Predictive intelligent irrigation system based on soil moisture and meteorological information with internet of things (IOT) technology

Abstract

This invention is a smart system that operates IoT and has three main departments to prevent water loss and improve the water consumption amount in the agriculture field and any other area that consumes heavy sources of water. The method predicts the weather conditions and all the possible occurs such as strong winds, rain, daily or hourly tempreture, etc with related rain detection, wind speed sensor, and tempreture sensor. The intelligent irrigation structure comprises three main sections which are the meteorological station to measure the current weather, the soil moisture measurement section setting minimum and maximum humidity levels based on the type of crop to improve product quality and conserve water, and the central controller part that indicates services to the owners of the farm. This invention operates automatically and allows farm owners to monitor their farm and sensor information through SMS and a mobile app.

Description

Predictive Intelligent Irrigation System Based on Soil Moisture and Meteorological Information with Internet of Things (IoT) Technology

[0001] The smart system is a cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) solution that has been specifically developed to tackle water loss and enhance water consumption efficiency in agricultural and other water-intensive environments. Consisting of three essential components, the system is capable of accurately predicting weather patterns such as strong winds, rainfall, and fluctuations in temperature on a daily or even hourly basis. This is made possible through the integration of advanced rain detection, wind speed, and temperature sensors.

[0002] The intelligent irrigation system encompasses a meteorological station that continuously monitors existing weather conditions, a segment dedicated to measuring soil moisture levels to ascertain the optimal humidity levels based on the specific crop variety and a central controller that provides essential services to farm owners. Operating autonomously, this groundbreaking innovation empowers farm owners to remotely oversee and administer their farms, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and resource management.

[0003] G16Y 10 / 35 – H04L – A01G

[0004] N202241005055

[0005] AN IOT BASED AUTOMATED DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM BY PREDICTING WEATHER CONDITION AND WATER REQUIREMENT IN THE FIELD OPERATOR

[0006] Drip irrigation is the most familiar and effective water management scheme in agricultural sector and helps the farmer in huge yield. Supplying high amount and low amount of water to the farm based on the two extreme weather conditions like summer and winter is the major concern for the farmers. Another critical situation arises when the water is not provided to the farm according to the present weather condition and also human effort availability should be high at all time. An IoT based smart controlling application can be adopted in the field to control the water flow remotely. The sensors are installed onto the field and its numbers depends on the total farm area coverage. These sensors are used to predict the current weather condition in the field and react accordingly to initiate the water flow automatically without any human intervention. The user will be installed with mobile application to monitor and control the water flow in the field. The farmer able to monitor the certain factors like temperature, humidity, water requirement in the field with the help of using this application from their remote location itself. As an added flavor to the existing system, it estimates the final total yield as per the current plant growth. By implementing the IoT enabled water management sensors in the field, the farmers are able to control and monitor the farm’s water flow and requirement based on the current weather condition with a minimal human effort.

[0007] The mentioned system is very similar to our claimed patent but it has a big difference which is its method of irrigation because it operates the drip plant watering method while our claimed invention does not limit its functionalities to any irritation method.

[0008] IN202011043377

[0009] A NOVEL IOT BASED IRRIGATION CONTROL SYSTEM WITH WEATHER MONITORING

[0010] Disclosed is a novel IoT based irrigation control system with weather monitoring which consists of a plurality of sensors (101), a signal conditioning (102), a main processing board (103), an IoT cloud (104), an end user device (105), a relay (106) and a motor (107). The present invention uses soil moisture sensor data along with the humidity sensor data decides the amount of water required by the soil and time period for which motor remains on. The present invention facilitates to access weather related parameters through IoT cloud anytime using computing device and relay operates the motor automatically to switch on / off the water pump for irrigation.

[0011] The mentioned invention has the same goals and close method as ours but its sensors and components are a bit different than us because our claimed system utilizes rainfall and hourly tempreture while the mentioned patent did not mention them, and also its central controller do not send the report information via SMS to the owners.

