Smart Soil Moisture Control Based on IoT ESP-32 for Horticulture Cultivation in Coastal Area

Abstract

Optimal and effective use of water in coastal areas is an essential aspect of plant growth in horticulture and the maintenance of water availability. It is necessary to monitor soil moisture continuously as the basis for watering time. However, it is hard for farmers to be in the field frequently to monitor the land humidity, even using an instrument to measure it at the site. It is needed a monitoring technique that can control the land humidity remotely. This paper presents a design of wireless soil moisture measurement based on the Internet of Things. We applied capacitive soil moisture sensors coupled with an ESP32 WIFI with a built-in 12-bit ADC function for reading analog sensor output and establishing a wireless connection to the internet network. The ESP32 was programmed using Arduino software. We made a web-based user interface and Google spreadsheet application using the Nodered which is a programmable IoT platform to show soil moisture and control the irrigation sprayers through the pump.