Sensor system for precision agriculture smart watering can

The expansion of precision agriculture technology from commercial agriculture to home gardening is highly important due to its economic and health benefits, delivered through a new way of crop production. Additionally, it offers physiological and psychological benefits to the gardeners. The soil degradation and lack of knowledge among gardeners related to the properties of both soil and the pouring water chemical contents results in less efficient production from home plants. In this work, we proposed a new connected sensor system in which smart watering can connect to a wireless sensor network for soil analysis along with the properties of water. The soil condition was measured using thick film pH and moisture sensors. The sensitivity of the pH sensor is 53 ± 2 mV/pH for RuO2 vs Ag/AgCl electrode and is 42 ± 1.26 mV/pH for RuO2 vs carbon in the range of pH 3–8. Depending on the soil properties, the sensors integrated watering can create a suitable pH solution by automatically, mixing the alkaline/acidic solution stored in separate containers in the watering can. This prepared pH-controlled water is then deposited into the plant by the user. Online monitoring of both soil and pouring water chemical content support the gardener to grow plants sustainably.