Design, Implementation, and Empirical Validation of an IoT Smart Irrigation System for Fog Computing Applications...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Science

Background:

• Climate change necessitates efficient water management solutions.
• Smart irrigation systems utilize Internet of Things (IoT) nodes for autonomous water control.
• Wireless communication challenges exist in urban environments due to obstacles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a smart irrigation system for large urban areas using Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) technology.
• To optimize the placement of IoT nodes and gateways for reliable connectivity and reduced energy consumption.
• To assess the system's effectiveness in reducing water usage.

Main Methods:

• Development of LPWAN sensor nodes based on LoRa and LoRaWAN for data collection (soil/air temperature, moisture).
• Utilized an in-house 3D-ray launching radio-planning tool for optimal node and gateway location determination in a modeled university campus.
• Conducted simulations and empirical measurements for 868 MHz LoRaWAN and 433 MHz LoRa testbeds, analyzing electromagnetic propagation effects.

Main Results:

• Simulations and measurements confirmed the impact of shadowing and material properties on radio propagation for near-ground and underground communications.
• The 433 MHz LoRa testbed demonstrated higher RF power levels and better performance than the 868 MHz LoRaWAN testbed.
• The smart irrigation system, incorporating weather forecasts, achieved an estimated 23% reduction in water consumption.

Conclusions:

• The developed smart irrigation system effectively covers large urban areas using LPWAN technology.
• The radio-planning tool accurately predicts performance, enabling optimization of network topology, coverage, cost, and energy consumption.
• The system offers significant water savings and provides valuable insights for future smart irrigation development.