Module-4

ASSOCIATED IOT
TECHNOLOGIES,
IOT CASE STUDIES
 Syllabus
• Cloud Computing-Introduction,
• Virtualization,
• Cloud Models,
• Service-Level Agreement in Cloud Computing,
• Cloud Implementation,
• Sensor-Cloud: Sensors-as-a-Service.
• Agricultural IoT – Introduction and Case Studies

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 Outcomes ḷ
• Understand the concept of cloud computing and its features.
• Understand virtualization, different cloud models, and
service-level agreements (SLAs).
• Identify the salient features of various cloud computing
models.
• Understand the concept of sensor-clouds.
• Relate to the applicability of IoT in real scenarios.
• List the salient features of agricultural IoT.
• Understand the requirements, challenges, and advantages in
implementing IoT in agriculture.

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 Cloud Computing-Introduction
• Sensor nodes are the key components of IoT and these nodes are resource-
constrained in terms of storage, processing, and energy.
• In IoT, the devices are connected and communicate with one another by sharing
the sensed and processed data.
• Handling the enormous data generated by this large number of heterogeneous
devices is a non-trivial task.
• Cloud computing becomes an essential building block of the IoT architecture.
• Cloud computing is more than traditional network computing. Unlike network
computing, cloud computing comprises a pool of multiple resources such as
servers, storage, and network from single/multiple organizations.
• These resources are allocated to the end users as per requirement, on a
payment basis.
• In cloud computing architecture, an end user can request for customized
resources such as storage space, RAM, operating systems, and other software to
a cloud service provider (CSP) as shown in Figure.
• For example, a user can request for a Linux operating system for running an
application from a CSP; another end user can request for Windows 10 operating
system from the same CSP for executing some application. The cloud services
are accessible from anywhere and at any time by an authorized user through
Internet connectivity.
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 Network computing v/s cloud
computing

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 Cloud Computing-Introduction
• Cloud computing comprises a shared pool of computing resources, which
are accessible dynamically, ubiquitously, and on-demand basis by the users.
• This shared pool of resources includes networks, storage, processor, and
servers.
• These resources are accessible by multiple users through a regular
command-line terminal at the same or different time instants.
• The services of cloud computing are based on the pay-per-use model. The
concept is the same as paying utility bills based on consumption. In cloud
computing, a user pays for the cloud services as per the duration of their
resource usage.
• On the other hand, there is a CSP, that provides cloud services to end user
organizations.

• Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter are examples of cloud computing

applications.
• Currently, many companies such as Amazon Web Service and Microsoft
Azure provide cloud services.

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 Virtualization
• The key concept of cloud computing is virtualization. The technique of sharing a
single resource among multiple end user organizations or end users is known as
virtualization.
• In the virtualization process, a physical resource is logically distributed among
multiple users.
• However, a user perceives that the resource is unlimited and is dedicatedly
provided to him/her.
• Figure shows a traditional desktop, where an application (App) is runniF OP\ng
on top of an OS, and resources are utilized only for that particular application. On
the other hand, multiple resources can be used by different end users through
virtualization software.
• Virtualization software separates the resources logically so that there is no
conflict among the users during resource utilization.

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 Advantages of virtualization

• With the increasing number of interconnected heterogeneous

devices in IoT, the importance of virtualization also increases.
• In IoT, a user is least bothered about where the data from
different heterogeneous devices are stored or processed for a
particular application. Users are mainly concerned for their
services.
• Typically, there are different software such as VMware, which
enable the concept of virtualization.
• Moreover, there is always a risk of system crash at any instant of
time. In such a scenario, cloud computing plays a vital role by
keeping backups through virtualization.
• Primarily, there are two entities in a cloud computing architecture:
end users and CSP. Both end users and CSP are benefited in
several aspects through the process of virtualization.

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Advantages for End Users
(a) Variety: The process of virtualization in cloud computing enables an end
user organization to use various types of applications based on the
requirements.
• As an example, suppose John takes up still photography as a hobby. His
resource-limited PC can barely handle the requirements for a photo editing
software, say X-photoeditor. In order to augment his PC’s regular
performance, he uninstalls the X-photoeditor software and purchases a
cloud service, which lets him access a virtual machine (VM).
• In his VM, he installs the X-photoeditor software, by which he can edit
photos efficiently and, most importantly, without worrying about burdening
his PC or running out of processing resources. After six months, John’s
interest in his hobby grows and he moves on to video-editing too. For editing
his captured videos, he installs a video editing software, Y-videoeditor, in his
VM and can edit videos efficiently. Additionally, he has the option of
installing and using a variety of software for different purposes.

