Jol-Shinchon: Design and Development of a Sensor Based Intelligent Auto Irrigation System

Abstract

Agriculture is the mainstay for Bangladesh and the provision of water is an important factor that determines the output of the agriculture sector. Since natural water availability is prone to many aspects of nature such as rain and capacity of rain-water reservoir, irrigation or alternative supply of water becomes a critical element in agriculture. The existing irrigation mechanisms through the motor-pumps are heavily dependent on fossil fuel regarded as an offender in the carbon footprint debacle. The poor farmers find themselves with insurmountable hurdles as they are constrained by the financial cost on fuel. The profit maximization gets a major setback due to the exorbitant amount of expenditure due to fuel consumption. An innovative approach to do away with such limitation is the utilization of natural resource for irrigation purpose, an intelligent auto irrigation system which is based on the concept of harnessing the power of sun. Through the use of solar panel, sunlight is captured into the photovoltaic cells and transferred to a battery to be charged during the day. All this setting is facilitated by circuits one associated with the solar panel and the other one for detecting the presence of sunlight during the day since the system would not allow any water to flow unless it is the night time. In order to drive the pump into action, two conditions need to be fulfilled one darkness, detected by a photo resistor and the second one is the dryness of soil, to be determined by a moisture sensor, and this setting would be programmed by a platform both hardware and software with Arduino Uno. Although the charging time of the battery by solar panel would be a little lengthy, the long exposure to the sun would provide enough time and charging volume to the battery. The battery would comfortably provide a considerable duration of power to the water pump that can supply sufficient amount of water to agricultural land of any decent size.

Existing System

Solar Based Automatic Irrigation System.

Proposed System

Agriculture sector consumes a huge volume of water in Bangladesh. In the context of the thirst for water and failure to provide efficient irrigation mechanism, the time has come to go through a thorough understanding of the existing system for improving the irrigation approach and then build a robust system that would go a long way to mitigate the sufferings of the farmers who heavily rely on irrigation. So in this paper we propose an automation system consist of Arduino based power system and a solar panel associated circuit system to ease of the irrigation process. Bangladesh, being blessed with the rich fertile soil and the apparent lack of industrialization finds itself under obligation to put its best efforts for having a high yield in crop production. The uneven rain distribution throughout the year, coupled with the high demand of water for many crops during the dry season is a reality we have to deal with. The farmers even the better-off ones - find a larger share of their profits being eaten up by fossil fuel that power up the pumps for irrigation. Apart from the environmental pollution and health impacts, the economic strain caused by the huge amount of money spent on fossil fuel is a serious matter of concern. Although the charging time of the solar panel suggested by our system may seem a little lengthy in modern day standard, by employing larger solar panels and batteries with high wattage along with the powerful pump can ensure a huge yield in crop production under the setting. Apart from the pump, solar panel and battery, the rest of the components are not going to put any stress on even the poorest of farmers and again, the cost is just one-time investment.

Architecture

Flow chart of Proposed System