This project aims to use Arduino to help farmers monitor and water their farms. The system is designed to collect data about temperature, sunlight and soil moisture to accurately estimate the amount of water needed to water the plants as well as the time duration to do so. We display all this information in the form of an intuitive dashboard to the user which can be accessed anywhere anytime. Through this project we attempt to save time, money and effort for the farmers.

1. Automated Irrigation
-Joe Dara, Abdulaziz and Shilpa

2. American Farms
✘ Huge in size (around 441 acres)
✘ Multiple types of crops

3. Activities of a farmer
✘ Take the cattle out for grazing and milk them.
✘ Meet other farmers to coordinate work.
✘ Plan and buy equipment for the farm.
✘ Water the farm, apply fertilizer and insecticides.

4. Current problems with irrigation ?!
✘ Daily inspection.
✘ Turn on the motors manually.
✘ Hire labor

5. Can we ?
✘ Can we automate daily inspection?
✘ Can we automate motor state?
✘ Can we cut down on time and costs?

6. Proposed Solution - Automated Sprinkler

10. Physical Prototype

11. Implementation

12. Components Required
Redboard
Handles the connections and
functioning of the sensors, motor
and wifi unit.
Temperature sensor
We have customizable
temperature intervals for
different crops
Light Sensor
We try to detect daylight and
water the crop accordingly.
Soil Moisture Sensor
Soil moisture is an important
component in our decision
making.
Servo
This is the motor controlled by
arduino which water the farm.
Wifi Shield
To upload the data about the
farms to the cloud.

13. The circuit

14. Arduino Wireframe

15. Arduino Prototype Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gty3o4KlQjw

16. void setup() {
myservo.attach(8); // attach the servo on pin 8 to the servo object
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); //the LED light is specified as output
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(inputPin1, INPUT); // make button 1 an input
pinMode(inputPin2, INPUT); // make button 2 an input
}
Code Breakdown - Setup

17. void loop() {
voltage = getVoltage(temperaturePin);
degreesC = (voltage - 0.5) * 100.0;
degreesF = degreesC * (9.0/5.0) + 32.0; // this is the conversion of temp
currentTime = millis();
lightLevel = analogRead(lightPin); //Read the lightlevel
lightLevel = map(lightLevel, 0, 900, 100, 255); //adjust the value 0 to 900 to
span 100 to 255
lightLevel = constrain(lightLevel, 100, 255); //make sure the value is
between 100 and 255
}
Code Breakdown - Reading the values

18. if (digitalRead(inputPin1) == LOW) {
motorState = true;
runMotor();
} else if (digitalRead(inputPin1) == HIGH) {
if(degreesF >= 30 && lightLevel >= 100 && soilMoisture <=20) {
if(currentTime - previousTime > interval) {
motorState = true;
runMotor();
}
}
}
if (digitalRead(inputPin2) == LOW) { motorState = false; }
Code Breakdown - Motor run logic

19. Data Visualization

20. Data Visualization

21. User Evaluation
Let’s hear what the users say.

22. Our process is easy
Explain the
idea
Perform
some tasks
Open-ended
questions
- Concept
- Physical Model
- User Interface
- Switch the system on
- Check the status of your farm
- Turn the motor on
- Do you think the sensors used
are enough?
- Check the status of their farm
- What is missing in the process?
We tested our prototype with three users
One female and two male, graduate students, 25 - 29

23. Concept
All of the participants
confirmed that this kind of
device would save time and
effort on farmers.
General feedback
Prototype
The prototype shows the
main functionalities of such
a system and meets the
basic requirements that a
regular farmer would need
to control and monitor
his/her farm.

24. Limitations
#1: More sensors
Two out of three users wanted to have more sensors to the system to
watch the water level on the tanks. The other user wanted a sensor that
can detect storms and heavy rain so she can switch the system off.
Recommendation:
- Add a sensor that measures the water tanks level and updates the
user with the current status of the tank.
- Either use a sensor that could detect heavy winds or just relay on the
weather APIs to connect the system with real time weather reports

25. Limitations
#2: Readings and wording
The majority of our users didn’t understand the readings sensors for
example, the light sensor 55 lux. Few words were not clear for our users
such as “Motor on”.
Recommendation:
- Describe the sensors’ readings with human friendly language such as
“Your farm needs more sunlight” instead of having values only
- “Motor on” can be change to a more understandable phrase such as
“Watering now”

26. Limitations
#3: More integrations
One user wanted to get some information about other local farms and how
they monitor their farm. Another user wanted to get some suggestions from
individuals or local companies which can help in harvesting crops.
Recommendation:
- Use online resources to get information about other local farms which
would help other farmers to maintain their crops by learning other
ways and strategies to monitor their farms.
- When it close to harvest, the system should notify the users to start
looking up people or companies that he can pay to help with harvesting

27. User Comments
Trust
P1 - “I would not trust the system
to do everything by its own. I
would have regular checks a day.”
P2 - “I would like to have a live
view camera for each farm so I
can check what is happening
now.”
Farm Status
P3 - “The status message does
not stand out because the middle
graphics takes all the attention.”
Setup Page
P3 - “I don’t see the setup screen,
should I do the initial setting or
the system does it for me?”
Current Time
P1 - ‘’Show me the real time clock on
the interface so I don’t have to check
my watch or phone everytime I need
to know the time”’
Wires Vs. Wireless
P2 - “In case of using wires, these
wires might get disconnected if a
rat, for example, bit them.”
Location
P2 - ”How would I adjust the
location of the sensors because
different locations give different
readings?”

28. Future Work
● Learn more about farming practices from experts and
explore other ways to improve our system.
● Use more sensors to detect severe weather conditions
and empower users with more information about their
farm status.
● Use internet connection to access online services such as
weather data and cloud storage which allows users to get
their farm information from anywhere and at anytime.

29. THANKS!
Any questions?