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(b) Availability: Virtualization creates a logical separation of the resources
of multiple entities without any intervention of end users.
• Consequently, the concept of virtualization makes available a
considerable amount of resources as per user requirements. The end
users feel that there are unlimited resources present dedicatedly for
him/her.
• Let us suppose that Jane uses a particular email service. Her account has
been active for over ten years now; however, it offers limited storage of
2 GB. Due to the ever accumulating file attachments in different emails,
her 2 GB complimentary space is exhausted. However, there is a
provision that if she pays $100 annually, she can attach additional space
to her mail service. This upgrade allows her to have more storage unit.
(c) Portability: Portability signifies the availability of cloud computing
services from anywhere in the world, at any instant of time.
• For example, a person flying from the US to the UK still has access to
their documents, although they cannot physically access the devices on
which the data is stored. This has been made possible by platforms such
as Google Drive.

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(d) Elasticity: Through the concept of virtualization, an end
user can scale-up or scale-down resource utilization as per
requirements.
• For example, Jack rents two VMs in a cloud computing
infrastructure from a CSP. VM1 has the Ubuntu operating
system, on which Jack is simulating a network scenario using
Network Simulator-2. VM2 has Windows 10 OS, on which he
is running a MATLAB simulation. However, after a few days,
Jack feels that his VM2 has served its purpose and is no
longer required. Consequently, he releases VM2 and, after
that, he is only billed for VM1.
• Thus, Jack can scale-up or scale-down his resources in cloud
computing, which employs the concept of virtualization.

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(ii) Advantages for CSP
(a) Resource Utilization: Typically, a CSP in a cloud computing architecture
procures resources on their own or get them from third parties.
• These resources are distributed among different users dynamically as per
their requirements.
• A segment of a particular resource provided to a user at a time instant, can
be provided to another user at a different time instant.
• Thus, in the cloud computing architecture, resources can be re-utilized for
multiple users.
(b) Effective Revenue Generation: A CSP generates revenue from the end
users based on resource utilization.
• As an example, today, a user A is utilizing storage facility from a particular
CSP. The user will release the storage after a few days when his/her
requirement is complete. The CSP earns some revenue from user A for the
utilization of the allocated storage facility. In the future, the CSP can
provide the same storage facility to a different user, B. Again, the CSP can
generate revenue from user B for his/her storage utilization.

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 Types of virtualization

• Based on the requirements of the users, we categorized virtualization as shown in Figure.

(i) Hardware Virtualization: This type of virtualization indicates the sharing of hardware resources
among multiple users.
• For example, a single processor appears as many different processors in a cloud computing
architecture. Different operating systems can be installed in these processors and each of them
can work as stand-alone machines.
(ii) Storage Virtualization: In storage virtualization, the storage space from different entities are
accumulated virtually, and seem like a single storage location.
• Through storage virtualization, a user’s documents or files exist in different locations in a
distributed fashion. However, the users are under the impression that they have a single
dedicated storage space provided to them.
(iii) Application Virtualization: A single application is stored at the cloud end. However, as per
requirement, a user can use the application in his/her local computer without ever actually
installing the application.
• Similar to storage virtualization, in application virtualization, the users get the impression that
applications are stored and executed in their local computer.
(iv) Desktop Virtualization: This type of virtualization allows a user to access and utilize the services
of a desktop that resides at the cloud. The users can use the desktop from their local desktop.
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 Cloud Models
• As per the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Cloud
Computing Standards Roadmap Working Group, the cloud model can be divided
into two parts: (1) Service model and (2) Deployment model as shown in Figure.
• Further the service model is categorized as: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS),
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). On the other
hand, the deployment model is further categorized as: Private cloud, Community
cloud, Public cloud, and Hybrid cloud.

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(i) Service Model: The service model is depicted in Figure.
(a) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): This service provides access to
different software applications to an end user through Internet
connectivity. For accessing the service, a user does not need to
purchase and install the software applications on his/her local
desktop.
• The software is located in a cloud server, from where the services are
provided to multiple end users.
• SaaS offers scalability, by which users have the provision to use
multiple software applications as per their requirements.
Additionally, a user does not need to worry about the update of the
software applications. These software are accessible from any
location.
• One example of SaaS is MicrosoftOffice 365.
(b) Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): PaaS provides a computing platform,
by which a user can develop and run different applications. The cloud
user need not go through the burden of installing and managing the
infrastructure such as operating system, storage, and networks.
However, the users can develop and manage the applications that are
running on top of it.
• An example of PaaS is Google App Engine.

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• (c) Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): IaaS provides
infrastructure such as storage, networks, and computing
resources.
• A user uses the infrastructure without purchasing the software
and other network components. In the infrastructure provided
by a CSP, a user can use any composition of the operating
system and software.
• An example of IaaS is Google Compute Engine.

