2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)

Internet of Things Based Smart Irrigation Using

Regression Algorithm
Anusha Kumar, Aremandla Surendra, Harine Mohan, Muthu Valliappan K, N. Kirthika
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,
Amrita University, India.
Anusha15.5.1995@gmail.com, surendra.racer@gmail.com, harinemohan29@gmail.com,
muthuvalliappank@gmail.com, n_kirthika@cb.amrita.edu

Abstract— The present scenario necessitates the utilization of
water resources efficiently due to various reasons like population
growth, rapid urbanization and climatic change. This has
stressed for an effective management of water resources on our
planet. The mismanagement of water used for irrigation not only
results in shortage of water but also affects the agricultural
production. Therefore it is necessary to optimize the water
consumption by providing a monitor and control system for the
irrigation process. The manual interpretation of soil water
content shows inaccurate results. Also, the human interventions in
monitoring the crops lead to wastage of time and energy. The
proposed system aims to provide a sustainable solution by
automatic monitor and control of irrigation process by using
Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper, regression algorithm is
used, which aids in the forecast of the amount of water required
for the daily irrigation based on the data provided by various
sensor devices. The forecasted information is made available on
the mobile application (app), through which the current status of
the agricultural field can be accessed. Henceforth this sensor
network application will help to detect water content in the soil
and aids in the smart utilization of water resources.
Keywords—water resources; agriculture; irrigation; automation;
regression algorithm
I. INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. It is the
major source of food production to the growing demand of
human population demand. Also agriculture is graphically the
broadest economic sector and contributes more towards the
GDP of the country. Irrigation forms an important part in
agriculture that influences crop production. Farmers mostly
depend on rainfall for water supply for irrigation purposes. But
when rainfall is scarce, they make use of available water
resources to irrigate their fields. Some farmers switch on the
pump overnight and do not switch it off once the field is filled
with sufficient water. This leads to wastage of water. Also,
farmers have to visit their fields periodically to check if the
required amount of water is being supplied. This is a time
consuming process especially if a farmer needs to irrigate
multiple fields located in different areas.
The introduction of automation in irrigation system makes
things much simpler. Technology has increased the basic needs
to mobile and internet. Researchers from all over the world are
coming up with solutions to help farmers’ yields. Researchers
have come up with solutions by providing models for self-
powered, solar systems [1], for automatic irrigation using
wireless sensor networks (WSN) such that the farmer can water
the fields from any place using GSM technique [2]. Sensors are
placed in various parts of the field and the data from it is sent
to the microcontroller. Various prototypes have been tried on
hub microcontroller along with Wireless modules like Zigbee
[3], Using the control from the mobile (GSM module) the
irrigation was carried out [4], with Raspberry pi and Arduino
[5-7], along with Wireless modules like Zigbee [8-9]
[10].Using the data collected analysis was done to make the
system smarter [11-12]. Automation has also been used to
monitor plant growth by interfacing webcam, to detect the start
of germination of disease using PIC16F877A microcontroller
[13], to detect rodents and other foreign objects in the fields
[14-15].
Nevertheless, in this paper, a fully automated sensor based
irrigation system for agricultural fields is developed. The
temperature sensor, soil moisture sensor and rain drop sensor
has been deployed. Various agricultural plants are grown in
different tubs and a drip irrigation setup is created to irrigate
the plants. Sensor nodes are placed in each of the tubs. Each
sensor is integrated with the Raspberry pi and it is programmed
for controlling an electromagnetic valve which operates the
motor in order to start/stop the irrigation process. The data
collected from various sensors is received by the
microcontroller, which compares with the set threshold value to
make a judgement on the watering process to the field. If the
moisture values are not within the bounds of the set value, then
the microcontroller activates the motor. The data acquitted
from different sensors are updated to cloud periodically, which
can be accessed by the user through the mobile app. Rain drop
sensors have been used to detect the water level in the tank. If
the water goes below the set level, the user is notified via the
app to refill the tank.
This paper abstracts the methods of irrigation that are
traditionally followed in Section 2. The different system
modules required to implement the proposed smart irrigation
system are described in Section 3. The agricultural field setup
providing the details on the various types of plants cultivated
are given Section 4. The regression algorithm based smart

