AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Brief Background

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 1

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

The continuous increase in food demand requires a rapid improvement in food production technologies. Food
insecurity is a major challenge in developing countries. In a country like Kenya where the economy is mainly
agriculture based, use of technology to improve on yields is paramount. Agriculture in Kenya is mainly rain fed.
Global warming has led to climate changing thus rendering the rain fed agricultural systems unreliable. This has
resulted on more land being put under irrigation to meet the food demand for the growing population. In Kenya
approximately 125,000 hectares of land is under irrigation out of the estimated potential of 1.3 million
hectares. Only 30% of the 1.3 million hectares potential irrigation land has available water resources while the
other 70% require water harnessing for irrigation to be realized. [10] Irrigation is the process of artificial
application of water to land to aid crops growth. It is mainly used during dry seasons or in dry areas where
rainfall is scarce.

1.2 Types of irrigation

1.2.1.1 Ditch Irrigation

This is one of the earliest irrigation methods to be used. Ditches/trenches are dug out and crops are planted
along the ditches in rows.

1.2.1.2 Terrace Irrigation

The land is shaped into steps. Crops are planted on the flat areas. Water flows down the steps watering each of
the flat areas. This method is both time and labour intensive in building the terraces.

1.2.1.3 Drip Irrigation

This is one of the most effective and efficient method of irrigation as water is dripped at the crop root zone. The
method saves water from runoff and evaporation.

1.2.1.4 Sprinkler irrigation

This method uses overhead sprinklers. Each sprinkler irrigates a given area. During installation care should be
taken to avoid over or under watering some areas. If poorly installed a lot of water is wasted via runoff.

1.2.1.5 Rotary Systems

This is an improvement of sprinkler irrigation method where sprinklers are mechanically moving in a
rotary/circular manner. This method is best suited for huge tracks of land. This method is more efficient than
the basic sprinkler method. This project presents a microcontroller based irrigation system which monitor and
control the soil moisture content so as to optimize the application of water. Good water balance leads to
maximum crop production. The system presented automates irrigation systems with the use of low cost sensor,
microcontroller and the simple circuitry, thereby making it a low cost.

1.2 Problem statement

Over the last decades, empirical experience has shown that irrigation increases yield of most crops by between
100 and 400%. It is expected that, over the next 30 years, 70% of the grain production will be from irrigated
land in the world. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that irrigated land in developing countries
will increase by 27%t in the next 20 years, but the amount of water expected to be available for agricultural
production will only increase by a mere 12 per cent. The available water resource for irrigation has to be put to

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 2

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

optimal use through appropriate technology. This project aims at automating irrigation systems using a micro-
controller to improve on water management. This will increase yields, improve crop quality, and most
importantly conserve water thus saving money.

1.3 Main objectives

The system is expected to monitor moisture/humidity levels in the soil and switch on/off the watering system
according to set moisture levels.

1.5 Project justification

The increasing world population has lead to exponential increase in food demand. This event has necessitated
the need for more land to be cultivated. Due to change of weather patterns brought about by global warming,
irrigation remains as the only reliable method of crops production. With more and more land now being under
irrigation there is a need for optimal use of water.[2] Over the last few years knowledge in electronics and
computation has been used to solve present day challenges. In the forefront of the electronics revolution has
been the microcontroller. The microcontroller has been used together with various sensors to measure and
control physical quantities like temperature, humidity, heat and light. By controlling this physical quantities
using the microcontroller; automatic systems have been achieved. Irrigation systems in crop production can and
has also been automated. This solves the challenge brought about by the unreliability of climate changes thus
need for water optimization. Automation of the irrigation systems is one of the most convenient, efficient and
effective method of water optimization. The systems helps in saving water and thus more land can be brought
under irrigation. Crops grown under controlled conditions tend to be healthier and thus give more yields.
Controlled watering system results in reduction of fertilizer use and thus fertilizer costs go down.

1.4 Project scope

The scope of this project entails the design and implementation of a micro controlled irrigation system,
depending on the soil moisture content. Humidly/moisture sensor will be the input of the system and an
electric water pump will be the output of the microcontroller.

1.5 Project organization

This project report is organized into five chapters:

 Chapter one gives the introduction to the project, the project objectives and the scope.
 Chapter Two is the literature review which describes the system and the components used in the design.
 Chapter Three gives a complete technical aspect of the design.
 Chapter Four analyses and discusses the project.
 Chapter Five gives the conclusion of the whole project, if the objective and scope of the project were achieved.
This chapter also includes appendices and the references used.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 3

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

CHAPTER 2

2. COMPONENT DESCRIPTION

2.1 Sensors

A sensor is a device that detects and measures a physical quantity from the environment and converts it into an
electronic signal. The physical quantity could be moisture, temperature, motion, light or any other physical
phenomenon. Examples of sensors include: oxygen sensors, temperature sensors, infra-red sensors, humidly
sensors, soil moisture sensors and motion detection sensors. The output of the sensors is usually charge,
current or voltage. Of interest in this paper is the soil moisture sensor.

2.1.3 Types of soil moisture sensors

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 4

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

2.1.3.1 Electrical resistance blocks Sensors

These sensors are made up of two electrodes made from a porous substance like sand ceramic mixture or
gypsum. The two electrodes are imbedded in the soil during installation. [4] Moisture is allowed to move freely
in and out of the sensors electrodes as the soil becomes moist or dries up. The resistance of the electrodes to
the flow current is correlated with moisture content.
To measure this resistance the electrodes are biased (energized) with a dc voltage and the
current flowing through them measured. Applying Ohm’s law;

R=V/I

Where,
R is resistance (Unknown) (Ω)
V is biasing voltage (3.3V to 5.0V)
I is the current flowing through the electrodes (Amps)

Figure 2.1.Home made soil moisture sensor

When the moisture content in the soil is high more current will be allowed to flow thus indicating low
resistance. On the other hand for dry soils the sensor will indicate higher resistance portrayed by the low
current reading. This type of sensor is cheap and readily available. Electrical resistance blocks Sensors can also
be readily assembled from home using two metal plates or steel nails. Electrical resistance blocks Sensors are
mostly used in small projects and gardens due to the following disadvantages;
 They are badly affected by soil PH and salinity thus requiring regular maintenance
 They have low sensitivity.
 The electrodes; especially which provides a constant source of ions; do not dry at the same rate as the soil
surrounding it.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 5

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 2.2. Schematic of an electrical resistance block and meter

2.1.3.2 Electrical conductivity probe sensors
Electrical conductivity probes employ the same principle as the Electrical resistance blocks Sensors. The one
major difference between the two types of sensors is that Electrical conductivity probes sensors have their
electrodes/probes in direct contact with the soil.By definition electricity is the flow of charges and water in its
pure form cannot conduct electricity. The amount of impurities in water and mineral salts make it polar thus
able to conduct electricity. A large volume of water will mean more ions and thus better electric conduction.
Electrical conductivity probes senso rs takes advantage of this phenomenon.The amount of current passing
between the probes is directly proportional to the soil moisture content. Moist soil allow more current to flow
between the probes while drier soils only allow a little current to flow between the probes. Better conductivity
indicates a lower electrical resistance.
Most of the soil moisture sensors currently in the market especially for small projects are Electrical conductivity
probes sensors. They have the following advantages.
 They are cheap
 They are readily available
 Easy to calibrate and install

2.1.3.3 Dielectric sensors

Dielectric sensors measure the soil water content in the soil by measuring the dielectric permittivity of the soil. A
dielectric material is substance that does not conductor electricity, but supports electrostatic field s efficiently.
At some cases dielectric substance are referred to as insulators. The volume of water in the soil influences the
dielectric permittivity of soil.The dielectric of water which is 80.4 is greater than other soil constituents.
Therefore change in the amount of water in the soil will directly lead to change in the soil dielectric permittivity.
Dielectric sensors are very complex to build thus making them very expensive. These sensors are mostly used in
scientific research owing to their high accuracy and cost Dielectric sensors are classified into two types namely:
Capacitance sensors and Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) sensors. These sensors do not measure electrical
conductivity while measuring soil moisture.