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(ii) Deployment Model
(a) Private Cloud: This type of cloud is owned explicitly by an
end user organization. The internal resources of the
organization maintain the private cloud.
(b) Community Cloud: This cloud forms with the collaboration
of a set of organizations for a specific community. For a
community cloud, each organization has some shared interests.
(c) Public Cloud: The public cloud is owned by a third party
organization, which provides services to the common public.
The service of this cloud is available for any user, on a payment
basis.
(d) Hybrid Cloud: This type of cloud comprises two or more
clouds (private, public, or community).

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 Service-Level Agreement in Cloud Computing
• The most important actors in cloud computing are the end user/customer and
CSP. Cloud computing architecture aims to provide optimal and efficient
services to the end users and generate revenue from them as per their usage.
• Therefore, for a clear understanding between CSP and the customer about the
services, an agreement is required to be made, which is known as service-level
agreement (SLA).
• Based on the SLA, a customer can be aware of each and every term and
condition of the services before availing them. An SLA may include multiple
organizations for making the legal contract with the customers.
Importance of SLA:
• Customer Point of View: Each CSP has its SLA, which contains a detailed
description of the services. If a customer wants to use a cloud service, he/she
can compare the SLAs of different organizations. Therefore, a customer can
choose a preferred CSP based on the SLAs.
• CSP Point of View: In many cases, certain performance issues may occur for a
particular service, because of which a CSP may not be able to provide the
services efficiently. Thus, in such a situation, a CSP can explicitly mention in the
SLA that they are not responsible for inefficient service.

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 Metrics for SLA
• Depending on the type of services, an SLA is constructed with
different metrics. However, a few common metrics that are
required to be included for constructing an SLA are as follows:
(i) Availability: This metric signifies the amount of time the
service will be accessible for the customer.
(ii) Response Time: The maximum time that will be taken for
responding to a customer request is measured by response time.
(iii) Portability: This metric indicates the flexibility of transferring
the data to another service.
(iv) Problem Reporting: How to report a problem, whom and
how to be contacted, is explained in this metric.
(v) Penalty: The penalty for not meeting the promises mentioned
in the SLA.

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 Cloud Implementation
Cloud simulation
• With the rapid deployment of IoT infrastructure for different applications,
the requirement for cloud computing is also increasing.
• It is challenging to estimate the performance of an IoT system with the
cloud before real implementation. On the other hand, real deployment of
the cloud is a complex and costly procedure. Thus, there is a requirement
for simulating the system through a cloud simulator before real
implementation.
• There are many cloud simulators that provide pre-deployment test services
for repeatable performance evaluation of a system.
• Typically, a cloud simulator provides the following advantages to a
customer:
• Pre-deployment test before real implementation
• System testing at no cost
• Repeatable evaluation of the system
• Pre-detection of issues that may affect the system performance
• Flexibility to control the environment
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 Cloud simulation
A few cloud simulators are listed here:
(i) CloudSim
(a) Description: It is a popular cloud simulator that was developed at
the University of Melbourne. This simulator is written in a Java-based
environment. In CloudSim, a user is allowed to add or remove
resources dynamically during the simulation and evaluate the
performance of the scenario.
(b) Features:
(1) The CloudSim simulator provides various cloud computing data centers
along with different data center network topologies in a simulation
environment.
(2) Using CloudSim, virtualization of server hosts can be done in a simulation.
(3) A user is able to allocate virtual machines (VMs) dynamically.
(4) It allows users to define their own policies for the allocation of host
resources to VMs.
(5) It provides flexibility to add or remove simulation components dynamically.
(6) A user can stop and resume the simulation at any instant of time
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 Cloud simulation
(ii) CloudAnalyst
(a) Description: CloudAnalyst is based on CloudSim. This simulator provides a
graphical user interface (GUI) for simulating a cloud environment, easily. The
CloudAnalyst is used for simulating large-scale cloud applications.
(b) Features:
(1) The CloudAnalyst simulator is easy to use due to the presence of the GUI.
(2) It allows a user to add components and provides a flexible and high level of
configuration.
(3) A user can perform repeated experiments, considering different parameter values.
(4) It can provide a graphical output, including a chart and table.
(iii) GreenCloud
(a) Description: GreenCloud is developed as an extension of a packet-level
network simulator, NS2. This simulator can monitor the energy consumption of
different network components such as servers and switches.
(b) Features:
(1) GreenCloud is an open-source simulator with user-friendly GUI.
(2) It provides the facility for monitoring the energy consumption of the network and
its various components.
(3) It supports the simulations of cloud network components.
(4) It enables improved power management schemes.
(5) It allows a user to manage and configure devices, dynamically, in simulation.
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 An open-source cloud: OpenStack
• For the real implementation of cloud, there are various
open-source cloud platforms available such as
OpenStack, CloudStack, and Eucalyptus.
• The OpenStack is free software, which provides a cloud
IaaS to users.
• A user can easily use this cloud with the help of a GUI-
based web interface or through the command line.
• OpenStack supports a vastly scalable cloud system, in
which different pre-configured software suites are
available.
• The service components of OpenStack along with their
functions are depicted in Table.
• Features of OpenStack:
(i) OpenStack allows a user to create and deploy virtual
machines.
(ii) It provides the flexibility of setting up a cloud
management environment.
(iii) OpenStack supports an easy horizontal scaling: dynamic
addition or removal of instances for providing services to
multiple numbers of users.
(iv) This cloud platform allows the users to access the source
code and share their code to the community.