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 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)
irrigation supported with the hardware implementation is
demonstrated in Section 5.
II. METHODS OF IRRIGATION
Irrigation refers to the process of supply of water to the
fields through artificial means such as pipes, canals, sprinkler
systems etc. In case of shortage of rainfall, artificial irrigation
systems help the farmers to irrigate and hence the crop
production is not affected. Systematic irrigation management is
required in order to increase and improve crop quality,
conserve water and also it can serve energy. The following sub
sections describe some of the commonly used methods of
irrigation.
A. Surface Irrigation
Surface irrigation is often referred to as flood irrigation.
This is because the water distribution is uncontrolled. The
technique involves application and distribution of water over
the land surface by gravity. It is a commonly used method of
irrigation in many parts of the globe. But this method is highly
inefficient as it can cause water logging, thereby delaying plant
growth.
B. Sprinkler Irrigation
In this type, the water is piped to one or more locations in
the field, and is distributed by overhead high pressure sprinklers
or guns. This method is useful when the quantity of water
available is less. It also involves lesser manual labor and water
wastage.
C. Drip Irrigation
In drip irrigation, the water is allowed to drip slowly to the
roots of the plants. This is done through a network of valves,
pipes, tubing and emitters. The narrow tubes deliver water
directly to the roots of the plants. The water is soaked by the
soil immediately before it evaporates. Also, the water is
delivered to the plants only when required. Drip irrigation is
applicable to all soil types and plant varieties. This method is
highly advantageous over the other methods as it helps in
reducing water and fertilizer wastage by a great extent and also
reduces manual work.
Drip irrigation is the most efficient method of irrigation
process based on the field water sufficiency. The key usage
of drip system is to minimize the water usage so that water
scarcity is not met. The prime factors of drip irrigation are that
the water soaks into the soil before it evaporates and the water is
supplied to the field only when it is required. Systematic
irrigation management can be well established by this method.
Drip irrigation is applicable to all kinds of soil and different
varieties of plants as well. The proposed work utilizes the drip
irrigation technique which is considered to be more advantageous
and installed for plant cultivation.
III. SYSTEM MODULES
Solar technology is emerging well than the traditional
power source and it is implemented in the areas where skilled
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maintenance is scarce. In this project, solar panel acts as the
prime power source. The following are the modules used:
A. Soil Moisture Sensor
Soil moisture sensor is a type of sensor that measures the
moisture content existing in the soil. It works based on the
principle of dielectric constant prevailing in the soil. The
dielectric constant is directionally proportional to moisture
content in the soil. In order to measure the dielectric constant
of the soil, the sensor consists of a capacitance which gives the
dielectric permittivity. The sensor creates a voltage
proportional to the dielectric permittivity and this voltage is
analog. The moisture sensor module as shown in Fig. 2 is a
combination of moisture sensor and the control board. Hence
it is converted to digital using ADS1115 ADC module is given
as an input to the microcontroller.
Fig. 2. Soil Moisture Sensor
B. Rain Drop Sensor
The module as shown in Fig. 3 is a combination of rain
board and the control board that is separate for more
convenience, an indicator LED and an adjustable sensitivity
through a potentiometer. The digital output is used in detection
of water drops. Connected to 3.3V power supply, the LED will
turn on when rain board has no rain drop, and DO output is
high. When dropping a little amount water, DO output is low,
the Switch indicator will turn on. When the water droplets are
bluff off sensor restores to the initial state, outputs high level.
Fig. 3. Rain Drop Sensor
C. Water Flow Sensor
Water flow sensor as shown in Fig. 4 is a sensor that
measures the volume of the water flow in pipelines. Water
flow sensor consists of a hall-effect sensor, a water rotor and a
plastic valve body. When water flows through the flow sensor
rotor, rotor rolls and speed of it changes with a different rate
of flow. The hall-effect sensor outputs the corresponding pulse
signal. There are many types of water flow sensors, in this
project hall-effect water flow sensor is been used to calculate
the water flow.
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Fig. 4. Water Flow Sensor
D. External Temperature Sensor
The DS18B20 as presented in Fig. 5 communicates over a
1-Wire bus there by definition requires only one data line for
communication with Raspberry Pi. DS18B20 provides 9-bit to
12-bit Celsius temperature data.
Fig. 5. External Temperature Sensor
E. Solenoid valve
Solenoid valve which is shown in Fig. 6 is used as a
gateway to irrigate the plants. Based upon the relay activation,
the solenoid valve gets activated and it opens up the path to
irrigate the plants. If a particular tub is dried up the moisture
sensor in that tub senses and it passes the information to the
microcontroller and it activates the relay thereby giving pulse
to the solenoid valve to open the pathway for the water to
flow.
Fig. 6. Solenoid Valve
F. DC Pump
DC Water Pump as shown in Fig. 7 is a device used to
convert the electrical power to mechanical power. In this
project DC Water Pump used to pump the water from the tank
to irrigate the plants.
Fig. 7. DC pump
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By the combination of all the sensors, Raspberry pi, inbuilt
Wi-Fi in Raspberry pi and mobile application a fully automated
system is being provided for the end-user.
IV. PROPOSED SMART IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Various varieties of plants are cultivated and are
continuously monitored on a timely basis. Once the seed
germinates, a moisture sensor is placed inside the soil of the
surveillance field to obtain data regarding the moisture content
of the soil. The types of plants considered for this paper are
specified in TABLE I.
TABLE I. PLANT CULTIVATION DETAILS
Tub 1 Tub 2 Tub 3
Ladies finger, Moringa
Beans Radish
(Drumstick), Curry Leaves
The proposed smart irrigation system is depicted as block
diagram and is presented in Fig. 8. The microcontroller collects
the input sensor values (such as moisture sensor, temperature
sensor, rain sensor, current sensor) through the input ports .The
Raspberry pi is coded using the software tool for the processing
and controlling action. The threshold values of the various
sensors are obtained by sketching a rough graph over a period
of time. Based on the threshold value the controller is set to
actuate the relay, if the sensed value is less than the threshold
value and accordingly motor feeds water the plants.
Fig. 8. Proposed System
By making use of the Wi-Fi module the sensed input data
are fed to the cloud. The microcontroller programming is done
either to produce 3.3V or 0V at the output port based on the
sensed value. If the sensed value is less than the threshold
value, then output port is programmed to produce 3.3V (Board
Output) to the relay and the relay gets activated which in turn
allows the DC motor to pump water to the field. Similarly, if
the sensed value is greater than the threshold value, the output
port is programmed in such a way to produce 0V which is not
sufficient to activate the relay. Therefore, by the usage of
raspberry pi microcontroller a fully automated system is
implemented in this work.
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V. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION plants in the Tub2. Fig.11 illustrates that the motor relay is ON
The results obtained from the relay activation, indication and it is in the watering condition.
of tank level, mobile app and the forecasted results on the
water requirement of the plant are discussed in detail in the
following sub-sections.