2.1.3.4 Capacitance sensors

Capacitance sensors use frequency domain reflectometry (FDR).Frequency domain reflectometry is the
measure of signal reflections through a medium across frequency. Capacitance sensors contain two electrodes
which are separated by a dielectric material. The soil becomes the dielectric component after the electrodes are
inserted into the soil; it could even be inserted into the access tube in the soil to achieve the same results. A
high oscillating frequency is thereafter applied to the electrodes to induce a resonant frequency. The magnitude
of the resonant frequency is dependent on the dielectric constant of the soil which in turns depends on or can

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 6

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

change to the soil’s moisture content. The change of the frequency as a result of the soil’s moisture content is
converted into the measurement of the soil moisture.

2.1.3.5 Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) sensors

Time Domain Reflectometry uses the principle of waveguides. The actual content of water in the soil is
measured under this technology and not the water potential.The TDR device sends signals to the rods inserted
in the soil. The time required for an electromagnetic signal to travel along the wave guide is measured. The rate
at which the send signal returns is used to measure the water content in the soil. The return rate is dependent
on the dielectric properties of the soil. The signal takes longer time in moisture soils and shorter time in dry soil.
This pulse signal is then converted into soil moisture measurement.TDR sensors give accurate readings faster
and require very little maintenance. The major disadvantage of TDR sensors is that they require they require
different calibrations depending on different soil types.

2.1.3.6 Heat dissipation sensors

Heat dissipation sensors measure the soil moisture content by measuring the amount of heat dissipated from a
medium which is of ceramic kind in most cases. The water contained in the medium spaces is directly
proportional to the heat dissipated from the medium.The less the water contained in the medium the less the
heat dissipated and more heat is dissipated if the water contained in the medium is high. More heat dissipated
leads to lower reading on the sensor and less heat dissipated leads to higher reading on the sensor. The sensor
uses the principle of capillarity. Capillary forces influence movement of water between the sensor medium and
the surrounding soil. Heat dissipation sensors are independent of soil salinity thus not affected by soil type.
They require minimum or no calibration at all. On the downside this type of sensors are very expensive.

2.1.3.7 Tensiometer Sensors

Tensiometers sensors measure the soil moisture content in the soil by measuring the moisture tension/suction
in the soil. Tensiometers sensors is made up of two major parts; a plastic tube which has a ceramic porous
medium at its tip and a vacuum gauge on the opposite end. During installation the ceramic tip is buried in the
soil at the calibrated depth which should be as near as possible to the plants root area. The vacuum gauge
measures the effort the plants roots have to put to extract water from the soil.This is the measure of the soil
measure tension which is measured in centibars.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 7

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 2.3 Diagram of a tensiometer

If the soil moisture content is low the roots work harder to extract water from the soil. The reading on the
sensor is high. When water is more available in the soil the roots works less and thus lower reading is indicated
on the sensor.

Figure 2.4 Tensiometer installation

2.1.3.8 YL-69 Moisture Sensor

Although soil water status can be determined by direct (soil sampling) and
indirect (soil moisture sensing) methods, direct methods of monitoring soil moisture are not commonly used for
irrigation scheduling because they are intrusive and labor intensive and cannot provide immediate feedback.
Soil moisture probes can be permanently installed at representative points in an agricultural field to provide
repeated moisture readings over time that can be used for irrigation management. Special care is needed when
using soil moisture devices in coarse soils since most devices require close contact with the soil matrix that is

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 8

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

sometimes difficult to achieve in these soils. Most of the currently available volumetric sensors suitable for
irrigation are dielectric. This group of sensors estimate soil water content by measuring the soil bulk permittivity
(or dielectric constant) that determines the velocity of an electromagnetic wave or pulse through the soil. In a
composite material like the soil (i.e., made up of different components like minerals, air and water), the value of
the permittivity is made up by the relative contribution of each of the components. Since the dielectric constant
of liquid water is much larger than that of the other soil constituents, the total permittivity of the soil or bulk
permittivity is mainly governed by the presence of liquid water.
The dielectric methods use empirical (calibrated) relationships between volumetric water content and the
sensor output signal (time, frequency, impedance, wave phase). These techniques are becoming widely
adopted because they have good response time (almost instantaneous measurements), do not require
maintenance, and can provide continuous readings through automation.

Figure 2.5 YL-69 Sensor

Although these sensors are based on the dielectric principle the various types available (frequency domain
reflectometry-FDR, capacitance, time domain transmission-TDT, amplitude domain reflectometry-ADR, time
domain reflectometry-TDR, and phase transmission) present important differences in terms of calibration
requirements, accuracy, installation and maintenance requirements and cost. Soil moisture is an important
component in the atmospheric water cycle, both on a small agricultural scale and in large-scale modelling of
land/atmosphere interaction. Vegetation and crops always depend more on the moisture available at root level
than on precipitation occurrence. Water budgeting for irrigation planning, as well as the actual scheduling of
irrigation action, requires local soil moisture information. Knowledge of the degree of soil wetness helps to
forecast the risk of flash floods, or the occurrence of fog. Soil water content is an expression of the mass or
volume of water in the soil, while the soil water potential is an expression of the soil water energy status. The
relation between content and potential is not universal and depends on the characteristics of the local soil, such
as soil density and soil texture.
The basic technique for measuring soil water content is the gravimetric method. Because this method is based
on direct measurements, it is the standard with which all other methods are compared. Unfortunately,
gravimetric sampling is destructive, rendering repeat measurements on the same soil sample impossible.
Because of the difficulties of accurately measuring dry soil and water volumes, volumetric water contents are
not usually determined directly. Measuring soil moisture is very important in agriculture to help farmer for
managing the irrigation system. Soil moisture sensor is one who solves this.
This sensor measures the content of water. Soil moisture sensor uses the capacitance to measure the water
content of soil. It is easy to use this sensor. Simply insert this rugged sensor into the soil to be tested, and the
volumetric water content of the soil is reported in percent. Soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 9

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

content in soil. Since the direct gravimetric measurement of free soil moisture requires removing, drying, and
weighting of a sample, soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content indirectly by using some
other property of the soil, such as electrical resistance, dielectric constant, or interaction with neutrons, as a
proxy for the moisture content.
The relation between the measured property and soil moisture must be calibrated and may vary depending on
environmental factors such as soil type, temperature, or electric conductivity. Reflected microwave radiation is
affected by the soil moisture and is used for remote sensing in hydrology and agriculture. Portable probe
instruments can be used by farmers or gardeners. Soil moisture sensors typically refer to sensors that estimate
volumetric water content. Another class of sensors measure another property of moisture in soils called water
potential; these sensors are usually referred to as soil water potential sensors and include tensiometers and
gypsum blocks.

YL-69 soil moisture sensor has the following specifications:

Vcc power supply 3.3V or 5V

Current 35Ma
Signal output voltage 0-4.2V
Digital Outputs 0 or 1
Analog Resistance (Ω)
Panel Dimension 3.0cm by 1.6cm
Probe Dimension 6.0cm by 3.0cm
GND Connected to ground

Table 2-1 YL-69 specifications

Figure 2.6:- YL-69 PCB

The sensor comes with a small PCB board fitted with LM393 comparator chip and a digital potentiometer

2.1.4 Sensor Selection

When deciding on which sensor to use the following factors should be put into consideration: -

Price: This is the most important parameter when selecting any component. The price of the sensor will
ultimately affect the price of the whole system as this is one of the major system modules. Sensor with the most
competitive price should be chosen.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 10

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Power: In any electrical system power efficiency is critical. Moisture sensor will low power consumption should
be selected. Sensors which can be battery powered can be used in areas without electricity connection.

Technology: Technology used to design sensor dictate the sensitivity, cost and durability of the sensors. Most
low cost sensors have poor sensitivity, rust and corrode over time. Resistive or conductive sensors which are
affected by soli salinity thus have a short life.

Shape: Long and slender sensors can be used in many applications than bulky ones.

Durability: Soil moisture sensor which are not affected by soil salinity, corrode or rust should be selected. Soil
moisture sensor probes that measure conductivity or resistance should be avoided, since they will wear out over
time.

Accuracy and Linearity: quality soil moisture sensor probe should give an output which is proportional to
water content over the full output range. In addition, the soil moisture sensor probe should have a good output
range to reduce sensitivity to noise.

Voltage Range: Choose a sensor that has a big supply voltage range. Powering a sensor with the wrong voltage
will damage the sensor or give inaccurate results.

