Wireless Sensor Network Utilizing Flexible Nitrate Sensors for Smart Farming

Abstract

Smart Farming represents the application of modern IoT networks into agriculture, leading to what can be called a Third Green Revolution. This paper describes a fully customized hardware platform, with a novel network structure enabled by LoRa and ANT radios, that aims for a low-cost, low power and long range wireless sensor network for smart farming. The hybrid network structure was demonstrated in the Lab and the LoRa portion of the network was tested by deploying four modules across an agricultural site, with data collected over a six months period. The hardware was tested by integrating fabricated nitrate sensors as well as commercially available soil and temperature sensors into the modules. The data collected were made accessible to both researchers and farmers through the cloud.