Smart Irrigation Care Unit
Atif Fareed 1 , M. Ghazanfar Ullah 1 , As ad Hus s ain 1 , Mais am Zaidi1 , Maaz Bai g 1
1
Dept. of Electrical Engineering – Us man Ins titute of Tech n o l o g y
Abstract: This paper focuses on devising an efficient,
economical and automated solution for irrigation
through a Mobile Irrigation Care Unit (MICU). MICU is
equipped with wireless sensor network based smart field
monitoring system mounted on a solar powered vehicle.
Fields requiring water management and pest control can
be monitored by MICU that essentially carries pesticide
module and water tank meticulously managed through a
powerful feedback and control mechanism. Our
contribution towards irrigation engineering is to design
a system that efficiently monitors and manages the
irrigation requirements as well as pest controlling in the
field while keeping the affordability, in terms of cost, as
the same time.
Keywords – Arduino, mobile irrigation, solar power,
wireless communication.
I. INTRODUCT ION
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations , es timates that agriculture accounts for 70% of
all water cons umption, compared to 20% for indus try
and 10% for domes tic needs [1]. Pakis tan us es
approximately 94% of its available water from all
res ources on agriculture [2]. Critical need therefore
exis ts to implement water cons ervation practices in
agriculture. There is an urgent need to create s trategies
bas ed on s cience and technology for s us tainable us e of
water, including technical, agronomic, managerial,
and ins titutional improvements .
There are different types of method for irrigating
farms for different types of crops . Mos t commonly,
farmer us e methods like channel or canal s ys tem,
a b
c are all controlled through a central point jus t to s witch
Fig. 1: Types of irrigation systems (a) Canal (b)
S prinkling and (c) Dripping
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s prinkler s ys tem, dripping s ys tem etc [3]. Canal
s ys tem is a traditional method of irrigation us ed in
Pakis tan.
With the advancement in technology, various s mart
irrigation methods have been introduced and explored
for optimum us e of res ources enabling huge water
s aving by avoiding exces s water supply. In [3], A
s mart irrigation s ys tem is propos ed in which s oil
mois ture s ens or is us ed for feedback to the valve and
the motor for water s upply. The propos ed s ys tem is
workable only within a s mall area of land but becomes
too cos tly and complex to implement on larger area
s ince a complex network of s ens ors and controlling is
required. In [4], a s olar powered s mart irrigation
s ys tem is propos ed. The s ys tem is operated in two
modes , either in a clos ed loop control mode where the
microcontroller operates the opening and clos ing of
the s olenoid valve for the required amount of water
needed for the crops , bas ed on the average s oil
mois ture reading, or the agronomis t remotely us e the
cloud data to trigger a channel by writing a s pecific
value. The s witch placed below the channel is us ed to
turn on/off the s olenoid valve. Data from s ens ors are
received via wireles s communication to avoid
complex cable network creating other farming
problems . The main problem with the s ys tem is it us es
channel s ys tem and does not focus on the s pecific area
which needs water. It rather works on average
mois ture readings . In [5], a micro irrigation s ys tem is
introduced. Micro irrigation is nothing but a s low and
regular application of water and nutrients moving
down drop-by-drop directly to the root zone of the
plants through low-dis charge emitters and plas tic
pipes . This s ys tem ens ures that the plants do not
endure from the s train or s tres s of les s and over
watering. The limitation of this s ys tem is ; however,
the network of water pipes is required as well as a low-
dis charge water emitter is required for every plant.
This may become expens ive and impos s ible to
reconfigure, es pecially on large area. Sys tems
pres ented in [6-8] are all s tatic in nature becaus e they
the valve on or off to control the water flow. This
concept is summarized in fig. 2.