Maintenance The technology used to design the sensors determines the regularity of maintenance. Electric
resistance and conductance sensors tend to corrode with time and thus require regular maintenance and
replacement. TDT and TDR sensors are the most stable and durable thus requiring minimum maintenance.

2.2 Microcontroller

A microcontroller is a single on chip computer which includes number of peripherals like RAM, EEPROM,
Timers etc., required to perform some predefined task. There are different microcontroller families including:
8051, PIC (Programmable Interface Controller) and AVR. Microcontrollers are used in digital applications as
control units. Some microcontrollers come with their in-build circuits like Analog to digital convertors or digital
to analog convertors.
Microcontrollers are mostly programmed using assembly language but in recent years high level languages like
C, C++ PASCAL and java have been used. High level programming of microcontrollers brings the advantage of
not having a different program for each microcontroller manufacturer. High level programming is also neat, easy
to document and maintain and user friendly.

2.2.1 Types of Microcontrollers

2.2.1.1 8051

These are among the earlier microcontrollers to be fabricated. Due to superiority in technology in the newer
versions, very few companies still fabricate 8051. Earlier types of 8051 have 12 clocks per instruction whereas
the newer versions have 6 clocks per instruction. 8051 microcontroller does not have an in built memory bus and
ADC. First 8051 microcontroller to be fabricated with Harvard architecture was done in 1980 by Intel.

2.2.1.2 Programmable Interface Controller (PIC)

Programmable Interface Controllers are commonly referred to as PIC. PICs are slightly older than 8051
microcontrollers. PICs are preferred to 8051 because of their small low pin count devices. PICs perform better
and are affordable than 8051.The Microchip technology fabricated the single chip microcontroller PIC with
Harvard architecture. The only major downside of PIC is its programming part is very tedious. PICs are hence
not recommended for beginners.

2.2.1.3 AVR:

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 11

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

In 1996, Atmel fabricated this single chip microcontroller with a modified Harvard Architecture. This chip is
loaded with C- compiler and a free IDE. Like PIC, AVR microcontrollers are difficult for the beginners to work
with. AVR microcontroller has on-chip boot-loader thus AVR can be programmed easily without any external
programmer. AVR controllers has number of I/O ports, timers/counters, interrupts, A/D converters, USART, I2C
interfaces, PWM channels, on-chip analog comparators.

 History of AVR
AVR was developed in the year 1996 by Atmel Corporation. The architecture of AVR was developed by Alf-Egil
Bogen and Vegard Wollan. AVR derives its name from its developers and stands for Alf-Egil Bogen Vegard Wollan
RISC microcontroller, also known as Advanced Virtual RISC. The AT90S8515 was the first microcontroller which was
based on AVR architecture however the first microcontroller to hit the commercial market was AT90S1200 in the
year 1997.

Fig 2.7 : AVR Microcontroller

AVR stands for advance virtual RISC.

AVR microcontrollers are available in three categories:-

1. Tiny AVR – Less memory, small size, suitable only for simpler applications.

2. Mega AVR – These are the most popular ones having good amount of memory (up to 256 KB), higher
number of inbuilt peripherals and suitable for moderate to complex applications.

3. mega AVR – Used commercially for complex applications, which require large program memory and high
speed.

2.2.2 Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics design platform. The Arduino board is specially designed for programming
and prototyping with Atmel microcontrollers. An arduino interacts with physical world via sensors. Using
arduino; electric equipments can be designed to respond to change in physical elements like temperature,
humidity, heat or even light.This is the automation process. For example, reading a humidity sensor and turning
on and off of an automatic irrigation system. There several types of arduino boards.
The open-source Arduino environment allows one to write code and load it onto the Arduino board's memory.
The development environment is written in Java and based on Processing, AVR-GCC, and other open source

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 12

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

software.The Arduino programming language is an implementation of Wiring, a similar physical computing

platform, which is based on the Processing multimedia programming environment. The arduino software is
published as open source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be
expanded through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the technical details can make the leap from
Arduino to the AVR C programming language on which it's based. Similarly, AVR-C code can be added directly
into the Arduino programs if one so wishes.

2.2.3 Types of arduino boards

2.2.3.1 Legacy Versions

Arduino legacy versions include Arduino NG, Diecimila, and the Duemilanove. These arduinos use
ATMEGA168 chips. They require manual selection of either USB or battery power. For Arduino NG one is
required to hold the rest button on the board for a few seconds before uploading a program on to it.

Figure 2.8 Different types of arduino

Arduino Uno:-
This is the most common arduino type. This arduino type uses ATmega328 AVR microcontroller.
Arduino is an open-source prototyping platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino
boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message - and turn it
into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. We can tell your board
what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so we use the
Arduino programming language (based on wiring), and the Arduino Software(IDE), based on Processing.
The Arduino Uno can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply.
The power source is selected automatically. External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC
adapter (wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center-positive plug
into the board's power jack. Leads from a battery can be inserted in the Gnd and Vin pin headers of the
POWER connector. The board can operate on an external supply of 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with less than
7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board may be unstable. If using more than
12V, the voltage regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 13

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Table:- 2.2 arduino uno specification

Figure 2.9 Arduino uno

 What Does it Do?
The Arduino hardware and software was designed for artists, designers, hobbyists, hackers, newbies, and
anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Arduino can interact with buttons, LEDs,
motors, speakers, GPS units, cameras, the internet, and even your smart-phone or your TV! This flexibility
combined with the fact that the Arduino software is free, the hardware boards are pretty cheap, and both the
software and hardware are easy to learn has led to a large community of users who have contributed code and
released instructions for a huge varietyofArduino-based projects.

 What's on the board?

There are many varieties of Arduino boards (explained on the next page) that can be used for different
purposes. Some boards look a bit different from the one below, but most Arduinos have the majority of these
components in common

 Power (USB / Barrel Jack)

Every Arduino board needs a way to be connected to a power source. The Arduino UNO can
be powered from a USB cable coming from your computer or wall power supply (like this)
that is terminated in a barrel jack. In the picture above the USB connection is labeled (1)
and the barrel jack is labelled (2). The USB connection is also how you will load code onto

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 14

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

your Arduino board.

 Pins (5V, 3.3V, GND, Analog, Digital, PWM, AREF)

The pins on your Arduino are the places where you connect wires to construct a circuit (probably in conjuction
with a breadboard and some wire. They usually have black plastic „headers‟ that allow you to just plug a wire
right into the board. The Arduino has several different kinds of pins, each of which is labeled on the board and
used for different functions:-

GND (3): Short for „Ground‟. There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of
which can be used to ground your circuit.

5V (4) & 3.3V (5): As you might guess, the 5V pin supplies 5 volts of power, and the 3.3V pin supplies 3.3 volts of
power. Most of the simple components used with the Arduino run happily off of 5 or 3.3 volts.

Analog (6): The area of pins under the „Analog In‟ label (A0 through A5 on the UNO) are Analog In pins. These
pins can read the signal from an analog sensor (like a temperature sensor) and convert it into a digital value that
we can read.

Digital (7): Across from the analog pins are the digital pins (0 through 13 on the UNO). These pins can be used
for both digital input (like telling if a button is pushed) and digital output (like powering an LED).

PWM (8): You may have noticed the tilde (~) next to some of the digital pins (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 on the UNO).
These pins act as normal digital pins, but can also be used for something called Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM).
We have a tutorial on PWM, but for now, think of these pins as being able to simulate analog output (like fading
an LED in and out).

AREF (9): Stands for Analog Reference. Most of the time you can leave this pin alone. It is sometimes used to
set an external reference voltage (between 0 and 5 Volts) as the upper limit for the analog input pins.

 Reset Button
Just like the original Nintendo, the Arduino has a reset button (10). Pushing it will temporarily connect the reset
pin to ground and restart any code that is loaded on the Arduino. This can be very useful if your code doesn‟t
repeat, but you want to test it multiple times. Unlike the original Nintendo however, blowing on the Arduino
doesn‟t usually fix any problems.

 Power LED Indicator

Just beneath and to the right of the word “UNO” on your circuit board, there‟s a tiny LED next to the word
„ON‟ (11). This LED should light up whenever you plug your into a power source. If this light doesn‟t turn on,
there‟s a good chance something is wrong. Time to re-check your circuit!

