Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
NConPCS - 2017 Conference Proceedings

Automated Plant Watering System

Punitha.K, Shivaraj Jagadeesh Kumar H. B.
Sudarshan Gowda, Devarajnayaka R Asst. Professor
Students, Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Ghousia College of Engineering Ghousia College of Engineering
Ramanagaram, Karnataka, India Ramanagaram, Karnataka, India

Abstract — In daily operations related to farming or gardening Thus, a system is required, to handle this task automatically.
watering is the most important practice and the most labor- Automated plant watering system estimate and measure the
intensive task. No matter whichever weather it is, either too hot existing plant and then supplies desired amount of water
and dry or too cloudy and wet, you want to be able to control the needed by that plant. It is minimizing the excess water use as
amount of water that reaches your plants. Modern watering well as keeping plants healthy.
systems could be effectively used to water plants when they need
it. But this manual process of watering requires two important
aspects to be considered: when and how much to water. In order II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
to replace manual activities and making gardener's work easier,
we have create automatic plant watering system. By adding During day to day activities many people often forget to
automated plant watering system to the garden or agricultural water their plants and thus it becomes challenging for them to
field, you will help all of the plants reach their fullest potential keep their plants healthy and alive. Also it is a challenge for
as well as conserving water. Using sprinklers drip emitters, or a farmers to maintain their fields and manage watering of
combination of both, we have design a system that is ideal for plants during shortage of water. Based on the above
every plant in the yard. For implementation of automatic plant background, we thought that it is necessary to implement the
watering system, we have used combination of sprinkler
automated system which
systems, pipes, and nozzles. In this paper we have used
ATmega328 microcontroller. It is programmed to sense
moisture level of plants at particular instance of time, if the
moisture content is less than specified threshold which is
predefined according to particular plant's water need then
desired amount of water is supplied till it reaches threshold.
Generally, plants need to be watered twice a day, morning and
evening. Thus, the microcontroller is programmed to water
plants two times per day. System is designed in such a way that
it reports its current state as well as remind the user to add
water to the tank. All this notifications are made through mobile
application. We hope that through this prototype we all can
enjoy having plants, without being worried about absent or
forgetfulness.

Keywords— Farming, watering, automatic system, sprinkler

systems. Fig 1: Illustrate the scenario when owner negate to water a plant

I. INTRODUCTION
We all know that plants are very beneficial to all human
beings in many aspects. Plants helps in keeping the
environment healthy by cleaning air naturally and producing
oxygen. Many people love to have plants in their backyard.
But due to civilization and insufficiency of place many
people used to grow plants in a mold or dirt, pot, and placed
on the windowsill. This plant are dependent on
conventional breeding - watering, and provide the right
amount of sun to sustain life and growth. In busy schedule of
day to day life, many time people forget to water
their plants and due to this plants suffers many disorders and Fig. 2: Illustrating scenario where closed window binds
the necessary sunlight
ultimately died. In addition, the world's biggest problem in
modem society is the shortage of water resources, agriculture
will take care of plants considering all the different aspects of
is a demanding job to consume large amounts of water. It is
home gardening system (for system based on household
very essential to utilize the water resources in proper way.
purpose) as well as larger landscape (for the system based on

Volume 5, Issue 18 Published by, www.ijert.org 1

Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
NConPCS - 2017 Conference Proceedings

agricultural farms) and helps them to grow healthy. We also

believe that technology can help people in cultivating plants,
not just by automation but also through digital
communications (such as to notify the user with the current
status of the plant is important to note). Therefore, our project
aims to implement a simple system, using automatic
irrigation, watering a small potted plant or crop with minimal
human intervention.

III. PROPOSED IDEA

There are two functional components in this paper. They are
moisture sensor and motor / pump. Arduino board is
programmed using the Arduino IDE software. Humidity
sensor is used to detect the soil moisture content. Motor / Fig. 4: Block diagram of Automated Gardening System
pump is used to supply water to plants. Soil moisture and
temperature predetermined range is set particularly for B. Automatic Watering To The Plant And User Notifications:
specific plants requirement, and according to that system is On receiving logic high signal, Arduino will notify
being operated. Microcontroller (ATmega328), is the brain of the user by turning on the first buzzer. In this work we have
the system. Both humidity and temperature sensor is used an Arduino microcontroller in combination with relay
connected to the controller's input pin. Pump and servo motor control switch to control the motor and overall functioning.
coupled to the output pin. In case of soil_moisture value is Motor may be driven by external 9V battery with interfacing
less than threshold system automatically triggers water pump to microcontroller.
on till sensor meets threshold and then sets off automatically.
The overall activity is reported to the user using mobile
application.

Fig. 3: Real-time view of proposed Automated Gardening System

A. Detecting Moisture Content:

This will be achieved by soil moisture sensor. They are
connected to an Arduino microcontroller board. Arduino
board is programmed using the IDE software. Humidity Fig. 5: Flowchart of Automated plant watering system
sensor senses to indicate that the plant needs watering
humidity levels in the soil, and sends the signal to the
Arduino.

