IoT-Based Smart Irrigation Systems: Hardware, Communication, Data Management, and Control

Water shortage and inefficient irrigation are serious problems in agriculture. Many traditional irrigation systems still work according to fixed schedules or farmers' experience. These methods may provide too much or too little water as they do not directly consider the current soil and weather conditions. Internet of Things technology can improve this process by connecting sensors, controllers, communication networks, data platforms, pumps, and valves. This paper reviews the main technical parts of IoT-based smart irrigation, especially sensors, embedded hardware, wireless networks, communication protocols, data storage, and irrigation control. Soil moisture is the main parameter used in most systems. Temperature, humidity, rainfall, solar radiation, tank level, water flow, and weather forecasts can also support irrigation decisions. Wi-Fi and Zigbee are useful for small or dense networks, while LoRaWAN and cellular technologies are more suitable for larger and remote fields. MQTT and HTTP are commonly used for exchanging data between gateways, servers, and applications. Local processing at edge or fog devices can keep the system working during Internet problems, while cloud platforms are useful for long-term purposes and remote monitoring. Threshold-based control is still the simplest practical method, although weather data and evapotranspiration estimates can make it more efficient. The main difficulties are sensor installation, sensor calibration, sensor maintenance, outdoor durability, power consumption, weak rural connectivity, compatibility between devices, security, scalability, and cost.

کلیدواژه ها:

Internet of Things ، Smart irrigation ، Communication protocols ، Water management ، Smart Agriculture