A Mini Project Report

On
“AUTOMATIC PLANT WATERING
SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR”
Submitted to

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY,

ANANTAPUR
In partial fulfilment of the Requirements for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING

Name of the Student Roll No.

A.PRAGNA 18F41A0405

Under the Esteemed Guidance of

Mr. XXX, Qualification,

Designation.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND

COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
KUPPAM ENGINEERING COLLEGE
Approved by A.I.C.T.E., Affiliated to J.N.T.U.A,
Accredited by NBA, NAAC & ISO 9001:2008 Certified
Kuppam-517425, Chittoor (Dist).
(2018-2022)

i
 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING
KUPPAM ENGINEERING COLLEGE
Approved by A.I.C.T.E., Affiliated to J.N.T.U.A,
Accredited by NBA, NAAC & ISO 9001:2008 Certified
Kuppam-517425, Chittoor (Dist).
(2018-2022)

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this mini project report entitled “AUTOMATIC PLANT
WATERING SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR” is being
submitted by A.PRAGNA (18F41A0405), in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the award of ELECTRONICS OF TECHNOLOGY in
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING to JNTUA,
Anantapur. This is a bonafide work carried out by him/her under my guidance
and supervision. This mini project report has not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

Internal Guide Project Coordinator

__________________________________

Head of the Department

ii
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the mini project report entitled “ AUTOMATIC PLANT
WATERING SYSTEM USING SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR” done by me
under the guidance of Mr. XXX, Designation, is submitted in partial fulfilment of
the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Technology in the
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering . This mini
project has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, associate ship,
fellowship or any other similar titles.

DATE:

PLACE:

NAME & SIGNATURE OF THE CANDIDATE

A.PRAGNA

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
An endeavor of a long period can be successful only with the advice of many well-
wishers. I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to all
those who encouraged me for successfully completion of the Mini Project work.

I am thankful to my Guide Mr. Name of the Guide, QUAL., Designation in

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Kuppam Engineering
College, Kuppam, for his valuable guidance and suggestions in analyzing and testing
throughout the period, till the end of Mini Project work.

My special thanks to Dr. G. N. Kodandaramaiah, M.Tech, Ph.D., Professor &

HOD, Department of ECE, during the progress of Project work, for his timely
suggestions and help in spite of his busy schedule.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Principal Dr. S. Sudhakar

Babu, B.E., M.E., Ph.D., MISTE, for his valuable support and encouragement during
Mini Project work.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Management of Kuppam Engineering

College, Kuppam for his consistent help and encouragement to complete the mini
Project work.

Finally, I would like to express sincere thanks to Project coordinators, Faculty

Members of E.C.E Department, and Lab technicians, one and all who have helped
me to complete the mini project work successfully.

With regards,

A.PRAGNA

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CHAPTER DESCRIPTION PAGE NO
NO.

v
 ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

1.2 Historical Background

1.3 Problem Statement

1.4 Existing System

1.5 Disadvantages of Existing System

2. LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 Literature Survey

2.2 Proposed System

3. SYSTEM OVERVIEW

3.1 Block Diagram

3.2 Methodology

3.3 Flow Chart

4. HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

4.1 Arduino Uno

4.1.1 Introduction

4.1.2 Pin Diagram

4.2 Soil Moisture Sensor

4.3 Mini Submersible Water Pump

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5. ARDUINO

5.1 Introduction to Arduino IDE

5.1.1 Introduction to Arduino IDE

5.1.2 How to Download Arduino IDE

5.1.3 Parts of IDE

5.1.4 Arduino Sketch Software

5.1.5 Steps for Coding Arduino IDE

6. RESULT

7. CONCLUSION

ABSTRACT

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In daily operations related to farming or gardening watering is the most important practice
and the most labor-Intensive task. No matter whichever weather it is, either too hot and dry or
too cloudy and wet, you want to be able to control the amount of water that reaches your
plants. Modern watering 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 to replace manual activities and making gardener's work
easier, we have create automatic plant watering system. By adding automated plant watering
system to the garden or agricultural field, you will help all of the plants reach their fullest
potential as well as conserving water. Using sprinklers drip emitters, or a combination of both,
we have design a system that is ideal for every plant in the yard. For implementation of
automatic plant watering system, we have used combination of sprinkler 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.