 TX RX LEDs
TX is short for transmit, RX is short for receive. These markings appear quite a bit in electronics to indicate the
pins responsible for serial communication. In our case, there are two places on the Arduino UNO where TX and
RX appear – once by digital pins 0 and 1, and a second time next to the TX and RX indicator LEDs (12). These
LEDs will give us some nice visual indications whenever our Arduino is receiving or transmitting data (like when
we‟re loading a new program onto the board).

 Main IC
The black thing with all the metal legs is an IC, or Integrated Circuit (13). Think of it as the brains of our Arduino.
The main IC on the Arduino is slightly different from board type to board type, but is usually from the A Tmega

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 15

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

line of IC‟s from the ATMEL company. This can be important, as you may need to know the IC type (along with
your board type) before loading up a new program from the Arduino software. This information can usually be
found in writing on the top side of the IC. If you want to know more about the difference between various IC‟s,
reading the datasheets is often a good idea.

 Voltage Regulator
The voltage regulator (14) is not actually something you can (or should) interact with on the Arduino. But it is
potentially useful to know that it is there and what it‟s for. The voltage regulator does exactly what it says – it
controls the amount of voltage that is let into the Arduino board. Think of it as a kind of gatekeeper; it will turn
away an extra voltage that might harm the circuit. Of course, it has its limits, so don‟t hook up yourn Arduino to
anything greater than 20 volts.

 The Arduino Family

Arduino makes several different boards, each with different capabilities. In addition, part of being open source
hardware means that others can modify and produce derivatives of Arduino boards that provide even more
form factors and functionality.

 DESCRIPTION OF ATMEGA 328P MICROCONTROLLER :

The ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P is a low-power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR enhanced
RISC architecture. By executing powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the
ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P achieves throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz allowing the system
designed to optimize power consumption versus processing speed.

The ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P provides the following features: -

4K/8K bytes of In-System Programmable Flash with Read-While-Write capabilities, 256/512/512/1K bytes
EEPROM, 512/1K/1K/2K bytes SRAM, 23 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers, three
flexible Timer/Counters with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, a serial programmable USART, a
byte-oriented 2-wire Serial Interface, an SPI serial port, a 6- channel 10-bit ADC (8 channels in TQFP and
QFN/MLF packages), a programmable Watchdog Timer with internal Oscillator, and five software selectable
power saving modes.
The Idle mode stops the CPU while allowing the SRAM, Timer/Counters, USART,
2-wire Serial Interface, SPI port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode saves the
register contents but freezes the Oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next interrupt or
hardware reset. In Power-save mode, the asynchronous timer continues to run, allowing the user to maintain a
timer base while the rest of the device is sleeping. The ADC Noise Reduction mode stops the CPU and all I/O
modules except asynchronous timer and ADC, to minimize switching noise during ADC conversions. In Standby
mode, the crystal/resonator Oscillator is running while the rest of the device is sleeping. This allows very fast
start-up combined with low power consumption.

The AVR core combines a rich instruction set with 32 general purpose working registers. All the 32 registers are
directly connected to the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), allowing two independent registers to be accessed in one
single instruction executed in one clock cycle. The Idle Mode stops the CPU while allowing the RAM,
timer/counters, serial port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode saves the
RAM contents but freezes the oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next interrupt or hardware
reset.
The device is manufactured using Atmega high density non- volatile memory technology. The On-chip
ISP Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed In-System through an SPI serial interface, by a
conventional non-volatile memory programmer, or by an On-chip Boot program running on the AVR core. The
Boot program can use any interface to download the application program in the Application Flash memory.
Software in the Boot Flash section will continue to run while the Application Flash section is updated, providing
true Read-While-Write operation. By combining an 8-bit RISC CPU with In-System Self-Programmable Flash on a
monolithic chip, the Atmel ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P is a powerful microcontroller that provides a highly

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 16

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

flexible and cost effective solution to many embedded control applications. The Boot program can use any
interface to download the application program in the Application Flash memory. This allows very fast start-up
combined with low power consumption.

Fig: 2.10 ATMEGA328

Even though there are separate addressing schemes and optimized opcodes for register file and I/O register
access, all can still be addressed and manipulated as if they were in SRAM.
In the ATMEGA variant, the working
register file is not mapped into the data address space; as such, it is not possible to treat any of the ATMEGA's
working registers as though they were SRAM.

BLOCK DIAGRAM:-

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 17

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Fig 2.11: BLOCK DIAGRAM OF ATMEGA328

The AVR core combines a rich instruction set with 32 general purpose working registers. All the 32 registers are
directly connected to the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), allowing two independent registers to be accessed in one
single instruction executed in one. clock cycle. The resulting architecture is more code efficient while achieving
throughputs up to ten times faster than conventional CISC microcontrollers.

The Idle mode stops the CPU while allowing the SRAM, Timer/Counters, USART, 2-wire Serial
Interface, SPI port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode saves the register
contents but freezes the Oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next interrupt or hardware reset. In
Power-save mode, the asynchronous timer continues to run, allowing the user to maintain a timer base while the
rest of the device is sleeping. The ADC Noise Reduction mode stops the CPU and all I/O modules except

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 18

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

asynchronous timer and ADC, to minimize switching noise during ADC conversions. In Standby mode, the
crystal/resonator Oscillator is running while the rest of the device is sleeping. This allows very fast start-up
combined with low power consumption.

The device is manufactured using Atmel’s high density non-volatile memory technology. The On-chip
ISP Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed In-System through an SPI serial interface, by a
conventional non-volatile memory programmer, or by an On-chip Boot program running on the AVR core. The
Boot program can use any interface to download the application program in the Application Flash memory.
Software in the Boot Flash section will continue to run while the Application Flash section is updated, providing
true Read-While-Write operation. By combining an 8-bit RISC CPU with In-System Self-Programmable Flash
on a monolithic chip, the Atmel ATmega328P is a powerful microcontroller that provides a highly flexible and
cost effective solution to many embedded control applications.

Figure 2.12 Atmega 328 microcontroller pin configuration

PIN DESCRIPTION:-

 VDD
Digital supply voltage

 GND
Ground

 ADC0-ADC5

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 19

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Analog input pins are used to read analog sensors. The converter has 10 bit resolution, returning
integers from 0 to 1023.

 DIGITAL I/O 0-DIGITAL I/O 13

These pins can be configured as either inputs or outputs.

 RXD, TXD
Serial: pins 0(RX) and 1(TX). Used to receive and transmit TTL serial data.

 INT0, INT1
External Interrupts: pins 2(INT0) and 3(INT1). These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a
low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value.

 XTAL1, XTAL2
Crystal oscillator, an external crystal to make it run at the frequency requires.
 PWM
Digital I/O pin 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 gives analog results with digital means.

 LED
Pin 13. There is a built-in LED connected to digital pin 13. When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on,
when the pin is LOW, it’s off.

 ATmega328 is more preferred due to the following features:-

 Have three 8-bit bi-directional I/O ports with internal pull-up resistors.
 32K Bytes of flash memory.
 1K Bytes EEPROM
 2K Bytes of RAM
 2 instruction words/vector.
 8-channel 10-bit successive approximation ADC
 Programmable Serial USART
 23 Programmable I/O Lines
 Operating Voltage 1.8 - 5.5Ve.t.c

2.2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen is an electronic display module. An LCD has a wide range of applications
in electronics. The most basic and commonly used LCD in circuits is the 16x2 display. LCDs are commonly
preferred in display because they are cheap, easy to programme and can display a wide range of characters and
animations.
A 16x2 LCD have two display lines each capable of displaying 16 characters. This LCD has Command and Data
registers. The command register stores command instructions given to the LCD while the Data register stores the
data to be displayed by the LCD. A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronic
visual display that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light
directly. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose computer display) or fixed
images with low information content, which can be displayed or hidden, such as preset words, digits, and
7-segment displays as in a digital clock.

