Enhancing Soil Measurements with a Multi-Depth Sensor for IoT-based Smart Irrigation

Abstract

Smart farming is an emerging and important application of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This paper describes a multi-depth and multi-parameter probe for soil data collection utilized to on-farm research by the SWAMP project. The probe is based on LoRaWAN communication and has sensors for soil moisture, temperature, and electrical conductivity. The network infrastructure to deliver data to a cloud platform is also discussed. The combined solution was deployed in two pilots in Brazil to assess smart irrigation in drip and center pivot systems. The initial data collection shows the effectiveness of the solution, which is suitable to other smart farming processes.