to invest more in high tech solution. It will have more number of sensors which can
check the temperature and also the health of the plant. Large number of sensors will include
the auto cut off feature. Solar cells to power the system, secondary pump, smoke, and water
level sensors will also be part of the system making the system more robust. A live
monitoring system can be made through which farmers can have an exact picture of what is
going on in the farm such as whether all the pipe lines are delivering water or not and also
about appropriate working of other field equipment such as pump, solenoid valves, water
level in tank.

34
 REFERENCES

[1]. Kay, M., “Smallholder irrigation technology: Prospects for sub-Saharan Africa”
International Program for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage, FAO, Rome,
2001, pp. 1–25.
[2]. N. Shah and I. Das, “Precision Irrigation Sensor Network Based Irrigation”, a book on
Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management, IIT Bombay,
India, pp. 217–232, April 2008
[3]. Fangmeier, D. D., Garrot, D. J.,Mancino, C.F and Husman, S. H., “Automated irrigation
systems using plant and soil sensors”, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, ASAE
Publication, 1990, pp. 533-537.
[4]. Benzekri, A., Meghriche, K., and Refoufi, L., PC-based automation of a multi-mode
control for an irrigation system Proceedings of International symposium on industrial
embedded systems, Lisbon, July 2007, pp. 310-315.

35
 APPENDIX

PROGRAM

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(7,8,9,10,11,12);
int sensepin = A0;
int timesTosend = 1;
int count1=0;
int count2=0;
int count=0;
void setup() {
// Initialize the IO and ISR
pinMode(4,OUTPUT); //MOTOR
digitalWrite(4,LOW);
analogReference(DEFAULT);
lcd.begin(16,2);
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print("Smart Field");
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("AT+CMGF=1"); //set serial to text mode
delay(200);
delay(500);
}

void loop() {
while(analogRead(sensepin)<500)
{
digitalWrite(4,LOW); //MOTOR OFF
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("Motor Off");
count1=0;
delay(2000);
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("AT+CMGF=1");
delay(200);
delay(500);
while(count<timesTosend){
delay(1500);
Serial.print("AT+CMGS=\"");
Serial.println("\"");
while(Serial.read()!='>');
{
Serial.println("motor pump is off");
delay(1000);
Serial.write(0x1A);

36
 Serial.write(0x0D); //return in hex char
Serial.write(0x0A);
delay(5000);
}
count++;
}
}
while(analogRead(sensepin)>=500) //no moisture
{
count=0;
digitalWrite(4,HIGH);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("Motor on");
delay(2000);
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("AT+CMGF=1");
delay(200);
delay(500);

while(count1<timesTosend){
delay(1500);
Serial.print("AT+CMGS=\"");
Serial.print("8512029175");
Serial.println("\"");
while(Serial.read()!='>');
{
Serial.println("Motor on");
delay(1000);

Serial.write(0x1A);
Serial.write(0x0D);
Serial.write(0x0A);

delay(5000);
}
count1++;
}
}
}

37