1

Using Cyber Physical Systems to enhance the efficiency of

Agriculture.

ASHWIN NALWADE, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati,tcs15b007@iittp.ac.in

My topic for Intel Fice.

The core idea is wireless real time monitoring of parameters related to agriculture,namely Temperature,Moisture/Humidity,Ir
and Direction) and Light/UV Rays.
ACM Reference format:
Ashwin Nalwade. 2016. Using Cyber Physical Systems to enhance the efficiency of Agriculture.. 1, 1, Article 1
(January 2016), 3 pages.
DOI: 1/8/2017

1 INTRODUCTION:
There is a dire need to adopt sustainable practices in agriculture in order to ensure that our next
generations do not struggle with the availability of natural resources. Considering our country , we
have really pressing issues regarding irrigation , water wastage , availability of high quality seeds
and such.Cyber Physical Systems will play a major role in helping to increase the efficiency of the
agricultural processes , and will also help in creating opportunities for a high skilled workforce in
the agricultural sector. Basically,the aim is to help the farmer to remain up to date with the relevant
agricultural parameters in order to improve his farming methods,which would eventually lead to
increase in productivity and higher financial gains.

2 REALATED PARAMETERS AND PROBLEMS

1] Irrigation

When it comes to irrigation,two major problems come to mind.The first one is the wastage of
water,which can be addressed by monitoring the time duration for which the water is to be supplied
and the amount of water to be supplied.The first problem deals with the conservation of water as a
natural resorce.The second problem is that providing excessive water could lead to the washing out
of pesticides/fertilizers and this could further lead to a decrease in the crop yield.

2] Humidity / Moisture

Monitoring humidty is essential for determining the plant health. Low humidity causes mois-
ture to evaporate from plants quickly,and this leads to wilting of plants.On the other hand,High
Relative Humidity could restrict the process of pollination and cause the plants to be overheated.
Humidity also influences plant diseeases,which brings us to the conclusion that real time monitoring
of humidity values is necessary to ensure good plant health.
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1:2 Ashwin Nalwade

Note that we would require three seperate humidity/moisture values : the plant,the soil and
the surroundings.

3] Temperature

Temperature affects the quality of the soil,and the amount of water present in the soil.It also affects
the biochemical processes inolved in photosynthesis (such as rate of transpiration).Hence,monitoring
temperature in real time is beneficial for plant growth as plants usually grow well only in a certain
range of temperature and extreme temperatures (both hot and cold) would damage the crop.

4] Wind (Speed and Direction)

Wind influences the rates of transpiraton and supply of carbon dioxide.High speed winds could
cause serious damage to the crop (uprooting,deformation).Longer exposure to strong winds also
causes harmful physiological damage which leads to a lower yield.Hence,real time monitoring of
wind speed and direction is required.

5] Light (UV Rays)

The duration of exposure and and the wavelength of light is of importance when it comes to
agriculture (or horticulture).Exposure to UV light leads to the generation of crops with more
nutritional value.At the same time,prolonged exposure to UV Rays could also lead to plant dis-
eases,thereby reducing the crop yield.Hence,sensors which detect the intensity of light and the
duration of exposure would be useful.

3 PROPOSED SOLUTION
The aim is to remotely monitor the parameters mentioned above (Irrigation,Humidity,Temperature,Wind
and Light) with the help of the corresponding sensors which measure the parameter values,a mi-
crocontroller (Intel Edison or Genuino) for processing the data obtained from the sensors,a zigbee
module for generating wireless ad-hoc networks which implement wireless communications be-
tween the Intel Edison (or Genuino) board and the sensors,and a GSM (Global System for Mobile)
module. The system collects and processes the data,then sends the data wirelessly to a server which
stores it and can be displayed on a cell phone using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and
GSM.Then logical and mathematial constraints are applied to the parameter as desirable,and if a
constraint is violated,then an SMS is sent to the user (farmer/horticulturist) who can then take
further appropriate action.

4 REQUIRED COMPONENTS

1] Moisture Sensor x 3
2] Temperature Sensor
3] Light (Intensity and Illumination) Sensor
4] UV Sensor

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Using Cyber Physical Systems to enhance the efficiency of Agriculture. 1:3

5] Wind (Speed andDirection) Sensor

6] Passive Infrared Motion Sensor
7] Servo Motors x 2
8] Zigbee module
9] Gsm module
10] Intel Edison Board

5 BLOCK DIAGRAM

, Vol. 1, No. 1, Article 1. Publication date: January 2016.