Cost Effective and Energy Efficient Drip Irrigation System for IoT Enabled Smart Agriculture

The conventional methods of smart farming consume a significant percentage of the resources such as water, electricity, and manpower. This approach demands more time, money, and effort. The state of the art drip irrigation methods make use of the solenoid valve to control the water flow. The problem with such a system is reflected in its power consumption which is a significant factor for large-scale demands. The method proposed in this paper addresses this problem by developing an automated drip irrigation system that replaces components used in conventional methods with its economical counterparts in the market. A system using Node MCU, DC submersible motor, and soil moisture sensor is developed to automate the irrigation process ensuring efficient water and energy consumption. Since the proposed system utilizes economically cheaper components, it provides an upper edge over other systems in terms of expenditure and in turn economically feasible for large-scale demands. A mobile application is also developed to control, monitor, and schedule irrigation processes.