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 A commercial cloud: Amazon web services (AWS)
• Besides the open-source cloud, there are various commercial cloud infrastructures
available in the market. Few of the popular commercial cloud infrastructures are Amazon
Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google App Engine.
• A user can launch and manage server instances in AWS. Typically, a web interface is used
to handle the instances. Additionally, AWS provides different APIs, tools, and utilities for
users.
• This cloud infrastructure provides a virtual computing environment, where different
configurations, such as CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity are available.
Features of AWS
(i) It provides flexibility to scale and manage the server capacity.
(ii) AWS provides control to OS and deployment software.
(iii) It follows the pay-per-use model.
(iv) The cloud allows a user to establish connectivity between the physical network and
private virtual network.
(v) The developer tools in this cloud infrastructure help a user for fast development and
deployment of the software.
(vi) AWS provides excellent management tools, which help a user to monitor and
automate different components of the cloud.
(vii) The cloud provides machine learning facilities, which are very useful for data scientists
and developers.
(viii) For extracting meaning from data, analytics play an important role. AWS also provides
a data analytics platform.

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 Sensor-Cloud: Sensors-as-a-Service
• We have already discussed different services of cloud
computing, which include SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Now, we will
see Sensors-as-a-Service in a sensor-cloud architecture.
• Virtualization of resources is the backbone of cloud computing.
Similarly, in a sensor-cloud, virtualization of sensors plays an
essential role in providing services to multiple users.
• Typically, in a sensor-cloud architecture, multiple users receive
services from different a sensor nodes, simultaneously.
However, the users remain oblivious to the fact that a set of
sensor nodes is not dedicated solely to them for their
application requirements.
• The main aim of sensor-cloud infrastructure is to provide an
opportunity for the common mass to use Wireless Sensor
Networks (WSNs) on a payment basis.
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 Importance of sensor-cloud
• The sensor-cloud infrastructure is based on the concept of
cloud computing, in which a user application is served by a
set of homogeneous or heterogeneous sensor nodes.
• These sensor nodes are selected from a common pool of
sensor nodes, as per the requirement of user applications.
• Using the sensor-cloud infrastructure, a user receives data
for an application from multiple sensor nodes without
owning them.
• Unlike sensor-cloud, if a user wants to use traditional WSN
for a certain application, he/she has to go through different
pre-deployment and post-deployment hurdles.
• Figures depicts the usage of sensor nodes using traditional
WSN and sensor cloud infrastructure.

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Traditional WSN versus
sensor-cloud

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 With the help of a case study, to understand the advantages of sensor-cloud over
traditional WSN.
• John is a farmer, and he has a significantly vast farmable area with him. As manual supervision of the entire
field is very difficult, he has planned to deploy a WSN in his farming field.
• Before purchasing the WSN, he has to decide which sensors should be used in his fields for sensing the
different agricultural parameters. Additionally, he has to decide the type and number of other components
such as an electronics circuit board and communication module required along with the sensors. As there
are numerous vendors, it is challenging for him to choose the correct vendor, as well as the sensor owner
from whom the WSN will be procured. He finally decides the type of sensors along with the other
components that are required for monitoring his agricultural field.
• Now, John faces the difficulty of optimally planning the sensor node deployment in his fields. He decides on
the number of sensor nodes that are required for monitoring his field. Finally, John procures the WSNs from
a vendor. After procurement, he deploys the sensor nodes and connects different components.
• As WSN consists of different electronic components, he has to maintain the WSN after its deployment. After
three months, as his requirement of agricultural field monitoring is completed, he removes the WSN from
the agricultural field.
• Six months later, John plans to use the WSN that was deployed in the agricultural field for home
surveillance. As the agriculture application is different from the home surveillance application, the sensor
required for the system also changes. Thus, John has to go through all the steps again, including
maintenance, deployment, and hardware management, for the surveillance system.
• Thus, we observe that the users face different responsibilities for using a WSN for an application. In such a
situation, if sensor-cloud architecture is present, John can easily use WSNs for his application on a rental
basis.
• Moreover, through the use of sensor-cloud, John can easily switch the application without any manual
intervention. On the other end, service providers of the sensor-cloud infrastructure may serve multiple
users with the same sensors and earn profit.

