Cloud based Low-Power Long-Range IoT Network for Soil Moisture monitoring in Agriculture

The intervention of sensors and wireless networks has transformed cliched agricultural practices. Internet of Things (IoT) has penetrated various verticals, with agriculture being one of them. The application of IoT in agriculture is primarily focused on field parameter monitoring and automation, which aims to help farmers increase crop yield. Long-range and low-power devices, convenient installation, and cost-efficiency are the primary factors to be considered for deploying an IoT network in real-time. In this paper, we proposed a low-power long-range IoT network for monitoring of soil moisture. We have selected LoRa as the communication interface, which uses 868 MHz ISM band for signal transmission. The soil-moisture sensor and the LoRa nodes are designed in-house. Accuracy of the sensor nodes is tested by placing two nodes in the same sector. All the data collected are stored in the server and are available online.