[0012] IN202111045067

[0013] SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IOT (INTERNET OF THINGS) BASED IRRIGATION SYSTEM FOR WATER CONSERVATION AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

[0014] The present invention relates to the system and method for IoT based irrigation system for water conservation and agricultural development. The said system comprises a central sever which gather the various information of agricultural field also it gathers weather information from internet and the needs and requirement for the particular growth of crops, The said system further comprises a plurality of sensors coupled to central server adapted for providing real time data values of various parameters of agricultural field. The said system further comprises a output unit for providing the necessary requirement depending upon the information processed by the central server, and a client interface for the monitoring and controlling the output unit.

[0015] The said invention can use sensors to measure some factors like humidity and tempreture, on the other hand, our claimed system also measures and tracks the possibility of rain and winds, also, the mentioned method does not send the regular data to the farm owners remotely to their cellphones.

[0016] United States Patent Application 20220197274

[0017] SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTIVE IRRIGATION SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

[0018] A predictive maintenance system includes an irrigation system including a plurality of components and configured to irrigate a farming area. The predictive maintenance system includes a sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of a condition of at least one component of the plurality of components of the irrigation system based on network power quality, a processor, and a memory. The sensor is disposed at a center pivot of the irrigation system or at a main disconnect of a utility. The memory includes instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the predictive maintenance system to receive the sensed signal, determine changes in the condition of the at least one component, and predict an unexpected downtime of the at least one component based on predetermined data.

[0019] The mentioned method proposes a generality of irrigation systems and does not focus on one of them but they predict the weather conditions like our claimed patent, and it has to be mentioned that there is no specific sensor mentioned in the description rather than humidity and tempreture while we pointed to rain and winds too. The description focuses more on the data processing section which in our case comprises a control center and sends the information via SMS to the people in charge.

[0020] CN111201993A

[0021] Intelligent irrigation system based on Internet of things

[0022] The utility model provides a pair of intelligence irrigation system based on thing networking, humidity transducer detect soil moisture, and temperature sensor detects ambient temperature, and weather information acquirer acquires future weather information, and the high in the clouds server controls irrigation assembly work according to the parameter that humidity transducer, temperature sensor detected and the weather information that weather information acquirer acquireed to, portable electronic equipment passes through the high in the clouds server and controls irrigation assembly work. According to the scheme, automatic operation can be achieved, the humidity parameter of soil, the temperature parameter of the environment and weather information can be collected, the cloud server controls irrigation components to work according to relevant information, labor intensity of operators is reduced, irrigation opportunity is facilitated to be mastered, and performance of an intelligent irrigation system based on the Internet of things is optimized.

[0023] The said system operates its information in the cloud server but we embedded a central controller to monitor the data and send it to the farm owners as SMS, also the patent does not predict rainfall or strong winds.

[0024] An intelligent predictive irrigation system uses soil moisture information, current weather conditions, and meteorological forecasts to determine the appropriate irrigation timing. It includes a weather station that monitors temperature, wind speed, and rainfall, with sensors such as DS18B20 for temperature, SN-WSR100-02 for wind speed, and YL-83 for rain detection. The system also utilizes rain and wind sensors to prevent irrigation during rain or strong winds, improving water conservation and preventing damage to crops. Additionally, it avoids irrigation during hot hours by using temperature sensor data to minimize water loss.

[0025] Water, along with earth, air, and fire, is one of the four elements that cannot imagine the continuation of life on Earth without water. With population growth, the need for food resources and industry development increases. This need increases water consumption, especially in agriculture and industry. Even though the world is in a water-scarce condition, the water consumption in countries exceeds the standards. The basic approach in dealing with the water crisis is saving its consumption, a solution that has received less attention. According to statistics, water consumption in some countries is equal to 96 billion cubic meters, which in comparison with 120 billion cubic meters of renewable water, indicates that 80% of the country's water resources are used. The agricultural sector is the major water consumer in the countries, and the main reason for this is the use of traditional (submerged) irrigation methods, in which the amount of water loss in this method is very high and the efficiency is very low. Drip and flood irrigation methods were presented to improve the efficiency of traditional irrigation and were able to reduce the amount of water used in the agricultural sector, but these methods also have their problems.