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 Architecture of a sensor-cloud platform
• In a cloud computing architecture, cloud service provider (CSP) and end users
play the key role. In sensor-cloud architecture, the sensor owners play an
important role along with the service provider and end users.
• However, a service provider in sensor-cloud architecture is known as a sensor-
cloud service provider (SCSP). The detailed architecture of a sensor-cloud is
depicted in Figure.

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 Actors in sensor-cloud architecture
• Typically, in a sensor-cloud architecture, three actors are present.
(i) End User: This actor is also known as a customer of the sensor-cloud services.
• Typically, an end user registers him/herself with the infrastructure through a
Web portal. Thereafter, he/she chooses the template of the services that are
available in the sensor-cloud architecture to which he/she is registered. Finally,
through the Web portal, the end user receives the services, as shown in Figure.
• Based on the type and usage duration of service, the end user pays the charges
to the SCSP.
(ii) Sensor Owner: The sensor-cloud architecture is based on the concept of
Sensors-as-a-Service. Therefore, the deployment of the sensors is essential in
order to provide services to the end users.
• These sensors in a sensor cloud architecture are owned and deployed by the
sensor owners, as depicted in Figure. A particular sensor owner can own
multiple homogeneous or heterogeneous sensor nodes.
• Based on the requirements of the users, these sensor nodes are virtualized and
assigned to serving multiple applications at the same time. On the other hand, a
sensor owner receives rent depending upon the duration and usage of his/her
sensor node(s).

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(iii) Sensor-Cloud Service Provider (SCSP): An SCSP is responsible
for managing the entire sensor-cloud infrastructure (including
management of sensor owners and end users handling, resource
handling, database management, cloud handling etc.), centrally.
• The SCSP receives rent from end users with the help of a pre-
defined pricing model. The pricing scheme may include the
infrastructure cost, sensor owners’ rent, and the revenue of the
SCSP. The SCSP receives the rent from the end users and shares a
partial amount with the sensor owners. The remaining amount is
used for maintaining the infrastructure. In the process, the SCSP
earns a certain amount of revenue from the payment of the end
users.
• Typically, different algorithms are used for managing the entire
infrastructure.

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 Sensor-Cloud Architecture from Different
Viewpoints
We explore the sensor-cloud architecture from two view points.
Different views of sensor-cloud architecture are shown in Figure.
(i) User Organizational View: This view of sensor-cloud
architecture is simple. In a sensor-cloud, end users interact with
a Web interface for selecting templates of the services.
Thereafter, the services are received by the end users through
the Web interface. In this architecture, an end user is unaware of
the complex processes that are running at the back end.
(ii) Real Architectural View: The complex processing of sensor-
cloud architecture is visualized through this view. The processes
include sensor allocation, data extraction from the sensors,
virtualization of sensor nodes, maintenance of the
infrastructure, data center management, data caching, and
others. For each process, there is a specific algorithm or scheme.

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 Agricultural IoT
• Currently, IoT-enabled technologies are widely used for increasing crop
productivity, generating significant revenue, and efficient farming. The
development of the IoT paradigm helps in precision farming.
• Agricultural loT systems perform crop health monitoring, water management,
crop security, farming vehicle tracking, automatic seeding, and automatic
pesticide spraying over the agricultural fields.
• In an IoT based agricultural system, different sensors necessarily have to be
deployed over agricultural fields, and the sensed data from these sensors need to
be transmitted to a centralized entity such as a server, cloud, or fog devices.
• Further, these data have to be processed and analyzed to provide various
agricultural services. Finally, a user should be able to access these services from
handheld devices or computers.
Figure depicts a basic architecture of an agricultural IoT

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 Components of an agricultural IoT
• The development of an agricultural IoT has helped farmers enhance crop
productivity and reduce the overhead of manual operations of the
agricultural equipment in the fields.
• Different components such as analytics, drone, cloud computing, sensors,
hand-held devices, and wireless connectivity enable agricultural IoT as
depicted in Figure.

