Smart Irrigation Water Management Using Internet of Things

Abstract

Irrigation is mainly useful in areas where there is shortage of rainfall. Irrigation therefore is provided for the better yield of crops which hitherto would have died or withered away as a result of water nutrients. The smart irrigation water management scheme of agricultural is required for an improved farming as especially where farming is the backbone of the economy. For two decades, IoT has become so popular because of its significant effect on human activities and its innovative services in agriculture such as smart irrigation farming, fresh water management, cost control, accuracy in farming sensor networking, rainfall and climate change control and so on. This study has evaluated Internet of Things-Enabled Irrigation (IoTsEI). It evaluated smart irrigation water management, methods of irrigation, types of things in IoT for smart irrigation water management, challenges of smart irrigation water management and architecture of IoT. The study reviewed five types of irrigation; Surface irrigation, Localized irrigation, Drip irrigation, Sprinkler irrigation, and Manual irrigation. Two major irrigation methods were identified; the traditional and IoT-based methods. The Traditional method has as its sub-methods, the; Check Basin, Furrow, Strip, and Basin methods. The IoT-based has as its sub-methods as, the; Physical things and Virtual things. The study recommends the virtual IoT water irrigation because it is capable of sharing, accessing, storing and processing data or information on the cloud interfaced with software application, multimedia contents and so on.