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1Overview

Since nowadays, in the age of advanced electronics and technology, the life of
human being should be simpler and more convenient, there is a need for many automated
systems that are capable of replacing or reducing human effort in their daily activities and
jobs. Here we introduce one such system, named as automatic plant watering system, which is
actually a model of controlling irrigation facilities that uses sensor technology to sense soil
moisture with a microcontroller in order to make a smart switching device to help millions of
people. Can we automatically water our home and garden plants without bothering our
neighbours when we decide to go on vacation or somewhere else for a long period? Since
irregular watering leads to the mineral loss in the soil and may end up with rotting the plants,
can we then somehow know if the soil really needs to be watered and if so, when exactly do
we have to water the plants? Is it possible in any way from remote location to manage our
plants to be watered? These are some questions that can be heard quite often and answer on
all of them is encouraging and affirmative, because advanced technology provides us very
wide range of possibilities nowadays. Actually, there is a very simple and economical solution
for all these questions and perplexities. In the form of unique intersection between biological
engineering and electronics, the solution requires only a little bit knowledge of electronics as
well as that knowledge related to botany and plant physiology.

1.2 Historical Background

Plants are a pleasing home decor for those longing for greener interior, it can be a
creative decorating ideas for homes too. Besides, growing plants in indoor spaces naturally
help purify the air human breath and also acts as little oxygen supplier which is beneficial to
human being. It is proven in a study by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of
America (ALCA) (Johnson, 1989).
However, most people faced problem in keeping their plant healthy and alive.
According to some research, people often tend to forget to nurture their plant(s), between
daily activities (Sanberg, 2012). The plant need to be watered with an adequate amount to
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keep them fertile. The previous research said that, the principal environmental requirements
for plant growth include adequate space for root and canopy development, sufficient light,
water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and mineral elements, and temperature suitable for essential
physiologic processes (Iles, 2001). Therefore, watering is an important activity in plant care.
Each plant needs vary adequate quantity of water because too much water can suffocate plant
roots and too little water causes growth to become erratic and stunted.

1.3 Problem Statement

Knowing when and how much to water is two important aspects of irrigation. To do
this automatically, sensors and methods are available to determine when plants may need
water.

1.4 Existing System

The continuous increasing demand of food requires the rapid improvement in food
production technology. In a country like India, where the economy is mainly based on
agriculture and the climatic conditions are isotropic, still we are not able to make full use of
agricultural resources. The main reason is the lack of rains & scarcity of land reservoir water.
The continuous extraction of water from earth is reducing the water level due to which lot of
land is coming slowly in the zones of un-irrigated land. Another very important reason of this
is due to unplanned use of water due to which a significant amount of water goes to waste.
The existing system of manual irrigation is very inefficient in regard to solving these issues.
In modern drip irrigation systems, the most significant advantage is that water is supplied near
the root zone of the plants drip by drip due to which a large quantity of water is saved. At the
present era, the farmers have been using irrigation techniques in India through manual control
in which farmers irrigate the land at the regular intervals. This process sometimes consumes
more water or sometimes the water reaches late due to which crops get dried. Water
deficiency can be detrimental to plants before visible wilting occurs. Slowed growth rate,
lighter weight fruit follows slight water deficiency. This problem can be perfectly rectified if
we use automatic irrigation system in which the irrigation will take place only when there will
be acute requirement of water.