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• The different components of an agricultural IoT are discussed as follows:
▪ Cloud computing: Sensors such as the camera, devices to measure soil moisture,
soil humidity, and soil pH-level are used for serving different agricultural
applications. These sensors produce a huge amount of agricultural data that
need to be analyzed. Sometimes, based on the data analysis, action needs to be
taken, such as switching on the water pump for irrigation. Further, the data from
the deployed sensors are required to be stored on a long-term basis since it may
be useful for serving future applications. Thus, for agricultural data analysis and
storage, the cloud plays a crucial role.
▪ Sensors: For agricultural IoT applications, the sensors are an indispensable
component. A few of the common sensors used in agriculture are sensors for soil
moisture, humidity, water level, and temperature.
▪ Cameras: Imaging is one of the main components of agriculture. Therefore,
multispectral, thermal, and RGB cameras are commonly used for scientific
agricultural IoT. These cameras are used for estimating the nitrogen status,
thermal stress, water stress, and crop damage due to inundation, as well as
infestation. Video cameras are used for crop security.
▪ Satellites: In modern precision agriculture, satellites are extensively used to
extract information from field imagery. The satellite images are used in
agricultural applications to monitor different aspects of the crops such as crop
health monitoring and dry zone assessing over a large area.
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▪ Analytics: With the help of analytics, farmers can take different agricultural
decisions, such as estimating the required amount of fertilizer and water in an
agricultural field and estimating the type of crops that need to be cultivated
during the upcoming season. Moreover, analytics is not only responsible for
making decisions locally; it is used to analyze data for the entire agricultural
supply chain. Data analytics can also be used for estimating the crop demand in
the market.
▪ Wireless connectivity: One of the main components of agricultural IoT is
wireless connectivity. Wireless connectivity enables the transmission of the
agricultural sensor data from the field to the cloud/server. It also enables
farmers to access various application services over handheld devices, which rely
on wireless connectivity for communicating with the cloud/server.
▪ Handheld devices: One of the fundamental components of e-agriculture is a
handheld device such as a smartphone. Farmers can access different agricultural
information, such as soil and crop conditions of their fields and market tendency,
over their smartphones. Additionally, farmers can also control different field
equipment, such as pumps, from their phones.
▪ Drones: Currently, the use of drones has become very attractive in different
applications such as surveillance, healthcare, product delivery, photography, and
agriculture. Drone imaging is an alternative to satellite imaging in agriculture. In
continuation to providing better resolution land mapping visuals, drones are
used in agriculture for crop monitoring, pesticide spraying, and irrigation.
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 Agricultural chain
• An agricultural food chain (agri-chain) represents the different stages that are
involved in agricultural activity right from the agricultural fields to the
consumers.
• In the agrichain, we consider farming as the first stage. In farming, various
operations, such as seeding, irrigation, fertilizer spreading, and pesticide
spraying, are involved. For performing these operations, different IoT
components are used. As an example, for monitoring the soil health, soil
moisture and temperature sensors are used; drones are used for spraying
pesticides; and through wireless connectivity, a report on on-field soil
conditions is sent directly to a users handheld device or cloud.
• After farming, the next stage in the agri-chain is transport. Transport indicates
the transfer of crops from the field to the local storage, and after that, to long-
term storage locations.
• In transport, smart vehicles can automatically load and unload crops. The GPS
plays an important role by tracking these smart devices, and RFID is used to
collect information regarding the presence of a particular container of a crop at
a warehouse.
• Storage is one of the important operations in the agri-chain. It is responsible
for storing crops on a long term basis.

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 Figure depicts a typical agricultural food chain with the different operations that are
involved in it. Additionally, the figure depicts the applications of different IoT components
required for performing these agricultural operations.
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• Cold storage is used for preserving the crops for a long time and providing
them with the necessary climatic and storage conditions and protection. In the
storage, cameras are used to keep a check and protect the harvested crops.
The camera feeds are transferred through wireless connectivity to a remote
server or a cloud infrastructure. Moreover, the amount and type of crops
stored in a storage location are tracked and recorded with the help of sensors
and cloud computing.
• For pushing the crops into the market, processing plays a crucial role in an
agrichain. Processing includes proper drying and packaging of crops. For drying
and packaging, different sensors are used. Packaging is the immediate
operation prior to pushing the crop into the market. Thus, it is essential to track
every package and store all the details related to the crops in the cloud.
• Logistics enables the transfer of the packed crops to the market with the help
of smart vehicles. These smart vehicles are equipped with different sensors
that help in loading and unloading the packed crop autonomously. Additionally,
GPS is used in these smart vehicles for locating the position of the packed crops
at any instant and tracking their whereabouts. All the logistical information
gets logged in the cloud with the help of wireless connectivity.
• Finally, the packed items reach the market using logistical channels. From the
market, these items are accessible to consumers. The details of the sale and
purchase of the items are stored in the form of records in the cloud.

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 Advantages of IoT in agriculture
• Modern technological advancements and the rapid developments in IoT
components have gradually increased agricultural productivity. Agricultural
IoT enables the autonomous execution of different agricultural operations.
• The specific advantages of the agricultural IoT are as follows:
(i) Automatic seeding: IoT-based agricultural systems are capable of
autonomous seeding and planting over the agricultural fields. These systems
significantly reduce manual effort, error probability, and delays in seeding
and planting.
(ii) Efficient fertilizer and pesticide distribution: Agricultural IoT has been
used to develop solutions that are capable of applying and controlling the
amount of fertilizers and pesticides efficiently. These solutions are based on
the analysis of crop health.
(iii) Water management: The excess distribution of water in the agricultural
fields may affect the growth of crops. On the other hand, the availability of
global water resources is finite. The constraint of limited and often scarce
usable water resources, for the judicious and efficient distribution of
agricultural water resources. The IoT-enabled agricultural systems are
capable of monitoring the water level and moisture in the soil, and
accordingly, distribute the water to the agricultural fields.