They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made up of a large number of small
pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs are used in a wide range of applications including
computer monitors, televisions, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and signage. They are
common in consumer devices such as DVD players, gaming devices, clocks, watches, calculators, and
telephones, and have replaced cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in nearly all applications.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 20

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

They are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT and plasma displays, and since they do not use
phosphors, they do not suffer image burn-in. LCDs are, however, susceptible to image persistence. Each
pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes, and
two polarizing filters (parallel and perpendicular), the axes of transmission of which are (in most of the
cases) perpendicular to each other. Without the liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light passing
through the first filter would be blocked by the second (crossed) polarizer.
Before an electric field is applied, the orientation of the liquid-
crystal molecules is determined by the alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted nematic (TN)
device, the surface alignment directions at the two electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the
molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or twist. This induces the rotation of the polarization
of the incident light, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal
molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely untwisted and the polarization of the incident
light is not rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer.
This light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the second filter,
and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid
crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting
different levels of gray. As most of present-day LCDs used in television sets, monitors and smart phones
have high-resolution matrix arrays of pixels to display arbitrary images using backlighting with a dark
background when no image is displayed, different arrangements are used. For this purpose, TN LCDs are
operated between parallel polarizer‟s, whereas IPS LCDs feature crossed polarizer‟s. In many
applications IPS LCDs have replaced TN LCDs, in particular in smart phones such as iPhones. Both the
liquid crystal material and the alignment layer material contain ionic compounds. If an electric field of one
particular polarity is applied for a long period of time, this ionic material is attracted to the surfaces and
degrades the device performance.
This is avoided either by applying an alternating current or
by reversing the polarity of the electric field as the device is addressed (the response of the liquid crystal
layer is identical, regardless of the polarity of the applied field). This is a basic 16 character by 2 line
display.16×2 LCD module is a very common type of LCD module that is used in 8051 based embedded
projects. It consists of 16 rows and 2 columns of 5×7 or 5×8 LCD dot matrices. The module were are
talking about here is type number JHD162A which is a very popular one . It is available in a 16 pin package
with back light, contrast adjustment function and each dot matrix has 5×8 dot resolution. The pin
numbers, their name and corresponding functions are shown in the table below:-

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 21

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 2.13 LCD (16X2)

Pin Function Symbol

numbe
r
1. Ground (0V) VSS Table 2.3 LCD
pin configuration 2. Supply voltage (5V) VDD
3. Contrast adjustment; V0
When through a variable using 8-bit
resistor configuration all 8
data pins (potentiometer) (DB0-DB7) are
used while 4. Selects command RS only 4 data pins
(DB4- register when low; DB7) are used in a
4-bit configuration.
and data register
They are available in a wider
when high
range of screen sizes than
CRT and 5. Low to write to the RW plasma displays,
and since register; High to read they do not use
phosphors, from the register they do not suffer
image 6 Sends data to data E burn-in. LCDs are,
however, pins when a high to susceptible to image
low pulse is given persistence.
7. 8-bit data pins D0
 Water 8. 8-bit data pins D1 Pump :
9. 8-bit data pins D2
The water pump is used to
10. 8-bit data pins D3
artificially supply water for a
11. 8-bit data pins D4
particular task. It can be
12. 8-bit data pins D5 electronically
controlled 13. 8-bit data pins D6 by interfacing it to a
14. 8-bit data pins D7 microcontroller. It
can be 15. Backlight VCC (5V) A triggered ON/OFF
by sending 16, Backlight Ground (0V) K signals as required.
The process of
artificially supplying water is known as pumping. There are many varieties of water pumps used. This project
employs the use of a small water pump which is connected to a H-Bridge. The pumping of water is a basic and
practical technique, far more practical than scooping it up with one's hands or lifting it in a hand-held bucket.
This is true whether the water is drawn from a fresh source, moved to a needed location, purified, or used for
irrigation, washing, or sewage treatment, or for evacuating water from an undesirable location. Regardless of
the outcome, the energy required to pump water is an extremely demanding component of water
consumption. All other processes depend or benefit either from water descending from a higher elevation or
some pressurized plumbing system.

Motor Driver: Because of very low current requirement, these motors can easily operate with small batteries
and solar panels. Quiet and smooth operation of this motor makes it a perfect choice for indoor and long hours
of operation.

Direction of rotation: Counter-Clockwise when viewing from the output shaft end with positive voltage applied
to positive terminal.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 22

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Fig 2.14: - Water Pump

Specifications:

 Operating range: 3.0 - 12.0 Volts

 Nominal Voltage: 12 No Load
 Speed: 5600 rpm
 No Load Current: 0.022 A
 Max. Efficiency Speed: 4906 rpm
 Max. Efficiency Current: 0.16 -0.23 A
 Max. Efficiency Torque: 21.1 g.cm
 Stall Torque: 170 g.cm
 Stall Current: 1.1 - 1.5 A
 Body Diameter: 24.4 mm
 Body Length: 32.5 mm
 Shaft Diameter: 2 mm
 Shaft Length: 10.5 mm
 Weight: 50 grams
 Contacts: 2mm x 3.9mm
 End Play: 0.05 ~ 0.45mm
 Operating Temperature: -10ºC ~ 60ºC

2.4 Automatic switching circuits

In electronics automation many times the designer is confronted by a situation where he/she has to switch very
high voltage equipment on, using a low voltage circuit. For example using a 5v dc voltage, it is possible to switch
on/off a 230v ac machine. [6] Digital or discrete signals enables as opposed to analog signals are used. There are
a number of components used in electronic switching today.

2.4.1 Relay switching circuit

This is an electromagnetic switch which is activated when a current is applied to it. A relay uses small currents to
switch huge currents. Most relays use principle of electromagnetism to operate but still other operating principles
like solid state are also used.A contactor is a type of relay which can handle a high power required to control an
electric motor or other loads directly. Solid state relays have no moving parts and they use semiconductor devices
to perform switching.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 23

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 2.15 5VDC Coil Relay

Relays are switches and thus terminologies applied to switches are also applied to relays. A relay switches one or
more poles, each of whose contacts can be thrown by energizing the coil in one of three ways.

 NO contacts connect the circuit when the relay is activated; the circuit is disconnected when the relay is inactive.

 NC contacts disconnect the circuit when the relay is activated; the circuit is connected when the relay is inactive.

 CO or double-throw (DT), contacts control two circuits: one normally-open contact and one normally-closed
contact with a common terminal.
A contact relay switches one or more poles each of whose contacts can be thrown by energizing the coil in three
ways namely; normally open(NO), normally closed(NC) or change over(CO).
Just like manual switches the relay switch part is available in various configurations. Double pole, double throw
(DPDT) configuration is most common configuration. DPDT means that the relay separately controls two
switches that work together. Both switches have a normally NO and NC contacts. Other commonly used
configurations are:

 SPST – Single Pole Single Throw. This relay configuring has four terminals. Two of the terminals are coil
terminals.

 SPDT – Single Pole Double Throw. This configuring has five terminals. One of the terminals is a common
terminal which connects to either of the two others.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 24

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 2.16 Inside a SPST relay

DPST – Double Pole Single Throw. This relay configuring has six terminals. It is equivalent to SPST in that it
is actuated by a single coil.
A simple example of relay application is where a 9V DC circuit can be used to turn on/off a 230v AC lamp.

Figure 2.17Simple relay interfacing

2.2.3. SPDT RELAY

Fig 2.18: SPDT RELAY

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 25

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Relay is an electromagnatic device which is used to isolate two circuits electrically and connect them
magnetically. Relays are simple switches which are operated both electrically and mechanically. Relays can be
used to interface between an electronic-circuit to a high voltage electric circuit based on the principle of
electromagnetic induction, for example a 220V AC main can be switched by a relay operated 5V battery.
Input section of a Relay has a coil which generates magnetic field with implementation of a
very small voltage from an electronic circuit, called the operating voltage. Commonly used relays with operating
voltages are 6V, 9V, 12V, 24V. There are mainly three connectors in a basic relay-normally open (NO), normally
closed (NC) and Common (COM). At no input state COM is connected to NC.
At applied operating voltage, coil gets energized and the COM makes contact to NO. The device
connected to NO will turn on when the relay receives power. Depending on different change over contacts
different relay configurations are available in the market such as-SPST, SPDT etc. Here in our proposed RX part
we have used SPDT relays.

CHAPTER 3
DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 26
 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

3 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

The system has three major parts; humidity sensing part, control section and the output section. The soil humidity
was detected using YL-69 soil sensor (a resistance type sensor). The control unit was achieved using
ATMega328 microcontroller based on arduino platform. The output was the control unit was used to control the
irrigation system by switching it on and off depending on the soil moisture contents. Two stages of design were
undertaken; hardware and software.

