Solar powered wireless multi-sensor device for an irrigation system

Abstract

The paper presents the design and experiments of a multi-sensor device for use in agriculture crop irrigation. The soil and environment parameters are determined by specific sensors under the supervision of a microcontroller and sent through wireless communication to a central unit. The novelty is the assembly of all the sensors on a single structure, together with the wireless communication circuitry to permit the power management of the electronics in order to allow an autonomous supplying from a solar cell in parallel with a Li-Ion accumulator. The design of the power source was done to assure a 3.3V voltage. The research work was firstly focused on soil parameters: moisture and temperature. The main experiments were performed in order to calibrate the method used for sensing the soil moisture.