[0026] In these methods, determining the irrigation time is done based on visual observations of the farm's condition, or at a specific time, when irrigation is done earlier than possible, or vice versa. To solve this problem, you can use sensors to determine the soil moisture level and determine the exact time of irrigation by considering the type of plant and its resistance to soil dryness.Solution of Problem

[0027] The intelligent predictive system for determining the irrigation time consists of three main parts:

[0028] 1- Soil moisture measurement section

[0029] 2- The section of the farm meteorological station to measure the weather conditions of the farm.

[0030] 3- Central controller section (control center)

[0031] In this system, sections 1 and 2 are responsible for collecting information about the state of the farm, and section 3 integrates the information received from those sections along with the information received from the meteorological forecasting center to Make the final decision about starting irrigation. Each section is explained in full detail in the following.

[0032] The moisture measurement section measures the soil moisture in specific time intervals and if the moisture level is lower than the acceptable value, the central controller is notified.

[0033] In the provided predictive intelligent system, the start of irrigation will not be only by reducing the humidity level to the minimum amount. The control center receives information on air temperature, wind speed, and rainfall conditions from the meteorological station installed on the farm, and based on them, it checks the conditions for starting irrigation. If one of the following conditions exists, it will not be possible to start irrigation due to low irrigation efficiency:

[0034] 1) The air temperature is very high because evaporation increases.

[0035] 2) The wind speed in the field is fast. In this case, water does not spread properly in the field. On the other hand, due to the loosening of plant roots due to irrigation, there is a possibility of damaging them due to strong winds.

[0036] 3) If it is rained, because rainfall can increase the soil moisture level to the required amount, you should wait until the end of the rainfall and then check the moisture level again.

[0037] It is worth mentioning that if any of the above occurs during irrigation, irrigation will be stopped. If the weather conditions of the field are favorable for irrigation, irrigation will not start again. The following things may happen after irrigation, which will cause the irrigation to not have proper productivity:

[0038] 1) If it rains in a short time after irrigation. In this case, the water used in irrigation has been wasted.

[0039] 2) If we have a strong wind after watering, there is a possibility of damaging young trees and tall crops due to the loosening of their roots in the soil.

[0040] To overcome these problems, if the current weather conditions on the farm are suitable, the control center will receive the weather forecast information from the relevant authorities (meteorological organization website) and make a decision based on them. If the conditions in the next hours are suitable for irrigation (that is, there is no rain or strong wind), irrigation will start and continue until the soil moisture reaches the required amount. To start irrigation, the control center will turn on the solenoid valves (or pumps) associated with irrigation. During irrigation, the moisture measurement section continuously measures the soil moisture. As mentioned, if the weather conditions become unfavorable during irrigation based on the information of the meteorological station installed in the field, the irrigation will be stopped and after the weather conditions become favorable, the process of deciding on the start of irrigation will be repeated. All decisions and functions in the presented system will be automatic and without human intervention.Advantage Effects of the Invention

[0041] 1) In addition to the use of humidity sensors, this invention prevents irrigation in situations where there is a possibility of rain or wind in the coming hours, taking into account the current weather condition of the farm and the weather forecast. This problem improves the quality of irrigation and prevents damage to plants.

[0042] 2) There is no need for human intervention to start and finish irrigation and the system works fully automatically.

[0043] 3) The owner of the farm can see the status of the farm (information on all the sensors installed in the farm) on mobile phones in the form of SMS and a specially designed application.

[0044] 4) Determining the minimum and maximum humidity level in the proposed system is based on the type of product, which helps to improve product quality and save water consumption.

[0045] 5) Using Internet of Things technology on existing networks for communication between different components of the system.

[0046] Shows the soil moisture measurement section.

[0047] Presents a map of the meteorological station installed in the field.