1.5 Disadvantages of Existing System

The main disadvantage of the existing system the wastage of water and excess supply of water
to the plants which may leads to death of plants. This process also effects the growth rate of
plants, lighter weight fruit follows slight water deficiency. This process sometimes consumes

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more water and sometimes the water supply to the land is delayed due to which the crops dry
out. Water deficiency deteriorates plants growth before visible wilting occurs.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 Literature Survey

Jiachun et al., proposed a paper titled “A Handhelding Testing System for Irrigation
System Management”. This paper is based mainly on L8051F microcontroller and rtx51tny
operating system. Here, they are using hand-held irrigation detection device to develop the
needs of the saving water irrigation for the crops planted near karst slope area. This area has
quick changes and tremendous differences of the regional climate. This device has several
advantages such as simple operation, easy to carry up, less cost, wireless control and so on.
By utilizing this device, the complications can be integrated between manual control and
automatic control. Handheld device is the mobile device which is held using hands and in
normal because of the portability, simple operation and less power usage widely used in
testing, automation control industry such as TV remote controllers, Air Conditioners etc. Due
to the development of the handheld device in irrigation system, it has brought convenient
methods for managing personnel to participate or involve in the management of irrigation
system. Mainly help in finding out the complement between the human and machine control.

2.2 Proposed Methodology

Frequently, we cannot set the time for watering the plants due to which the soil of the
plants becomes dry. So, for a proper care, we have to water the plants whenever the soil gets
dry. This circuit contains two probes, which will sense the moisture of the soil. You can
connect any sprinkler system or pump to switch the circuit on automatically to water the
plants.
Measurement of soil moisture is done by the sensor which forwards the information and
parameters regarding the soil moisture to the Arduino, which controls the pump. If the level of
soil moisture drops below a certain value(here 400 threshold), the Arduino sends a high signal
to the relay module which then runs the water pump and certain amount of water is delivered

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to the plant. Again when soil moisture reaches a certain value (here 800 threshold), the
Arduino sends a low signal to the relay module which stops the water pump.

CHAPTER 3

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

3.1 Block Diagram

Soil Soil
Moisture Arduino Moisture
Sensor Uno Sensor

3.2 Methodology

The main working principle behind this system is in connecting the soil
moisture sensor, which was previously embedded into the plant, to the Arduino
microcontroller, which is also connected to other electronic components. Measurement of soil
moisture is done by the sensor which forwards the information and parameters regarding the
soil moisture to the microcontroller, which controls the pump. If the level of soil moisture
drops below a certain value, the microcontroller sends the signal to the relay module which
then runs a pump and certain amount of water is delivered to the plant. Once the enough water
is delivered, the pump stops doing its work. Power supply has a task to power the complete
system and the recommended voltage should respect the input supply range for the
microcontroller, that is, from 7V to 12V. Since the complete system should be embedded in a
small box, Arduino Uno is a perfect microcontroller for this purpose because of its
dimensions and its work performance. Soil moisture module is consisting of the two parts:
amplifier circuit and probes. This module has digital and analog outputs, where digital output
is set to logical 1 when the threshold is activated. The threshold is set by potentiometer.

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Analog output gives the real time information regarding the moisture in the plant and this
output is used in the system.

3.3 Flow Chart:

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 CHAPTER 4

HARDWARE DESCRIPTIONS

4.1 ARDUINO UNO

4.1.1 Introduction
The ARDUINO UNO is an open-source microcontroller board based on the
Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by Arduino.cc. The board is
equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to
various expansion boards (shields) and other circuits. The board has 14 digital I/O pins (six
capable of PWM output), 6 analog I/O pins, and is programmable with the Arduino IDE
(Integrated Development Environment), via a type B USB cable. It can be powered by the
USB cable or by an external 9-volt battery, though it accepts voltages between 7 and 20 volts.
Features:
Microcontroller: Microchip ATmega328P
Operating Voltage: 5 Volts
Input Voltage: 7 to 20 Volts
Digital I/O Pins: 14 (of which 6 can provide PWM output)
UART: 1
I2C: 1
SPPI: 1
Analog Input Pins: 6
DC Current per I/O Pin: 20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin: 50 mA
Flash Memory: 32 KB of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader
SRAM: 2 KB

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EEPROM: 1 KB
Clock Speed: 16 MHz
Length: 68.6 mm
Width: 53.4 mm
Weight: 25 g

