International Journal of Electronics and Modern Technology

April 2015, Vol-01, Issue-02, pp.:8-13

Carthage Science Publishing
www.cs-publishing.com

AN EFFICINT AUTOMATIC DRIP IRRIGATION

MODULE FOR INDIAN AGRICULTURE
SYSTEM
Lenin Raja (IEEE Member)1 and Sri priyadharshini2,
1,2

Sri vidya college of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar, India

leninaucbe@gmail.com 1, dharshinikumarec@gmail.com 2

Abstract In this paper, the Design automation of drip

irrigation system using microcontroller is presented. The green
house based modern agriculture industries are the recent
requirement in every part of agriculture in India. In this
technology, the humidity and temperature of plants are precisely
monitored and controlled. The major amount of fresh water is
utilized by the agricultural industry for irrigation. By using drip
irrigation the water will be maintained at the constant level i.e
the water will reach the roots by going drop by drop. This is very
important because this method can only ensure the survival of
the plants. This is a real time feedback control system for
monitoring and controlling all the activities of drip irrigation
system more efficiently. Irrigation system controls the valves by
using automated controller to turn ON & OFF. This allows the
farmers to apply the right amount of water at the right time,
regardless of the availability of labors to turn ON valves or motor
ON & OFF, this module reduces the runoff overwatering
saturated soils avoid irrigating at the wrong time. This proposal
improves crop performances and help in time saving in all the
aspects.
Index TermsTemperature Sensor, Humidity
Methane Sensor, Smoke alarm Microcontroller,
Chemical Equalizer.
I.

Sensor,
Relays,

INTRODUCTION

A. Water Irrigation System in the World

HE INCREASING demand of the food requires the rapid
improvement in food production technology. In a country
like India, where the economy is mainly based on
agriculture and the climatic conditions are isotropic, still we
are not able to make full use of agricultural resources. The
main reason is the lack of rains & scarcity of land reservoir
water [1]. The continuous extraction of water from earth is
reducing the water level due to which lot of land is coming
slowly in the zones of un-irrigated land. Another very
important reason of this is due to unplanned use of water due
to which a significant amount of water goes waste. In the
modern drip irrigation systems, the most significant advantage
is that water is supplied near the root zone of the plants drip by
drip due to which a large quantity of water is saved. At the

present era, the farmers have been using irrigation technique

in India through the manual control in which the farmers
irrigate the land at the regular intervals. This process
sometimes consumes more water or sometimes the water
reaches late due to which the crops get dried. Water deficiency
can be detrimental to plants before visible wilting occurs.
Slowed growth rate, lighter weight fruit follows slight water
deficiency. This problem can be perfectly rectified if we use
automatic micro controller based drip irrigation system in
which the irrigation will take place only when there will be
intense requirement of water [2].
B. Water Irrigation system in India
Irrigation in India refers to the supply of water from Indian
rivers, tanks, wells, canals and other artificial projects for the
purpose of cultivation and agricultural activities. In country
such as India, 64% of cultivated land is dependent on
monsoons. The economic significance of irrigation in India is
namely, to reduce over dependence on monsoons, advanced
agricultural productivity, bringing more land under
cultivation, reducing instability in output levels, creation of
job opportunities, electricity and transport facilities, control of
floods and prevention of droughts. Among the agricultural
inputs which include seeds, fertilizer, plant protection,
machinery and credit, irrigation assumes an importance place
[3].
II. RELATED WORKS IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE
SYSTEM
Filipe Caetano, Rui Pitarma & Pedro Reis et al, proposed in
this study describes a system (iRain), developed by the
authors, which aims to ensure autonomous and efficient
irrigation in urban gardens. It consists of a net of sensors and
actuators with Zigbee communication [1]. Shiraz Pasha B.R &
Dr. B Yogesha deals with irrigation are the artificial
application of water to the land or soil. In this project an
attempt has been made to automate farm or nursery irrigation
will improve crop performance by ensuring adequate water
and nutrients when needed [2].
Jaswanti Dhiman1,
Sukhwinder Singh &Soni Dhiman described that the scarcity

