Development and Performance Evaluation of an IoT-Based Smart Irrigation System for Real-Time Soil Moisture Monitoring and Automatic Irrigation
Keywords:
soil moisture, real-time monitoring, ESP32, Smart Irrigation System, Internet of ThingsAbstract
Manual irrigation management often results in watering practices that do not reflect actual soil moisture conditions, leading to inefficient water use and reduced crop productivity. This study aims to design and implement an Internet of Things (IoT)-based Smart Irrigation System capable of monitoring soil moisture in real time while automatically controlling the irrigation process. The research employed a Research and Development (R&D) method using a prototyping approach, including requirement identification, system design, hardware and software implementation, system integration, and performance testing. The proposed system was developed using an ESP32 microcontroller, a capacitive soil moisture sensor, a relay module, a water pump, and an internet-based monitoring dashboard. System performance was evaluated through sensor readings, real-time data monitoring, automatic pump control, response time measurement, and operational stability testing. The results demonstrate that the proposed system successfully monitors soil moisture, transmits data to the dashboard in real time, and automatically controls the irrigation pump based on predefined soil moisture thresholds. The implementation of a threshold with hysteresis mechanism improves pump stability by reducing frequent switching caused by sensor fluctuations. Furthermore, the system exhibits a relatively fast response time and stable operation throughout the testing period. These findings indicate that IoT technology provides an effective solution for developing efficient, practical, and scalable smart irrigation systems suitable for small- and medium-scale agricultural applications.
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