Application of the Internet of Things through a Network of Wireless Sensors in a Coffee Crop for Monitoring and Control its Environmental Variables

Abstract

This article presents the application of the Internet of things (IoT), as a technological tool for the development of a wireless sensor network with the aim of monitoring and controlling a series of environmental variables affecting the cultivation of coffee and its final quality. The logical and physical design of the network and its devices was carried out, the sensors network was configured in a given field and the information of certain environmental variables was collected to be compared with a series of parameters already established. This procedure will allow the coffee growers to observe the behavior of these variables over time and set the generation of alerts or warnings when these measures are outside the established ranges. The study determined that the management of coffee cultivation is quite complex due to the large number of varieties found, the terrain and environmental variables affecting the production process and the final quality of the grain. It was also determined that the development and implementation of wireless sensor networks is possible today due to factors such as the reduction of device costs and the use of open source software, avoiding additional licensing values. Finally, based on the parameters analyzed, it was possible to establish that one of the main problems in coffee crops is the intense humidity that, in practice, can affect the performance of the sensors and their measurements.

Keywords

• agriculture
• internet of things
• coffee cultivation
• wireless sensor networks
• xbee module
• communication networks