[0048] Demonstrates the control center.

[0049] Shows the soil moisture measurement segment consists of a moisture sensor, a processor, and a wireless transmitter-receiver. The humidity sensor is selected from the MSE020SMS model. The processor is STM32F101C8T6, which belongs to the ARM Cortex M3 family. Also, for wireless communication between this part and the central controller, we use WiFi technology, which is cheap and does not cost to send data, and the ESP8266 module is used for this purpose. The amount of soil moisture will be measured in certain time intervals and will be sent to the control center by the wireless transmitter. The wireless system used for communication between the humidity sensors and the central controller is based on WiFi technology. Also, since wiring is not possible in the fields, we use cheap and small solar panels to provide energy for the moisture measurement part.

[0050] Displays the map of the meteorological station installed in the field. This station includes three sensors for measuring field temperature (Temperature sensor) type DS18B20, wind speed (Anemometer) type SN-WSR100-02, and rain detector (Rain detector) type YL-83. The information on these sensors will be analyzed by the STM32F101C8T6 processor and will be sent to the control center if needed. If the weather station is near the control center, their communication can be wired, otherwise, it will be sent via WiFi via the ESP8266 module.

[0051] Shows the control center including an STM32F101C8T6 processor, ESP8266 type WiFi transmitter-receiver module, and a SIM800C type GSM module. The task of the WiFi module is to communicate and exchange data with the humidity sensor and weather station parts. The GSM module is also intended to communicate the control center with the outside of the farm. Communication with the outside of the farm is done for two purposes: 1) receiving weather forecast information and 2) sending the weather and humidity information of the farm to the owner of the farm. Also, the control center is connected with the electric valves or the corresponding relays of the water pumps to turn them on to start irrigation and turn them off when needed.Examples

[0052] The number of moisture sensors used depends on the quality of the soil and the sun exposure of the farm surface. If the humidity of the entire field decreases or increases almost uniformly, using one humidity sensor is enough, otherwise, a separate sensor should be used for each part of the field. In this case, a different pump will be needed for each part of the farm. The humidity sensor will be placed at a suitable depth and will be connected to the processor of the humidity measurement section with a wire connection.

[0053] The weather station should be installed in a place where it can report the general condition of the entire farm, so avoid installing it in the shade, next to walls or possible buildings, and even trees, so that the temperature measurements, wind speed, and rainfall detection do not encounter an error.

[0054] Since one of the functions of the control center is to turn on and off the water pumps, it should be installed near the water pumps. The control center is designed in such a way that it can support any number of humidity sensors and corresponding water pumps. Also, the transmitters and receivers in this system are programmed in such a way that if the owner of the farm requests to receive information about the farm, they will provide the required information.

[0055] This invention can be used in agricultural fields, especially in the large fields of agricultural and industrial companies, where it is not possible to analyze the state of the field by individuals, along with rain, drip, and subsurface irrigation. This system can also be used to irrigate urban green spaces.

Claims

An intelligent predictive irrigation system based on the soil moisture information, the current weather condition, and meteorological forecast information of the farm to determine the appropriate time of irrigation to prevent water consumption.According to claim 1, the main task of the weather station is to monitor the temperature, wind speed, and rainfall in the field and report it to the control center comprising these elements:DS18B20 temperature sensorSN-WSR100-02 wind speed sensorYL-83 rain detection sensorSTM32F101C8T6 ARM Cortex M3 processorWi-Fi module From ESP8266 model with antennaAccording to claim 2, the system uses the information of the rain sensor installed in the field and forecasts the weather (meteorology) to prevent irrigation before or during rain.According to claim 2, the patent prevents irrigation before and during strong winds by using the information of the wind intensity measurement sensor installed in the field and forecasting the weather conditions (meteorology).According to claim 4, measuring the winds also improves the quality of irrigation and avoids damage to young trees or tall crops.According to claim 2, the system avoids irrigation during the hot hours of the day by using information from the temperature sensor of the weather station installed in the field.

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