A solar-powered, Wi-Fi re-programmable precision irrigation controller

Abstract

As the Tanzania population grows, scarcity of resources like water and electricity will pose a great risk to horticultural crop production and society activities. Precision irrigation poses a great opportunity to save water and energy in agriculture. The current off-the-shelf machines used to control water are incompatible to Tanzanian conditions, very expensive, delicate, or don't have enough features. This study proposed a reprogrammable control system prototype design and implementation that can be used for African countries, particularly in Tanzania. The proposed integrated controller is a solar-powered system that uses low cost electronic devices to automate drip irrigation and to determine when to irrigate and how much to irrigate. The controller has been tested under African farms and achieved a high level of reliability and maintainability. The controller is a high tech tool that can be reprogrammed or updated wirelessly using a laptop and the data can be downloaded using any android based smartphone. The wireless technology incorporated can be used to transfer instant data of rainfall and soil moisture content. The system automates data cleaning while collecting instant information of the soil moisture, temperature, humidity and rainfall. It can store data at least for seven days.