3.1 Hardware design

3.1.1 Control Unit: ATMega328 microcontroller on arduino platform

ATMega328 microcontroller on arduino platform was selected the control unit of the microcontroller. Arduino
Uno was selected from the expansive arduino family. Arduino Uno has a total of 20 inputs pins of which 14 are
digital and 6 are analog inputs. The digital pins can be used as either inputs or outputs and also 6 of the 14 pins
can be utilized as PMW. The board has a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection and a power jack.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 27

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.1 Arduino Uno

In the design of the system analog pins were selected as the arduino input and digital pin was selected as
the arduino output pins Other important pins on the arduino board are shown in the table below.

AREF Analog reference pin

GND(Digital side) Digital Ground
Vin Input voltage (external
power source)
5V Regulated power to the
microcontroller
3.3V 3.3V generated by the on-
board FTDI chip
GND Ground

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 28

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Table 3-1 Important pins in arduino

The pins on the arduino were selected as shown below:-

PIN CONNECTIONS
Digital pin 2 LCD D7 pin
Digital pin 3 LCD D6 pin
Digital pin 4 LCD D5 pin
Digital pin 5 LCD D4 pin
Digital pin 11 LCD Enable
Digital pin 12 LCD RS pin
Digital pin 7 Connection to Water Pump
Digital pin 8 LED Pin indicating Soggy soil
Digital pin 9 LED Pin indicating Moist soil
Digital pin 10 LED Pin indicating Dry soil
Analog Pin 4 Connection to Soil Moisture
Sensor
VCC 5VDC
GND Ground
Table 3-2 Selected pins on arduino

3.1.2 Sensing Unit:

3.1.3 YL-69 soil moisture sensor connection to arduino

YL-69 soil moisture sensor was interfaced to the arduino through a digital a PCB drive. The PCB drive has a
digital potentiometer and a LM393 comparator. The LM393 comparator is used to compare the voltages across
the sensor probes and the set Vcc voltage. The digipot is used to alter the sensitivity of the sensor when
connected in digital mode. The out of the PCB drive has four

Vcc Connected to 5VDC

GND Connected to ground
A0 Analog value output connector
D0 Digital value output connector（0 or
1）
Table 3-3 YL-69 PCB pins

The analogue configuration was selected as its more stable compared to the digital configuration. The PCB
drive pin A0 was connected to the arduino analog pin A0.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 29

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.2 YL-69 Connection to arduino board

The output of the sensor to the arduino analog pin A0 was resistance. The resistance to flow of current between
the sensor probes changes with soil moisture level and soil type.
The current passing through the sensor probes (Iout) for different soils and different soil moisture levels was
calculated as shown below:

Iout = Vcc / {Soil Resistance value (RS)}

Equation 3-1 YL-69 Current calculation

3.1.4 Output Units

3.1.4.1 LCD interface with Arduino

To affect display a 16x2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was chosen. LCD pins D4, D5, D6 and D7 were used as
data lines in a 4 bit mode configuration. These pins were connected to arduino pins 5, 4, 3 and 2 respectively. Pin
15(A) was connected to Vcc and pin 16 (K) was connected to GND. These pins (A and K) are for the LEDs
integrated on the LCD circuit board. LCD’s pin E (Enable) was connected to digital pin 11 on the arduino board.
Pin RS (Register Select) on the LCD was connected to arduino digital pin 12. R/W pin of the LCD was
connected to GND (ground).
The figure below shows the LCD-microcontroller interface.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 30

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.3 LCD Connection to arduino board

Ohms law was utilized to determine the size (in ohms) of the protection resistor to be interfaced with the LEDs.
From Ohms law,

Voltage (V) = {Current (I)}*{Resistance(R)}

Where as in our case,

V= Vcc (5V) -Voltage drop across LED (selected LEDs has 2.0V)
ILED= LED current (20mA)
VLED = LED Voltage drop (red in colour) (2V)
R= minimum required resistance value

Therefore, Rmin = {(5-2) V}/ {20mA} =150 Ω

Hence, To achieve current limitation a resistance value higher than the calculated Rmin
was selected. A 220Ω resistor was used and thus only 13.6mA current was allowed to pass through each of the
three LEDs.

3.1.4.3 Water pump connection to the Arduino

To implement the final bit of the automated irrigation system an electric motor (240VAC) was selected as the
water pump. The first two units of the system i.e. sensing unit and the control unit (microcontroller) are powered
by 5VDC. To interface the two units a 5VDC relay (SLT73-5D-1Z) was used as the isolation unit.
The microcontroller was connected to the relay via an NPN transistor (2N4123). To protect the transistor; while
turning it on, a resistor was used. The resistor limits the current flowing through the transistor. As was the case
with LEDs ohms law was used as shown below.

Rmin = (5 – 0.7) V / 40mA = 107.5𝛺

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 31

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

A resistor of 470𝛺 was selected and thus the current through the transistor was limited to;
4.3V / 470𝛺 =9.12 Ma

To protect the microcontroller from back e.m.f during switching a diode was connected across the relay. The
connection was as shown below.

Figure 3.4 Relay interfacing of arduino to the 240VAC pump

3.1.5 Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

A printed circuit board (PCB) is the board base for physically supporting and wiring the surface-mounted and
socketed components in most electronics.
In this project the PCB was mounted with resistors, LEDs, transistor, LCD, diode and the relay. The arduino
board pins were also terminated at the PCB. The following steps were followed in preparing the PCB.\

1.The circuit’s schematic was captured/designed using ExpressPCB software. Though not mandatory, this
stage is very important in that it helps one in placing all the components correctly

2. Using the same ExpressPCB application, the board layout with all the components and the power traces put
were put in place. The circuit schematic was used to confirm all the components were placed correctly.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 32

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.5 Printed Circuit Board design

3. Then a MIRRORED image of the PCB layout of actual size was printed. The printout printed only where
traces are needed; blank or empty places on the printout will eventually contain no copper and be completely
etched to the fiberglass under layer.
4. UV light was used to transfer the mask of the circuit layout from paper to the PCB.
5. The board was then developed by immersing in a basic and an acidic solution respectively. Two acids, ferric
chloride (Eisen-3-Chlorid) and Sodium Persulfate (Natriumpersulfat - Feinätzkristall), can be used at this stage
(etching) .This stage took at least 20 minutes. When etching is done the board changes from opaque pink to
transparent yellow.
6. Then the board was put into the rinse tank for a few seconds and then dried with a piece cloth.
7. Finally drilling of holes on the PCB was done and the board cut to the desired size.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 33

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.6 Circuit with all the components and parts

3.2 Software design

To be able to interpret the different states of the soil as prompted by the soil sensor the microcontroller was
programmed. The arduino integrated development environment (IDE) was used. The idea is based on C++ and
thus can be extended using C++ libraries. Arduino programs (sketches) are cross platform, Simple, clear and at
the same time flexible for advanced programmers. The project sketch is attached at the appendices page .

3.2.1 Program pseudo code

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 34

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

READ sensor value

COMPARE sensor value with set threshold

< IF sensor value >maximum set value

TURN-ON pump

DISPLAY soil condition on LCD

LIGHT dry soil LED

ELSE IF sensor value < maximum set value > minimum set value

TURN-OFF pump

DISPLAY soil condition on LCD

LIGHT moisture soil LED

ELSE IF sensor value < minimum set value >

TURN-OFF pump

DISPLAY soil condition on LCD

LIGHT soggy soil LED

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 35

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Figure 3.7 :- The program flow diagram

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 36

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

3.3 FINAL HARDWARE CONNECTION CIRCUIT:-

 All the module & components finally assemble together & microcontroller code for this was developed finally and
then we have reach to our goal of this project. Real hardware of our proposed system is shown in fig:

FIG. :- 3.8 final hardware circuit

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 37

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

CHAPTER 4

4. FUTURE SCOPE AND CONCLUSION

4.1Future scope:-

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 38

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Day by day, the field of electronics is blooming and have caused great impact on human beings. The project
which is to be implemented is an automated irrigation method and has a huge scope for future
development. The project can be extended to greenhouses where manual supervision is far and few in
between. The principle can be extended to create fully automated gardens and farmlands. Combined with
the principle of rain water harvesting, it could lead to huge water savings if applied in the right manner. In
agricultural lands with severe shortage of rainfall, this model can be successfully applied to achieve great
results with most types of soil.