A. Moisture Sensor – Based Relay Activation

1) Case1: Normal condition

If the field has enough amount of moisture the value given

by the moisture sensor will be in the range of 0.1V to 2V. If
the field is dry it gives the moisture value around 2V to 5V. So
in the first case the value of all the three moisture sensors lay
below the value of 2V and it implies that all the tubs are
Fig. 11. Relay2 gets activated
having enough moisture and so the relay remains in OFF state
as shown in Fig. 9. 4) Case 4: Activation of Relay3

In this case the Tub3, is dry such that it gives a moisture

value greater than 2.5V as shown in Fig. 12. and so the relay
correcsponding to the Tub3 gets activated thereby activating
the solenoid valve of the Tub3. The motor relay will also get
activated inorder to irrigate the plants in Tub3 so that the
plants are not let dry. Thereby, the motor relay is ON
indicating the watering condition.

Fig. 9. Normal Condition

2) Case 2: Activation of Relay1

In this case the Tub1 is dry enough such that it gives a

moisture value greater than 2V and so the relay
correcsponding to the Tub1 gets activated thereby activating
the solenoid valve of the Tub1. The motor relay will also get
activated inorder to irrigate the plants in the Tub1 so that the
plants are not let dry. From Fig.10, it can be understood that
the motor relay is ON and it is in the watering condition.
Fig. 12. Relay 3 gets activated
B. Tank Level
The water level of the tank can be determined by using rain
sensors. As the rain sensors are placed at different levels in the
tank at 10%, 25%, 50% and 75%. When the water falls on the
sensor it gives a digital output of 0 and 1 and vice versa.

