An Efficient Method of Estimating and Analysing Soil Moisture Using IOT

Abstract

The current state of water content on the earth is decreasing at a rapid rate. Due to this reason, the lands which used to be fertile, moist, and healthy for agriculture purposes and various other forest regions are drying out due to lack of moisture content. Excess water in various regions can be diverted to the lands with low moisture levels and converting them into fertile plain lands. The recent developments in technology, especially in the ‘Internet of things’ sector have provided an efficient way to measure the water content present in the soil by using a soil moisture sensor FC-28. The type of soil and the amount of additional water to be added for increased productivity in agriculture can be estimated by using this soil moisture senso. We will be able to identify the types of plants or crops that can be grown in that particular land depending on the amount of natural moisture present in the land. The growth of plants or crops can also be identified by measuring the moisture content in them and thereby adding the required amount of water. After measuring the water content, the sensor which would be integrated with the internet would give us the appropriate amount of water needed for the healthy growth of the plants. To extract the soil moisture content data, we used the FC-28 soil hygrometer sensor in conjunction with a Microcontroller. This information may be retained for a long time, and the growth cycle of the plants throughout time can be tracked. We used the ESP8266 Wi-Fi sensor module to store the data in the cloud, and we used numerous Matlab algorithms to show the data in the form of bar graphs or any other kind of representation. This will help us to analyze the data appropriately and help the proper utilization of the land.