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Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
NConPCS - 2017 Conference Proceedings

IV. COMPONENTS USED FOR IMPLEMENTATION

OF SYSTEM
A. Arduino Uno
Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the
ATmega328. It has 14 digital input / output pins (of which 6
can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, 16 MHz
ceramic resonator, USB connection, power jack, ICSP plug,
and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support
the microcontroller; simply use the USB cable or power it
with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery is connected to a
computer begins. Fig 8: Water pump

D. The Relay Module

Relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays for
switching solenoid mechanism mechanically operated, but
can also be used for other principles of operation. Relays are
widely used in early computers to telephones and perform
logical operations.

E. Arduino IDE Tool

Arduino open-source environment, you can easily
write code and upload it to the 110 board. It runs on
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Environment is written in
Java, and according to the processing, AVC-GCC, as well as
other open source software.

Fig. 6: Arduino Uno V. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

B. Moisture Sensor A. Build System Relay

We create connections to the solid state relays, Arduino, and
Soil moisture sensor measures the soil water content. Soil
small fountain pump system, Arduino allows the pump
moisture probe consists of a plurality of soil moisture sensors.
open or close automatically. A striped cut through the inner
Soil moisture sensor technology, commonly used are:
tube of the pump segment insulated wire, only half. Install the
• Frequency domain sensor, such as a capacitive sensor.
new cut wire, there are two output relays at both ends.We put
• Neutron moisture meter, characteristic of the use of water
on the bare electrical tape. Finally, the ground relay is
in the neutron moderator.
connected to the Arduino ground and relay input to the
• Soil resistivity. In this particular project, we will use the
Arduino digital pins.
soil moisture sensors which can be inserted into soil to
measure the soil moisture content
B. Build up System Reservoir
Submerged pump supplies a desired amount of water needed
by the plant in order to work properly. Automate this process,
we use a float valve, which you need to open whenever
needed, close the connection when the water level rises and
water hoses. Drilling is high enough to ensure that the float
valve chamber, sufficient to accommodate the width of the
tank float.

C. Build System tubing and connect

Fig. 7: Moisture Sensor Connection to plastic lob feed pumps and drilling small
holes through which water droplets. All of the trunk circuit.
C. Water Pump
Water is used to perform a specific task of artificially D. Code
pumping. It can be controlled by an electronic Automated plant watering system is programmed using
microcontroller. It can be on 1 triggered by sending the Arduino IDE software. Arduino microcontroller checks soil
signal and turned off as needed. Artificial process is called moisture level, if low, triggering a water pump on until
Water Pumping Station. There are many varieties of pumps. sensor reaches threshold. After this, the system will re-check
This project uses a small pump connected to the H-bridge. the soil moisture between periodic intervals to see if you need

Volume 5, Issue 18 Published by, www.ijert.org 3

Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
NConPCS - 2017 Conference Proceedings

more water. If the water in the initial inspection, no water or

comment, the system waits 24 hours, and repeat the process.

VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

From this work, we can control the moisture content of the
soil of cultivated land. According to soil moisture, water
pumping motor turned on or off via the relay automatically.
This saves water, while the water level can be obtained in a
preferred aspect of the plant, thereby increasing productivity
of crops. Servo motor from vegetation water uniformly
dispersed in water, in order to ensure the maximum
utilization of absorption through. Thus, there is minimal
waste of water. The system also allows the delivery to the
plant when needed based on the type of plant, soil moisture,
and observed temperature. The proposed work minimize the
efforts of major agricultural regions. Many aspects of the
system can be customized and used software to fine-tune the
requirements of the plant. The result is a scalable, supporting
technology. Using this sensor, we can see that the soil is wet
or dry. If it is dry, the motor will automatically start pumping
water.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
Automatic system using a microcontroller, moisture sensor
and other electronic tools were been developed. It was
observed that the proposed methodology controls the
moisture content of the soil of cultivated land. The motor
automatically start pumping water if the soil is dry and need
water and stops when the moisture content of the soil is
maintained as required.

REFERENCES
[1] S. V. Devika, SK. Khamuruddeen et aI., "Arduino based
automated plant watering system" in International Journal of
Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software
Engineering, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014.
[2] Jonathan Gana Kolo, "Design and Construction of an Automatic
Power Changeover Switch" in AU Journal of Technology, 11(2):
(Oct. 2007).
[3] S. Darshna et aI., "Smart Irrigation System" in IOSR Journal of
Electronics and Communication Engineering (IOSR JECE),
Volume 10, Issue 3, Ver. II (May -Jun.2015).
[4] Jesper Sandberg and Thomas Kockholm, ''iPlant: Inteligent Plant
System", in SPCL-2012 - Report.
[5] Vinay Bakale and SiddheshTolakar,"Wireless Automatic Plant
Irrigation System", International Journal on Recent Technologies
in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
[6] Sanju kumar, and R.V. Krishnaiah, "Advance Technique for Soil
Moisture Content Based Automatic Motor Pumping for
Agriculture Land Purpose". International Journal of VLSI and
Embedded Systems-IJVES, Vol 04, Article 09149; September
2013, pp 599-603.

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