posted on 2017-10-17, 15:25authored byMillion T. Mafuta, Marco Zennaro, Antoine B. Bagula, Graham W. Ault, Harry S.H. Gombachika, Timothy Chadza
This paper demonstrates how an irrigation management system (IMS) can practically be implemented by deploying a wireless
sensor network (WSN). Specifically, the paper describes an IMS which was set up in Manja township, city of Blantyre. Deployment
of IMS in rural areas of developing countries likeMalawi is a challenge as grid power is scarce. For the systemto be self-sustained in
terms of power, the study used solar photovoltaic and rechargeable batteries to power all electrical devices.The systemincorporated
a remote monitoring mechanism through a General Packet Radio Service modem to report soil temperature, soil moisture, WSN
link performance, and photovoltaic power levels. Irrigation valves were activated to water the field. Preliminary results in this study
have revealed a number of engineering weaknesses of deploying such a system. Nevertheless, the paper has highlighted areas of
improvement to develop a robust, fully automated, solar-powered, and low-cost IMS to suit the socioeconomic conditions of small
scale farmers in developing countries.
Funding
The authors of this paper would like to thank the Community
Rural Electrification and Development Project funded by the
Scottish Government through the University of Strathclyde
for providing the equipment deployed in this study. This paper was partly supported by the
project “Secured quality of service aware wireless sensor
networks: toward effective network and energy management”
funded by a Grant fromthe South African National Research
Foundation.
History
School
Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Volume
9
Issue
5
Pages
150703 - 150703
Citation
MAFUTA, M. ... et al., 2013. Successful deployment of a wireless sensor network for precision agriculture in Malawi. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 9 (5), DOI: 10.1155/2013/150703.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/