Fig. 2: A smart irrigation system
The s ys tem that has been developed and pres ented in
this paper is known as Mobile Irrigation Care Unit
(MICU) as it is a s elf-driven vehicle carries water and
pes ticide with it. MICU is intelligently controlled and
mobile to obs erve the water needs of the field by
s ens ing the mois ture level in the s oil. Additionally, it
Fig. 3: MICU Prototype
als o obs erves the crops for necess ary pes t controlling,
by acquiring and s ending images , which is very
important for healthy crops . Wireles s communication
enables MICU to roam around the field freely and
provide continuous feedback to the us er for necess ary
action. Fig. 3 pres ents the developed prototype of
MICU.
The next s ection provides the des cription of MICU
followed by development methodology. Next, res ults
and dis cuss ion followed by conclus ion.
II. METHODOLOGY
Almos t every s ys tem can be automated with the help
of timers , s ens ors or computers or mechanical
appliances . This is als o true for the developed
prototype MICU. MICU is a s olar powered vehicle
that carries water and pes ticide tanks on both s ides .
MICU autonomous ly move in the field and to perform
two es s ential operations . Firs t, to gauge the mois ture
level in the s oil, MICU is equipped with mois ture
s ens or that can be s een at the rear bottom of MICU in
fig. 3. The mois ture level of the s oil is s ens ed by the
s ens or ins erted into the s oil which gives the s ignal to
the controlling module whether the land needs water
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or not. When the s oil is dry, water is s prinkled or
showered on the dry land through a motor by turning
on the s witch. Since, MICU is fully s olar powered,
hence no external power s ource is required to operate
the motor. See roof-top of MICU in fig. 3.
Secondly, MICU is als o equipped, at the bottom, with
camera that is res pons ible to acquire the images of the
plants from two different angles to monitor the
pres ence of agains t pes ts in the plants that harms the
crop. The location of the camera is adjus ted through a
motor to change its place for varying angles . Thes e
captured images are s ent wireless ly us ing Wi-Fi
technology, from controlling unit, to the computer
s ys tem placed on obs erver s ide. After receiving the
images , the obs erver only need to s witch-on the motor
that is us ed to shower pes ticide onto the effected plants .
Fig. 4: Modules in MICU
MICU performs the above des cribed operations after
covering the dis tance of every three feet. This dis tance
can be reprogrammed eas ily and embedded into the
controlling module. The module in MICU can be
illus trated in fig. 4.
III. SYSTEM MOD U L E S
As illus trated in fig. 4, MICU es s entially cons is ts of
four modules :
A. Controller module
B. Power module
C. Input module
D. Communication module
A. Controller Module
Arduino mega is us ed in irrigation care unit for all the
controlling, the s ens ors provides an output in res pons e
of an input, and bas is of that input the Arduino is
executed the output. The configuration of the Arduino
is s et as des cribed, a command is s ent by the us er to
the controller to operate an actuator of s oil mois ture
s ens or to s o it can be submerged in the ground, s ixfeet
deep approx., thereafter the s ens or s ends s ignal to the
controller.

Gear motor direction of movement is given by the us er

and s ince there are no rotating part to turn the care unit
left or right, we have coded the controller to make the
left s ides turn by both, front and back, motor to move
backwards and right s ides , front and back, motor
moves forward. Vice vers a for the turn right as well.

IR s ens ors works as s ame as the s oil mois ture s ens or, Fig. 6: Moisture level sensor
but this s ens or is s tationary unlike s oil mois ture s ens or res pons ible to s end videos to the us er computer s creen
and placed at the s ides of the s ides of the care unit, the in three different angles i.e. 45 degrees apart. The
range it can detect is about 3cm and give high or low movement of camera can be illus trated in fig. 7.
output as its res pons e to detecting an object.
Controlling and communication modules have been
embedded together for the s ake of hardware
optimization as pres ented in fig. 5.