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(iv) Real-time and remote monitoring: In IoT-based farming, a
stakeholder can remotely monitor different agricultural parameters,
such as crop and soil conditions, plant health, and weather conditions.
Moreover, using a smart handheld device, a farmer can actuate on-
field farming machinery such as a water pump, valves, and other
pieces of machinery.
(v) Easy yield estimation: Agricultural IoT solutions can be used to
record and aggregate data, which may be spatially or temporally
diverse, over long periods. These records can be used to come up with
various estimates related to farming and farm management. The most
prominent way is based on established crop models and historical
trends.
(vi) Production overview: The detailed analysis of crop production,
market rates, and market demand are essential factors for a farmer to
estimate optimized crop yields and decide upon the essential steps for
future cropping practices. IoT-based agriculture acts as a force
multiplier for farmers by enabling them to have a stronger hold on
their farming as well as crop management practices. Agricultural IoT
provides a detailed product overview on the farmers handheld
devices.

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 Case Studies
• This provide an overview of real implementation of IoT
infrastructure for agriculture.
In-situ assessment of leaf area index[LAI] using IoT-based
agricultural system
• IoT-based agricultural system developed by Bauer et al. [1].
• The authors focus on the in-situ assessment of the leaf area index
(LAI), which is considered as an essential parameter for the growth
of most crops.
• LAI is a dimensionless quantity which indicates the total leaf area
per unit ground area. For determining the canopy (the portion of the
plant, which is above the ground) light, LAI plays an essential role.
• Architecture: The authors integrated the hardware and software
components of their implementation in order to develop the IoT-
based agricultural system for LAI assessment.
• One of the important components in this system is the wireless
sensor network (WSN), which is used as the LAI assessment unit.

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• The authors used two types of sensors: (i) ground-level sensor (G) and (ii)
reference sensor (R). These sensors are used to measure photosynthetically
active radiation (PAR). The distance between the two types of sensors must
be optimal so that these are not located very far from one another.
• In this system, the above-ground sensor (R) acts as a cluster head while the
other sensor nodes (Gs) are located below the canopy. These Gs and R
connect and form a star topology.
• A solar panel is used to charge the cluster head. A cluster head is attached to
a central base station, which acts as a gateway. Further, this gateway connects
to an IoT infrastructure. The architecture of the system is depicted in Figure.

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• Hardware: For sensing and transmitting the data from the deployment fields to a
centralized unit, different hardware components are used in the system. The
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) TelosB platform is used in the system.
• The TelosB motes are equipped with three types of sensors: temperature,
humidity, and light sensors. With the help of an optical filter and diffuser
accessory on the light sensors, the PAR is calculated to estimate the LAI.
• The system is based on the cluster concept. A Raspberry-Pi is used as a cluster
head, which connects with four ground sensor motes. The Raspberry-Pi is a tiny
single board, which works as a computer and is used to perform different
operations in IoT.
• Humidity and wet plants intermittently cause attenuation to the system, which is
minimized with the help of forward error coding (FEC) technique.
• The real deployment of the LAI assessment system involves various
environmental and wild-life challenges. Therefore, for reliable data delivery, the
authors take the redundant approach of using both wired and wireless
connectivity.
• In the first deployment generation, USB power supply is used to power-up the
sensors motes. The USB is used for configuring the sensor board and accessing
the failure as per requirement. A mechanical timer is used to switch off the
sensor nodes during the night. In the second deployment generation, the cluster
is formed with wireless connectivity.
• The ground sensor motes consist of external antennas, which help to
communicate with the cluster head. A Raspberry-Pi with long-term evolution
(LTE) is used as a gateway in this system.