Lenin Raja et al., IJEMT, 2015, Vol(1)-Issue(2)

of irrigation water in the Mediterranean area highlights the

importance of optimizing its use. In our work we have used
solenoids to implement the concept of drip irrigation [3]. S.K.
Luthra M.J. Kaledhonkar, O.P.Singh & N.K.Tyagi proposed
that in scientific irrigation scheduling water should be applied
to a crop at an appropriate soil water tension to fulfil its
vapour transpiration requirement.
The design provides control of irrigation at the predecided
soil water tensions and pre-programmed timer. M.Lincy
Luciana, B.Ramya & A.Srimathi described that the
temperature and moisture values from the sensors are sensed
to the microcontroller and thus the current temperature and
moisture are compared with predefined values. According to
the temperature and moisture value, required amount of water

is supplied to the crops. The sensed temperature and moisture

will be displayed in the liquid crystal display [6]. D.Kotaiah
Swamy, G.Rajesh, M.Jaya Krishna Pooja & A.Rama Krishna
proposed that The project makes the irrigation automated with
the use of low cost sensors and the simple circuitry makes this
project a low cost product, which can be bought even by a
poor farmer [7]. Muhamad Azman Miskam1, Othman Sidek,
Inzarulfaisham Abd Rahim, Muhammad Qayum Omar and
Mohammad Zulfikar Ishak decribed that this paper presents an
automatic water irrigation and drainage system designed to
increase the yield production of rice and improve water use
efficiency.

TABLE I: SURVEY OVER LAND/ SOILS FOR VARIOUS SYSTEMS

Types of land\soil
Loamy soil

Types of
Distribution

Types of Seed

Temperature

Level of Labors

Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh, West
Bengal, Odessa
U.P, Punjab,
Rajasthan

Rice

Average22C to
32C.

Cheap Labor

Wheat

Less Labor

Karnataka,
Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan
China, U.S.A,
Gujarat,
Haryana

Millet

Cooling climate10C to 15C and

harvesting climate21C to 26C
High 27C to 32C.

Gram

20C-25C

Cheap Labor

Cotton

21C and 30C.

Cheap and
Efficient Labor

Sandy loams, red,

yellow, black soil

Tamilnadu Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Odessa

Groundnut

20C to 30C

Cheap Labor

Deep, friable loamy

soil

Assam leading of
India
50%,Darjeeling,sili
guri,cooch Bihar
Karnataka, Kerala,
Tamilnadu

Tea

Leaf varies 20C to

30C.

Cheap and
efficient labor

Coffee

15C and 28C.

Cheap and skilled

labor

Punjab to Bihar
50% Tamilnadu,
Andhra Pradesh

Sugarcane

21C to 27C.

Cheap Labor

Clay soil and

drained fertile soil

Loamy soil

Loamy soil
Black soil of
Deccan and
Malware plateau
and Alluvial soil

Rich friable loamy

soil
Rich loamy soil

Cheap Labor

Lenin Raja et al., IJEMT, 2015, Vol(1)-Issue(2)

square area. Because of each and every soil land area was
different soil strength with various kinds of fertilizers. The
Block of this system were described as follows,
Analyzing Block
Monitoring Block
Controlling Block
Feeding Block

III. DRIP IRRIGATION ON FAR FIELD

A. Rice & Wheat Production In India
As staples of the Indian diet, rice and wheat are crucial to
the food security of India. In response to the Bengal famine of
1943 and the subsequent and sustained period of food
shortage, over the period 196778, 3 the green revolution saw
production of rice and wheat expand rapidly across India.
Expansion of the farming area, double cropping, improved
genetics and increased inputs (water, nutrients, biocides) have
seen production of rice increase almost three-fold from 53
million tonnes (Mt) in 1961 to 144 Mt in 2007, and wheat
production from 10 Mt to 75 Mt over the same period. This
growth in production has led to India now being the worlds
second-largest producer of rice and wheat. Within India, the
states of Punjab and Haryana are considered to be the home of
the green revolution. These states used high-yielding, shortduration cultivars, extensive fertilisers and pesticides, and
irrigation, to increase their contribution to the total national
food grain production from 3% before the green revolution to
20% in 2000.4 However, the growth in yields that generated
this expansion in production has since slowed. Moreover, with
Indias population currently growing at an annual rate of
1.34% (World Bank 2009), demand for food is increasing, the
area of arable land is decreasing due to urbanisation and the
pressure to increase production is ever growing.

a)