 This concept can be improved in future by enhancing it by integrating with GSM technology.
 Such that whenever the water pump switches ON/OFF, a SMS is delivered to the concerned person
regarding the status of the pump.

Conclusion:-
Thus the “ARDUINO BASED AUTOMATIC PLANT WATERING SYSTEM” has been
designed and tested successfully. It has been developed by integrated features of all the
hardware components used. Presence of every module has been reasoned out and placed
carefully, thus contributing to the best working of the unit. Thus, the Arduino Based
Automatic Plant Watering System has been designed and tested successfully. The system
has been tested to function automatically. The moisture sensors measure the moisture
level (water content) of the different plants. If the moisture level is found to be below the
desired level, the moisture sensor sends the signal to the Arduino board which triggers
the Water Pump to turn ON and supply the water to respective plant. When the desired
moisture level is reached, the system halts on its own and the Water Pump is turned OFF.
Thus, the functionality of the entire system has been tested thoroughly and it is said to
function successfully.
A system to monitor moisture levels in the soil was designed. The system was used to switch on/off the
watering system/pump according to set soil moisture levels. The control unit the prototype was implemented
using a microcontroller on arduino platform while the sensing bit was implemented using a moisture sensor
(SMS YL-69). Three LEDs and an LCD were used to implement the display of the three soil states i.e. soggy soil,
moist soil and the dry soil states. To switch between the control and the irrigation systems a relay switching
circuit was used.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 39

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

REFERENCES

REFERENCE:-

1. ^Arnold, James E. "Soil Moisture". NASA. Retrieved 15 June 2015. Soil moisture is difficult to define because
it means different things in different disciplines. For example, a farmer's concept of soil moisture is

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 40

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

different from that of a water resource manager or a weather forecaster. Generally, however, soil moisture
is the water that is held in the spaces between soil particles. Surface soil moisture is the water that is in the
upper 10 cm of soil, whereas root zone soil moisture is the water that is available to plants, which is
generally considered to be in the upper 200 cm of soil.

2. ^ Blonquist, J. M. (April 2005). "A time domain transmission sensor with TDR performance characteristics"
(PDF). Journal of Hydrology. 314: 235–245. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.04.005. Retrieved 31 Jan 2016.

3. ^ Gaikwad, Pramod. "Galvanic Cell Type Sensor for Soil Moisture Analysis". Analytical Chemistry. 87: 7439–
7445. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.5b01653.

4. ^ Decagon Devices "List of peer-reviewed publications using Decagon soil moisture sensors". Retrieved: 20
July 2015.

5. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/what-is-an-arduino

6. https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/arduinoBoardUno

7. http://www.atmel.com/images/Atmel-8271-8-bit-AVR-Microcontroller-ATmega48A
8. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay

9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay

10. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_Design_Suite

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 41

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

APPENDIX

5. APPENDIX

5.1 microcontroller code

//*
#########################################################

# Objectives : Automatic irrigation system

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 42

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

# Behaviour : When the soil is dry-water pump starts running

#########################################################

#include<LiquidCrystal.h>

#define moisture_sensorPin A0

#define float_switchPin A1

#define motorPin 4

#define soil_statusPin 2

#define tank_statusPin 3

LiquidCrystal lcd(13,12,11,10,9,8);

const int avg_moisture = 800;

void setup()

Serial.begin(9600);

lcd.begin(16,2);

lcd.clear();

lcd.setCursor(0,0);

lcd.print(" AUTOMATIC ");

lcd.setCursor(0,1);

lcd.print(" IRRIGATION S/M ");

delay(2000);

pinMode(moisture_sensorPin,INPUT);

pinMode(float_switchPin,INPUT);

pinMode(motorPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(soil_statusPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(tank_statusPin,OUTPUT);

digitalWrite(motorPin,LOW);

digitalWrite(soil_statusPin,LOW);

digitalWrite(tank_statusPin,LOW);

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 43

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

void loop()

lcd.begin(16,2);

lcd.setCursor(0,0);

lcd.print(" MOISTURE - ");

if(analogRead(moisture_sensorPin) > avg_moisture)

lcd.print("HIGH");

digitalWrite(soil_statusPin,HIGH);

if(analogRead(moisture_sensorPin) < avg_moisture)

lcd.print(" LOW");

digitalWrite(soil_statusPin,LOW);

lcd.setCursor(0,1);

lcd.print("TANK LEVEL- ");

if( digitalRead(float_switchPin) == HIGH)

lcd.print("HIGH");

digitalWrite(tank_statusPin,LOW);

if( digitalRead(float_switchPin) == LOW)

lcd.print(" LOW");

digitalWrite(tank_statusPin,HIGH);

digitalWrite(motorPin,LOW);

if(analogRead(moisture_sensorPin) < avg_moisture && digitalRead(float_switchPin) == HIGH)

while(analogRead(moisture_sensorPin) < avg_moisture && digitalRead(float_switchPin) == HIGH)

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 44

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

lcd.setCursor(0,0);

lcd.print(" MOISTURE - LOW");

lcd.setCursor(0,1);

lcd.print(" MOTOR IS ON ");

digitalWrite(soil_statusPin,LOW);

digitalWrite(tank_statusPin,LOW);

digitalWrite(motorPin,HIGH);

if(analogRead(moisture_sensorPin) > avg_moisture)

lcd.setCursor(0,0);

lcd.print(" MOISTURE - HIGH");

lcd.setCursor(0,1);

lcd.print(" MOTOR - OFF ");

digitalWrite(soil_statusPin,HIGH);

digitalWrite(motorPin,LOW);

delay(3000);

if(digitalRead(float_switchPin) == LOW)

lcd.setCursor(0,0);

lcd.print(" TANK LEVEL- LOW");

lcd.setCursor(0,1);

lcd.print(" MOTOR - OFF ");

digitalWrite(tank_statusPin,HIGH);

digitalWrite(motorPin,LOW);

delay(3000);

delay(500);

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 45

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 46

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY ISSN: 2278-621X

International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART)

AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Rajkumar Mistri
Asst. Professor, Dept. of ECE, RTCIT, Ranchi, India

Madhu priya kri. Singh

B.Tech Scholar, Dept. of ECE, RTCIT, Ranchi, India

Abstract

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 47

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Watering the plant is the most important cultural practice and one of the labor intensive tasks in daily
greenhouse
operation. Watering systems ease the burden of getting water to plants when they need it. Knowing when and
how much to water is two important aspects of watering process. To make the gardener works easily, the
automatic plant watering
system is created. There have a various type using automatic watering system that are by using sprinkler
system, tube,
nozzles and other. This system uses watering sprinkler system because it can water the plants located in the
pots. This
project uses Arduino board, which consists of ATmega328 Microcontroller.

Keywords:- ATMEGA Arduino, 16x2 LCD display, Moisture Sensor, water-pump, relay-module ,
I. INTRODUCTION
The artificial application of water to the land or soil It is used to
assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and re vegetation of
disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall. When a zone comes on, the water
flows through the lateral lines and ultimately finally ends up at the irrigation electrode (drip) or
mechanical
device heads. Several sprinklers have pipe thread inlets on the lowest of them that permits a fitting and
also the
pipe to be connected to them. The sprinklers are usually used in the top of the head flush with the
ground
surface . As the method of dripping will reduce huge water losses it became a popular method by
reducing
the labor cost and increasing the yields. When the components are activated, all the components will
read
and gives the output signal to the controller, and the information will be displayed to the user (farmer).
The
sensor readings are analog in nature so the ADC pin in the controller will convert the analog signals into
digital format. Then the controller will access information and when the motors are turned On/Off it
will be displayed on the LCD Panel, and serial monitor windows. There are many systems are available
to
water savings in various crops, from basic ones to more technologically advanced ones. For instance, in
one
system plant watering status was monitored andirrigation scheduled based on temperature presents in
soil content of the plant.

Relay

Relay is an electromagnetic device which is used to isolate two circuits electrically and connect them magnetically[2]. Relays can
be used to interface between an electronic circuit to an high voltage electric circuit based on the principle of electromagnetic
induction, for example a 230 V AC main can be switched by a relay operated 5V battery . In this way we can use relay circuits to
drive our above said appliances efficiently according to our requirements. Input section of a Relay has a coil which generates
magnetic field with implementation of a very small voltage from an electronic circuit, called the operating voltage. Commonly
used relays with operating voltages are- 6V, 9V, 12V, 24V. There are mainly three connectors in a basic relay-normally open (NO),
normally closed (NC) and Common (COM). At no input state COM is connected to NC. At applied operating voltage coil gets
energized and the COM make contact to NO. Depending on different change over contacts different relay configurations are
available in the market such as-SPST, SPDT, DPDT etc. Here in our proposed RX part we have used SPDT relays.

