Page 846 - AI for Good Innovate for Impact

AI for Good Innovate for Impact

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Item Details
Metadata (type of data) Date and Time, Soil moisture sensor ID, Location (Lat long), Unit of
Measurement (%), Soil moisture data (JSON and CSV format ), Device
Status (Online, Battery), Gate Open/Close

Model Training and Collected soil moisture, device status, and environmental data offer
Fine-Tuning strong potential for developing predictive models to optimize irriga-
tion schedules, detect anomalies, and forecast soil moisture trends.
Testbeds or Pilot The system was tested and deployed at the research farm, IARI, New
Deployments Delhi.

2 Use Case Description

2�1 Description

Surface irrigation remains the most widely used method for watering crops and pastures both
in India and globally, largely due to its low cost and minimal energy requirements. In India, this
method plays a crucial role in ensuring the availability of food and fodder. For example, during
2016 - 2017, approximately 80% of the country’s total irrigated land was managed through
surface irrigation systems.

Despite its widespread use, traditional surface irrigation systems are often associated with low
water application efficiency and high labor demands. Although well designed and managed
systems have the potential to achieve high efficiency, many existing systems continue to operate
at low and highly variable efficiency levels. Given its cost-effectiveness and prevalence, surface
irrigation is expected to remain a dominant irrigation method both in India and internationally
for the foreseeable future. Consequently, improving the application efficiency of these systems
remains a critical area of focus.

Automation using IoT technologies presents a promising solution for enhancing the performance
of conventional surface irrigation systems. An automated surface irrigation system operates
with minimal manual input using timers, sensors, computers, or mechanical devices. Research
has shown that incorporating intelligent irrigation controllers and wireless sensor networks can
reduce water usage by up to 38% in irrigation projects.

IoT-based systems empower farmers to overcome challenges related to monitoring and labor
shortages. Innovative and cost-effective IoT applications are increasingly being adopted in
agriculture to improve quality, productivity, sustainability, and cost efficiency. IoT refers to
a network of physical devices embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network
connectivity that enables them to collect and exchange data. In such systems, a central unit
(sink) interprets the data and sends commands to actuators to execute tasks.

Several studies have demonstrated that IoT systems equipped with wireless sensor networks
(WSNs) using communication protocols such as ZigBee or LoRa can effectively transmit field
data such as soil moisture and temperature at regular intervals. These systems support irrigation
scheduling through mobile applications for various crops.

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