Fig. 7: Camera on movable belt

Vehicle Movement

Ultras onic s ens or works as s ame as the IR s ens or and

Fig. 5: Controlling and communication module
B. Power Module
C. Input Module
The input module cons is ts three components :
Moisture level sensor
It es s entially contains a probe that is to be ins erted into
the s oil approx. 6 inches deep to s ens e the mois ture
level, as s een from fig. 6. Upon the feedback, if
controller module found the mois ture level at
ins ufficient level, it s tarts s praying water from the
attached water-tank. This s praying continues till the
mois ture level reached at s ignificant level.
Video Acquisition
This component contains a Wi-Fi camera which is
mounted on a movable arch-belt. The camera is
is als o a s tationary part of care unit, but it is placed at
the front of the vehicle. And in res pons e of an input
(detecting an object), it gives an output in the form of
dis tance, it is more efficient than IR s ens or [9].
C. Communication Module
Once the data is received from the input module, it is
relayed to the communication module that is
res pons ible to s end the received data at appropriate
places . The data received from mois ture level s ens or
is trans mitted to controlling module that takes decis ion
whether water s pray nozzle s hould be turned on or off.
The video that is received from camera is s treamed on
to the us er computer s ys tem s o that the s praying of
pes ticide could be taken. This video s treaming is done
through a Wi-Fi router mounted on MICU. Finally, the
data which received in terms of dis tance us ing the
Ultra-Sonic s ens ors is communicated to controlling
module to adjus t the movement of MICU. This is
noteworthy that all thes e activities do not require any

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external power s ource s ince MICU is capable to
generate its own power us ing s olar energy. MICU is
als o capable to charge its batteries us ing us ual electric
power supply. Communication module is embedded
with controlling module as pres ented in fig. 5.
On us er end a Graphical Us er Interface (GUI) is
provided to give feedback to the us er about the current
Fig. 8: S chematic of MICU
parameters and the movement of MICU. The
Schematic of the developed s ys tem can be illus trated
in fig. 7.
IV. RESULTS AND DIS C U S S I O N
MICU is tes ted in the field to verify its functioning.
Since this is the firs t prototype built, following
parameters have been tes ted:
 Vehicle autonomous movement in the field
 Mois ture detection and s praying controlling
 Video s treaming
 Power s torage through s olar panels
It was noted that the wheels s hould be more flattened
s o that the movement of MICU is much s moother and
firm on the ground. The autonomous movement is
very s ucces sful and MICU roamed around the field in
zigzag order by identifying the boundaries and hurdles
succes s fully. MICU has s ucces s fully s prayed the areas
of the field which is dry or contain the mois ture level
les s than 30% in the s oil. The threshold for s praying
can be eas ily reprogrammed in MICU for different
types of crops . There are delays obs erved in video
s treaming that caus es MICU to go forward and leave
the effected plant partially as its video received on the
us er end. Thes e delays are averagely of 2 s econds . So,
the image acquis ition and communication through Wi-
Fi needs to be improved and delays should be reduced
under 1 s econd. The caus e of delay is actually becaus e
of the trans mis s ion of HD video i.e. 1280x720 pixels
per frame. When the res olution reduced to 800x600
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per frame, the delay is negligible and worked well in
MICU. In s unlight, there is no is s ue to power-up the
batteries us ing s olar panels . It becomes a concern in
raining days when the s unlight is minimum but MICU
has an alternate to it. The batteries may be charged
us ing usual electric power supply.
V. CON C L U S IO N
MICU has exceeded the expectations as it does not
only s ave the efforts and time of the farmer but als o
caus es to s ave huge amount of water that is not
required. This s aving plays dual role, on one hand it
provides financial benefit to the farmer as les s water
and electricity is cons umed and on the other hand it
helps on government level to us e the s aved water and
electricity for other purpos es . Pakis tan is mainly an
agricultural country, it heavily depends on its crops
and thes e crops needs to be watered well. The supply
of water is limited, for various reas ons like shortage of
rainfalls , limited water res ervoirs etc. Currently water
dis tribution is not maintained properly res ulting in
shortage of water in various areas of Pakis tan. Sys tems
like MICU may help greatly in optimum water s upply
to the fields . This creates a flocking effect if MICU
like s ys tems of intelligent irrigation is us ed in the
country on large s cale, the need and dis tribution of
water would be much more optimized and fulfilled.
AC K N O W LE D G E M E N T
MICU has been developed in electronic laboratories at
Us man Ins titute of Technology (UIT) – Karachi. The
authors are extremely grateful for the support received
from management, faculty and laboratory s taff at UIT.
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