DEVELOPMENT OF AN IOT-DRIVEN REAL-TIME SOIL MONITORING AND AUTOMATED FERTILISER DISPENSING SYSTEM

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing technology that has been driving the development of smart agriculture systems, which seek to increase efficiency, sustainability, and resource management. However, conventional fertiliser tends to be based on manual checking or pre-set timings, therefore not based on the changing soil conditions and can lead to over or under fertilisation, delay corrective measures and poor utilisation of nutrients. This study demonstrates a real-time soil monitoring and automated fertiliser dispensing system for agriculture which is based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology achieved through the Conceive–Design–Implement–Operate engineering design process. The prototype comprises of a soil moisture sensor, a soil temperature sensor, a pH sensor, an ESP32 microcontroller, and the required components for the pump and valve. The prototype includes soil moisture sensor, soil temperature sensor, pH sensor, ESP32 microcontroller and the necessary parts for pump and valve. If the monitored parameters fall outside specified ranges, fertiliser or water is released by a mechanical mechanism that is controlled by a servo. The sensor readings, actuator status and system notifications are wirelessly sent to a cloud based IoT platform to be remotely monitored, visualised and log stored. Experimental testing over one month showed that the data could be transmitted continuously every minute and that the automatic dispensing worked when the soil moisture dropped below 40% or the pH was above the set value. After the intervention, the pH of soil stabilised between 6.6 and 7.1 were by approximately Day 7. The closed loop control architecture can help to minimize the need for human oversight by integrating real-time sensing with a threshold-based decision-making process and automated dispensing. Throughout the monitoring period, the system also kept wireless communication stable and effective, while providing good real-time data visualisation. The proposed system plays a role in precision agriculture by offering an integrated solution that enables precise management of fertiliser applications and automated response to soil conditions responses, which is particularly valuable for smallholder and resource-limited farming practice environments.