Solar-Powered Smart Irrigation System

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to build a solar tracker-powered smart irrigation system. Using a single-axis solar tracker circuit, which moves such that direction of sunlight is always perpendicular to the solar panel, an irrigation module has been powered, which is further connected to a mobile app. The irrigation module consists of an ESP8266 board as the brain of the system. It is connected via the Wi-Fi to the mobile app. The gardener/farmer can view real-time soil and surrounding information, such as temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. If he wants, he can manually command the system to water the plants. A 5 V single-channel relay is used for this purpose, which turns on the motor, draws water from the well, and waters the plant. The farmer/gardener can then turn off the watering when soil conditions reach the optimal level. This device would be very helpful to the farmers because this device is capable of monitoring the condition of the soil and then watering the plants according to the level of the soil moisture content. This device is cheap and highly efficient for farmers, and is a step towards renewable energy economy.