Analyzing Block

Analyzing Block consists of various sensors to measure

various aspects such as,
Temperature
Humidity
Soil Moisture
Oxygen and Nitrogen sensor
Are analyzed using LM 358, thermostat, Nitrogen sensor, O
and smoke alarm sensor were included in this module.
The analyzed values of sensors are analog values that are
amplified as well as converted into digital for the digitized
output is given to the Processing unit held in the monitoring
Block.
b)

Monitoring Block

Monitoring Block has the important blocks of the system such

as Arduino Uno Board, Personal Computer, and LCD.
Arduino as a processing unit of the system. As well as
Personal Computer used to store the analyzed values through
RS232, at the same time displayed in the LCD, it is easy to
monitor. These blocks control the next block i.e. controlling
Block.

B. Proposed Irrigation Drip Module

c)

Controlling Block

In this block we control the control valves, Flow meter, Relay,

Pressure and Motor by the central unit (Arduino). In this
Controlling system, the received command from the Arduino
or Personal Computer and action with the corresponding
phenomenon.
d)

Fig.1. Block Diagram for Proposed System

Feeding Block

In our system the feeding blocks are Chemical injection unit

and Fertilizer feeding unit. Fertilizers are most important for
plants growth. There are different chemicals used for different
soils & plants.

C. Description Over view for Sensor Systems in Agriculture

Field
Various sensor of this system (i.e Temperature, Humidity,
Soil Moisture, O Sensor, Nitrogen Sensor) are sensing the
signal and this signal are amplified by Op-Amp [IC 741] .In
this amplified signals can controlled and monitoring by the
Micro Controller 89C51. In this efficient irrigation module
acted in various aspects of the field such as controlling
pressure valves ,Fertilizer feeding point, Chemical Injection
Unit, and Alarm system for automatic drip for water feeding.
This automatic drip system can placed 1meter * 1 meter

IV. RESULT ANALYSES & DISCUSSION

A. Soil Moisture Sensor
Soil moisture sensor used to sense the soil moisture
between humidity and temperature consent value in the soil.
Normally Soil moisture sensor is given the output to Arduino
board. The sensor output will be analog signal. So we are used
in amplifier to amplify the low signal. Directly analog signal
given to the Arduino board. If the moisture level below the

10

Lenin Raja et al., IJEMT, 2015, Vol(1)-Issue(2)

AWC motor will ON to particular water needed plant. The

motor will OFF when the land reaches the desired level. Water
capacity for the different plants will be shown in the below
table. Moisture range will send to Arduino and range will be
display on the LCD.

Fig.2.a. Soil moisture analyzing in wet land

Fig.3. Humidity & Carbon monoxide analyzing values

Fig.2.b. Soil moisture analyzing in dry land

B. Humidity sensor
Humidity is relative factor between the temperature and
pressure. Humidity sensor is used analyze the humidity in the
air. Our proposed system humidity sensor analyze in the
particular range (60c - 80c).It given the accurate humidity in
the air. We are taken humidity in more number of reparative
operations .The output given (true humidity) to Arduino
board. Normally sensing output will be analog signal.
Humidity range will be display on the LCD display to connect
with Arduino digital input side. At particular humidity range
(60c-80c) will sent Arduino board.

Fig.4. Overall Module of our proposed system

C. Temperature sensor
LM35 is used as a temperature sensor. It senses the
temperature of the field.
V. RESULT COMPARISION ON VARIOUES SOIL FILDS

11

Lenin Raja et al., IJEMT, 2015, Vol(1)-Issue(2)

TABLE II: TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION ON VARIOUS SOILS IN

INDIAN AGRICULTURE FIELD
Soil
Texture

Coarse
Sand
Fine Sand
Loamy
Sand
Sandy
Loam
Fine Sandy
Loam
Silt Loam
Slit Clay
Loam
Silt Clay
Clay
Peat Mucks