Fig. 10. Relay1 gets activated

3) Case 3: Activation of Relay2
In this case, the Tub2 is dry and it gives a moisture value
of 2.5V and so the relay correcsponding to the Tub2 gets
activated thereby activating the solenoid valve of the Tub2.
The motor relay will also get activated inorder to irrigate the
Fig. 13. Water level in the tank
It is established that the output 0000 corresponds to 100%,
0001 corresponds to 75%, 0011 indicates 50%, the output of
0111 corresponds to 25% and the output of 1111 to the lowest
level of water in the tank that is 10%.when the water touches
the rain sensor. The module indicates with a green light as

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 2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing,Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT)
shown in Fig.13., where three green light indications
corresponding to the sequence of 0001 indicating the level of
the water in the tank as 75%.
C. Regression Algorithm
Regression algorithm illustrated as flowchart in Fig. 14 is
one of the data mining techniques used to forecast the amount
of water required for the next irrigation.
Fig. 14. Regression Flowchart
Basically, in this work the regression technique works on
two prime factors i.e. the amount of water flow and the
temperature of the surrounding.
Initially the data number is set and for the current
temperature, the corresponding quantities of water absorbed by
the plants are taken into consideration. The mathematical
expression for plotting the regression line is expressed in
equation (1), while yꞌ gives the forecasted amount of water that
is required for the next day expressed in equation (2).
y = mx + c (1)
yꞌ = b0 + b1x (2)
where, b1 is the slope of the regression line and b0 is the
intercept of the regression line. For the actual data, the
computations are being carried out for the predicted values of
water absorbed and the deviations are being taken for the next
iteration. The error gives the difference between the actual
amount of water absorbed by the plants and the predicted value
being calculated which are taken for the further computations.
Likewise, a continuous set of data which are stored in cloud
are being extracted. The two parameters which are the
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temperature and the amount of water irrigated are plotted in
graph as presented in Fig. 15. By taking the amount of water
flow and temperature as inputs, the final resultant graph (with
temperature in x-axis and water irrigated in y-axis) is obtained
as output executed on MATLAB software.
Fig. 15. Regression plot result
As shown in Fig. 15, the red colored cross marks
corresponds to the data points and the line represents the
regression line. The regression line implies the best suited line
for the given data set and the future data will also fall on the
regression line. For any change in data, error is computed and
for the updated values, the regression line is plotted. The error
in the computations can be reduced, as the number of data
increases. As the conclusion from the process of regression, the
prediction of water quantity required for next irrigation is done.
D. Mobile App and Cloud Data
In order to make the system completely automatic, a
mobile application is built. The mobile app helps the user to
access the field without any manual intervention.
The data obtained from cloud shown in Fig. 16 is
communicated to the mobile app, which is built on a Java
platform. This aids the user to access the details of soil
moisture content, temperature in the field and the working
state of the motor to irrigate the field.
Fig. 16. Cloud Data
From the microcontroller used, the data is being
transferred to cloud through the API Key which in turn is
transferred to the mobile app. The moisture value obtained
using the sensors which are in the form of voltage is being
converted into percentage to indicate the level of dryness in
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each tub. Therefore, the dryness level is represented in
mobile app as 19%, 28% and 13% in Tubs1, 2 and 3
respectively as shown in Fig. 17. Also, the water level in the
tank is represented in the form of a bar. Likewise, the
external temperature sensed is displayed. The status of
irrigation and the motor ON/OFF conditions are
communicated automatically to the user through the mobile
application.
Fig. 17. Mobile application
VI. CONCLUSION
The proposed work on irrigation regulates and gives
corrective measures in the mismanagement of water in the field
of agriculture. Internet of Things which plays a vital role in day
to day life helps in the collection of real-time data and process
the system to utmost accuracy. The regression algorithm helps
in forecasting the amount of water required for irrigation.
Thereby, the tank is autonomously filled by activating the
motor to operate. The proposed system also reduces human
efforts and energy. People can get instant access to the farm
through mobile app. The reliability of the system is also
increased by keeping track of the working conditions of the
components involved. Thereby, the proposed automated smart
irrigation in the field of agriculture improves the field
production and also avoiding the wastage of water taken into
consideration.
978-1-5090-6106-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
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