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• Communication: The LAI system consists of multiple components, such as
WSN, IoT gateway, and IoT based network (connected through wired or
wireless links).
• The public land mobile network (PLMN) is used to establish connectivity
between external IoT networks and the gateway. The data are analyzed and
visualized with the help of a farm management information system (FMIS),
which resides in the IoT-based infrastructure.
• Further, a prevalent data transport protocol: MQTT, is used in the system.
MQTT is a very light-weight, publish/subscribe messaging protocol, which is
widely used for different IoT applications.
• The wireless LAN is used for connecting the cluster head with a gateway.
The TelosB motes are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol.
• Software: Software is an essential part of the system by which different
operations of the system are executed. To operate the TelosB motes,
TinyOS, an open-source, low-power operating system is used. This OS is
widely used for different WSN applications.
• The data acquired from the sensor node is stored with a timestamp and
sequence number (SN). For wired deployments, the sampling rate used is
30 samples/hour. However, in the wireless deployment, the sampling rate is
significantly reduced to 6 samples/hour.
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• The TinyOS is capable of activating low-power listening modes
of a mote, which is used for switching a mote into low-power
mode during its idle state. In the ground sensor, TelosB motes
broadcast the data frame, and the cluster head (Raspberry-Pi)
receives it. This received data is transmitted to the gateway.
Besides acquiring ground sensor data, the Raspberry-Pi works
as a cluster head. In this system, the cluster head can re-boot
any affected ground sensor node automatically.
• IoT Architecture: The MQTT broker runs in the Internet server
of the system. This broker is responsible for receiving the data
from the WSN. The GUI is built using an Apache server. The
visualization of the data is performed at the server itself.
Further, when a sensor fails, the server informs the users. The
server can provide different system-related information to the
smartphone of the registered user.

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 Smart irrigation management system
• In agriculture, the regular monitoring of different agricultural parameters,
such as water level, soil moisture, fertilizers, and soil temperature are
essential. Moreover, for monitoring these agricultural parameters, a farmer
needs to go to his/her field and collect the data.
• Excess water supply in the agricultural field can damage the crops. On the
other hand, insufficient water supply in the agricultural field also affects the
healthy growth of crops. Thus, efficient and optimized water supply in the
agricultural field is essential.
• This case study highlights a prototype of an irrigation management system,
developed at the IIT-Kharagpur, funded by the Govt. of India. The primary
objective of this system is to provide a Web-based platform to the farmer
for managing the water supply of an irrigated agricultural field.
• The system is capable of providing a farmer-friendly interface by which the
field condition can be monitored. With the help of this system, a farmer can
take the necessary decision for the agricultural field based on the analysis of
the data.
• However, the farmer need not worry about the complex background
architecture of the system. It is an affordable solution for the farmers to
access the agricultural field data easily and remotely.

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 Architecture: Smart irrigation management system

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• Architecture: The architecture of this system consists of 3 layers: Sensing and
actuating layer, remote processing and service layer, and application layer.
• These layers perform dedicated tasks depending on the requirements of the
system.
• (i) Sensing and Actuating layer: This layer deals with different physical devices,
such as sensor nodes, actuators, and communication modules.
• In the system, a specially designated sensor node works as a cluster head to
collect data from other sensor nodes, which are deployed on the field for
sensing the value of soil moisture and water level.
• A cluster head is equipped with two communication module: ZigBee (IEEE
802.15.4) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
• The communication between the deployed sensor nodes and the cluster head
takes place with the help of ZigBee. Further, the cluster heads use GPRS to
transmit data to the remote server.
• An electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), integrated
with the cluster head, stores a predefined threshold value of water levels and
soil moisture.
• When the sensed value of the deployed sensor node drops below this
predefined threshold value, a solenoid (pump) activates to start the irrigation
process.
• In the system, the standard EC-05 soil moisture sensor is used along with the
water level sensor. A water level sensor is shown in Figure (a).
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• (ii) Processing and Service layer: This layer acts as an intermediate layer
between the sensing and actuating layer and the application layer. The
sensed and process data is stored in the server for future use.
• Moreover, these data are accessible at any time from any remote
location by authorized users. Depending on the sensed values from the
deployed sensor nodes, the pump actuates to irrigate the field.
• A processing board as depicted in Figure (b) is developed for the
project.

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• (iii) Application layer: The farmer can access the status of the pump,
whether it is in switch on/off, and the value of different soil parameters
from his/her cell phone. This information is accessible with the help of the
integrated GSM facility of the farmers cell phone.
• Additionally, an LED array indicator and LCD system is installed in the
farmers house. Using the LCD and LED, a farmer can easily track the
condition of his respective fields. Apart from this mechanism, a farmer can
manually access field information with the help of a Web-based application.
• Deployment: The system has been deployed and experimented in two
agricultural fields: (i) an agricultural field at the IIT Kharagpur, India, and (ii)
Benapur, a village near IIT Kharagpur, India.
• Both the agricultural fields were divided into 10 equal sub-fields of 3X3m2.
In order to examine the performance, the system was deployed at over 4
sub-fields. Each of these sub-fields consists of a solenoid valve, a water level
sensor, and a soil moisture sensor, along with a processing board.
• On the other hand, the remaining six sub-fields were irrigated through a
manual conventional irrigation process. The comparison analysis between
these six and four fields summarily reports that the designed system’s
performance is superior to the conventional manual process of irrigation.

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