Wireless Sensor Network Design for Monitoring and Irrigation Control: User-centric Hardware and Software Development

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are increasingly becoming a critical tool for growers and researchers. We describe how the technology has advanced, starting with a commercially available WSN node and pushing the technology to make the data more meaningful, actionable and to add advanced irrigation control functionality. User features such as spatial views, custom charts, real-time data access, remote access, irrigation control, alerts, and plant models help create an advanced WSN system that is user centric. Growers and researchers were involved in the design process by directly communicating with the design engineers, and continuously using and testing new features, resulting in a user-centric design and experience. The results of this research are being rolled into a new line of commercial products and is continuously evolving based on user feedback and interaction.