Portable, wireless, and effective internet of things-based sensors for precision agriculture

Profitability in production farming depends on making correct and timely operational decisions based on current conditions and historical data. Precision agriculture is a comprehensive system designed to optimize agricultural production by carefully tailoring soil and crop management to correspond to the unique conditions found in each field while maintaining environmental quality. This research paper details the development of a portable and wireless sensor network system to remotely monitor the environmental parameters in an agriculture field and provide field managers with alerts and information regarding current conditions while saving the data in a database for future reference. The data acquisition unit consisting of sensors and microcontroller captures the environmental parameter data such as temperature, humidity, light intensity, and soil moisture content. By utilizing Internet of Things technology, the information captured by the sensors is uploaded wirelessly to the cloud server and can be viewed by users from anywhere in the world via an Internet-enabled device. The rugged and water-resistant enclosure ensures that the system can be used in outdoor agriculture fields, while a solar power supply eliminates cabling needs and reduces maintenance of sensor nodes. Tests conducted on the system show that it can successfully capture and display environmental parameter data to users.