II. USED IC’S DESCRIPTION

This is microcontroller based 28 pin ATMEGA328P-PU AVR series IC. It has 14 digital input/output pins out of which 6 pin can
be used as a PWM output. This has also 6 Analog input pin. Operating frequency of this is 16MHz. it has flash memory 32kB,
EPROM 2kb & RAM 2KB. It has also one UART, 4, 8-bit PWM output and 2, 16-bit PWM output. The pin configuration of
ATMEGA328P-PU is described in Table-1.
Table1: Pin Detail of ATmega328

International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART)

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 48

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

PIN
PIN NAM
NO. E MAPPED PIN NAME
RES
1 ET RESET
2 RXD RX/DIGITAL I/O 0
3 TXD TX/ DIGITAL I/O 1
4 INT0 DIGITAL I/O 2
5 INT1 DIGITAL I/O 3
6 T0 DIGITAL I/O 4
7 VDD SUPPLY VOLTAGE
8 GND GROUND
XTA
9 L1 CRYSTAL PIN 1
XTA
10 L2 CRYSTAL PIN 2
11 T1 DIGITAL I/O 5
12 AIN0 DIGITAL I/O 6
13 AIN1 DIGITAL I/O 7
14 ICP1 DIGITAL I/O 8
OC1
15 A DIGITAL I/O 9
OC1
16 B DIGITAL I/O 10
MOS
17 I DIGITAL I/O 11
MIS
18 O DIGITAL I/O 12
19 SCK DIGITAL I/O 13
AVC
20 C SUPPLY VOLTAGE
ARE
21 F VREF
22 GND GROUND
ADC
23 0 ANALOG INPUT 0
ADC
24 1 ANALOG INPUT 1
ADC
25 2 ANALOG INPUT 2
ADC
26 3 ANALOG INPUT 3
ADC
27 4 ANALOG INPUT 4
ADC
28 5 ANALOG INPUT 5

Water Pump
A small pump plus a driver. A driver is to provide enough current for the pump, my application needs a spray distance about
one meter, so this pump is enough. But if you need to make a system that needs a large spray range, you may need larger
pumps, or even a pressurized device to make the projectile even farther, such as the watering system in a tea garden.

International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 49

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Proteus Software
The Proteus Design Suite is an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool including schematic capture, simulation and PCB Layout
modules[3]. This EDA Tool was developed in Yorkshire, England by Labcenter Electronics Ltd. Proteus supports Mixed mode
SPICE Simulation, microcontroller simulation, Shape base.
auto-routing, 3D Board Visualisation and MCAD import/export. Proteus software runs on the Windows operating system and this
supports English, French, Spanish and Chinese languages.
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART
Dip-Trace Software
Dip-Trace is EDA/CAD Tool for creating schematic diagrams and printed circuit boards. Dip-Trace supports mainly five modules
which are Schematic Capture Editor , PCB Layout Editor with built-in shape-based auto-router , 3D Preview & Export, Component
Editor and Pattern Editor[4]. Its schematic capture supports multilevel hierarchical schematics. This EDA tool supports schematic
capture to PCB layout conversion.

Connecting Leads: -These are used for connecting electrical components.

Pipe: - Here it is used as a water channel.

MOISTURE SENSOR
Soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content in soil. Since the direct gravimetric measurement
of free soil moisture requires removing, drying, and weighting of a sample, soil moisture sensors measure the
volumetric water content indirectly by using some other property of the soil, such as electrical resistance,
dielectric constant, or interaction with neutrons, as a proxy for the moisture content. The relation between the
measured property and soil moisture must be calibrated and may vary depending on environmental factors
such as soil type, temperature, or electric conductivity. Reflected microwave radiation is affected by the soil
moisture and is used for remote sensing in hydrology and agriculture. Portable probe instruments can be used
by farmers or gardeners. Soil moisture sensors typically refer to sensors that estimate volumetric water
content. Another class of sensors measure another property of moisture in soils called water potential; these
sensors are usually referred to as soil water potential sensors and include tensiometers and gypsum blocks

III. PCB PREPARATION FOR PROPOSED MODULE

A printed circuit board (PCB) is the board base for physically supporting and wiring the surface-mounted and
socketed components in most electronics.
In this project the PCB was mounted with resistors, LEDs, transistor, LCD, diode and the relay. The arduino
board pins were also terminated at the PCB. The following steps were followed in preparing the PCB.\

1.The circuit’s schematic was captured/designed using ExpressPCB software. Though not mandatory, this
stage is very important in that it helps one in placing all the components correctly
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART)
ISSN: 2278-621X

2. Using the same ExpressPCB application, the board layout with all the components and the power traces put
were put in place. The circuit schematic was used to confirm all the components were placed correctly.
3. Then a MIRRORED image of the PCB layout of actual size was printed. The printout printed only where
traces are needed; blank or empty places on the printout will eventually contain no copper and be completely
etched to the fiberglass under layer.
4. UV light was used to transfer the mask of the circuit layout from paper to the PCB.
5. The board was then developed by immersing in a basic and an acidic solution respectively. Two acids, ferric
chloride (Eisen-3-Chlorid) and Sodium Persulfate (Natriumpersulfat - Feinätzkristall), can be used at this stage
(etching) .This stage took at least 20 minutes. When etching is done the board changes from opaque pink to
transparent yellow.
6. Then the board was put into the rinse tank for a few seconds and then dried with a piece cloth.
7. Finally drilling of holes on the PCB was done and the board cut to the desired size.

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 50

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

IV. PROPOSED MODULE DESCRIPTION

An automatic plant watering system using microcontroller ATMEGA328P is programmed such
that it gives the interrupt signals to the motor via the relay. Soil sensor is connected to the Arduino board
which senses the moisture content present in the soil. Whenever there is a change in the moisture content of
the soil, the sensor senses the change, giving signal to the microcontroller so that the pump(motor) can be
activated. This concept can be used for automatic irrigation system.

International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART)

International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART)

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 51

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Fig:- schematic of RX part

DEPT. OF ECE, RTC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 52

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

 All the module & components finally assemble together & microcontroller code for this was developed
finally and then we have reach to our goal of this project. Real hardware of our proposed system is shown
in fig.7

Fig. 7 final hardware of our proposed system

CONCLUSION /FUTURE SCOPE

Thus the “ARDUINO BASED AUTOMATIC PLANT WATERING SYSTEM” has been designed and tested
successfully. It has been developed by integrated features of all the hardware components used.
Presence of every module has been reasoned out and placed carefully, thus contributing to the
best working of the unit. Thus, the Arduino Based Automatic Plant Watering System has been
designed and tested successfully. The system has been tested to function automatically. The
moisture sensors measure the moisture level (water content) of the different plants. If the moisture
level is found to be below the desired level, the moisture sensor sends the signal to the Arduino
board which triggers the Water Pump to turn ON and supply the water to respective plant. When
the desired moisture level is reached, the system halts on its own and the Water Pump is turned
OFF. Thus, the functionality of the entire system has been tested thoroughly and it is said to
function successfully.

REFERENCE
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid-crystal_display
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film-transistor_liquid-crystal_display
3. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/arduino/arduino_board_description.htm
4. http://www.me.umn.edu/courses/me2011/arduino/arduinoGuide.pdf
5. https://www.elprocus.com/ATmega328 microcontroller-architecture-and-applications

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 53

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

LIST OF FIGURE

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 54

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

1.1block diagram of the system:-

1.2 RELAY DRIVER

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 55

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

1.3 ARDUINO

1.4 YL-69 SENSOR

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 56

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X
15 Water Pump

1.6 LCD SCREEN

1.7 final hardware circuit

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 57
 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 58

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

1.9 The Program Flow Diagram

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 59

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

Thank you

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 60

 AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM
International Journal for science and advance research in Technology (IJSART) ISSN: 2278-621X

DEPT. OF ECE, RTCINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Page 61