Available
Water
Capacity
(AWC)in/ft
0.2-0.8

Total Water
in3.5ft
Root
zone(in)
0.7-2.8

Maximum
depletion at
50% of
AWC(in)
0.4-1.4

0.7-1.0
0.8-1.3

2.5-3.5
2.8-4.6

1.2-1.8
1.4-2.3

1.1-1.6

3.9-5.6

1.9-2.8

1.2-2.0

4.2-7.0

2.1-3.5

1.8-2.5
1.6-1.9

6.3-8.8
5.6-6.7

3.2-4.4
2.8-3.3

1.5-2.0
1.3-1.8
1.9-2.9

5.3-7.0
4.6-6.3
6.7-10.2

2.6-3.5
2.3-3.2
3.3-5.1

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the anonymous
reviewers that made several constructive suggestions that
helped us improve this manuscript. The authors are grateful
to Ms. B. Ragasudha, Ms. S. Vijayalakshmi (UG Students)
for their support and setting up these measurement benches.
REFERENCE
[1] Filipe Caetano, Rui Pitarma, Pedro Reis, Intelligent
management of urban garden irrigation IEEE Transactions on
instrumentation and measurement, June 2014.
[2] G. Hancke, B. Silva and G. Hancke, The Role of Advanced
Sensing in Smart Cities Sensors 2013, Vol. 13,pp. 393-425,
December 2012.
[3] R. Morais, A. Valente and C. Serdio, A wireless Sensor
Network for Smart Irrigation and Environmental Monitoring: A
Position Article.EFITA/WCCA Joint Congress on it in Agriculture,
July 2005.
[4] V. Ramya, B. Palaniappan and B. George, Embedded System
for Automatic Irrigation of Cardamon Field using XBee-PRO
Techonology International Jornal of Computer Applications, vol. 53
n 14 (2008), pp. 36-43, September 2012.

VI. CONCLUSION
In this Proposed paper is designed by the Arduino drip
irrigation mechanism, which is a real time feedback control
system for Analyzing, Monitoring, Controlling and Feeding in
all Indian agriculture irrigation systems. The Various kind of
Sensors sense the changes on Humidity, Temperature, Soil
Moisture and Carbon Monoxide analysis and deliver the result
to PC, In this Proposed method deliver a decorative result
with help of Arduino controller. The implementation of Feeder
block gives the feeding of fertilizers to the irrigation system in
Indian Agriculture system. In this system reduces runoff
overwatering, saturated soils avoid irrigating at the wrong time
of the day. It improves crop performances and help in time
saving in all the aspects.
We prove this system operation make changes in Indian
agriculture system irrigation, and we also endured various
Indian soil textures implemented with support of this proposed
system.

[5] Y. Kim, R Evans and W. Versen, Remote Sensing and Control of

na Irrigation System Using a Distributed Wireless Sensor Network
IEEE Transactions on instrumentation and measurement, Vol. 57 n
7, pp. 1379-1387, July 2008.
[6] Zhang Feng, Research on water-saving irrigation automatic
control system, 2004.

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
Lenin raja (M85) become a Member IEEE
received his B.E degree in Electronics and
Communication Engineering from Anna
University Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in
2010. He recived his M.E (VLSI Design)
from Sethu Institute of Technology,
Kariyapatti,
Virudhunagar
Dist.,Tamil
Nadu, India in 2013. He also Received his Electrical Diploma
from K.L.N.M Polytechnic College, Madurai, India in the year
2006. Currently he pursuing his PhD [Analog VLSI] in Anna
University Chennai, India.
At Present he working as an Assistant Professor/
Research Associate at Sri Vidya College of Engineering and
Technology, Virudhunagar, Tamilnadu, India. He is Associate
Member of IRED [ USA], Member of Institute of Engineers
[India]. He published more than 25 International Journals,
Conferences and Articles, and Editorial Board Member for
Various International Journals. His research interests include
VLSI signal processing, architecture design, and VLSI
Implementation of digital, Mixed Signals.

VII. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT

In future we implemented this system not only for an
agriculture land as well as wild fields, and we also introduced
GSM based indication system to the sharecropper for easy
analysis of land sectors eminence, and also we implement this
system with the help of standalone solar powered distributed
generation system.

12

Lenin Raja et al., IJEMT, 2015, Vol(1)-Issue(2)

Sripriyadharshini (F93) Completed

her Diploma in Electronics &
Communication Engineering at V.S.V.N
Polytechnic College, Virudhunagar, At
present she pursuing Final year Bachelor
of Engineering in Electronics &
Communication Engineering at Sri
Vidya College of Engineering &
Technology, Virudhunagar, Tamilnadu, India.
Her Research included Real Time Embedded Systems, Digital
Electronics.

13