4.1.2 Pin Diagram

General Pin functions

LED: There is a built-in LED driven by digital pin 13. When the pin is high value, the LED is
on, when the pin is low, it is off.
VIN: The input voltage to the Arduino/Genuine board when it is using an external power
source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or other regulated power source). You
can supply voltage through this pin, or, if supplying voltage via the power jack, access it
through this pin.
5V: This pin outputs a regulated 5V from the regulator on the board. The board can be
supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 - 20V), the USB connector (5V), or the
VIN pin of the board (7-20V). Supplying voltage via the 5V or 3.3V pins bypasses the
regulator, and can damage the board

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3V3: A 3.3-volt supply generated by the on-board regulator. Maximum current draw is 50
mA. GND: Ground pins.
IOREF: This pin on the Arduino/Genuine board provides the voltage reference with which
the microcontroller operates. A properly configured shield can read the IOREF pin voltage
and select the appropriate power source, or enable voltage translators on the outputs to work
with the 5V or 3.3V.
Reset: Typically used to add a reset button to shields that block the one on the board.

Special pin functions

Each of the 14 digital pins and 6 analog pins on the Uno can be used as an input or
output, under software control (using pin Mode (), digital Write (), and digital Read ()
functions). They operate at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive 20 mA as the
recommended operating condition and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by
default) of 20-50K ohm. A maximum of 40mA must not be exceeded on any I/O pin to avoid
permanent damage to the microcontroller. The Uno has 6 analog inputs, labelled A0 through
A5; each provides 10 bits of resolution (i.e., 1024 different values). By default, they measure
from ground to 5 volts, though it is possible to change the upper end of the range using the
AREF pin and the analog Reference () function.
In addition, some pins have specialized functions:
Serial / UART: pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial
data. These pins are connected to the corresponding pins of the ATmega8U2 USB-to-TTL
serial chip.
External interrupts: pins 2 and 3. These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a
low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value.
PWM (pulse-width modulation): pins 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11. Can provide 8-bit PWM output
with the analog Write () function.
SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface): pins 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), and 13 (SCK). These
pins support SPI communication using the SPI library.
TWI (two-wire interface) / I²C: pin SDA (A4) and pin SCL (A5). Support TWI
communication using the Wire library.
AREF (analog reference): Reference voltage for the analog inputs.
Communication

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The Arduino/Genuine Uno has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer,
another Arduino/Genuine board, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega328 provides UART
TTL (5V) serial communication, which is available on digital pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). An
ATmega16U2 on the board channels this serial communication over USB and appears as a
virtual com port to software on the computer. The 16U2 firmware uses the standard USB
COM drivers, and no external driver is needed. However, on Windows, a .inf file is required.
Arduino Software (IDE) includes a serial monitor which allows simple l data to be sent to and
from the board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted
via the USB-to-serial chip and USB connection to the computer (but not for serial
communication on pins 0 and 1). A Software Serial library allows serial communication on
any of the Uno's digital pins.
4.2 SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR
Soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content in soil. Since the direct
gravimetric measurement of free soil moisture requires removing, drying, and weighting of a
sample, soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content indirectly by using some
other property of the soil, such as electrical resistance, dielectric constant, or interaction with
neutrons, as a proxy for the moisture content.

The relation between the measured property and soil moisture must be calibrated
and may vary depending on environmental factors such as soil type, temperature, or electric
conductivity. Reflected microwave radiation is affected by the soil moisture and is used for
remote sensing in hydrology and agriculture. Portable probe instruments can be used by
farmers or gardeners.

Figure: Soil Moisture Sensor

Features and Specifications:
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 Operating Voltage: 3.3V to 5V DC
Operating Current: 15mA
Output Digital - 0V to 5V, Adjustable trigger level from preset
Output Analog - 0V to 5V based on infrared radiation from fire flame falling on the sensor.
LEDs indicating output and power
PCB Size: 3.2cm x 1.4cm
LM393 based design
Easy to use with Microcontrollers or even with normal Digital/Analog IC.
Small, cheap and easily available

4.3 Mini Submersible Water Pump:

A mini submersible water pump is a centrifugal water pump, which means that it uses a motor
to power an impeller that is designed to rotate and push water outwards. The motor is located
in a waterproof seal and closely connected to the body of the water pump which it powers.

Specifications:
Operating Voltage: 2.5 ~ 6V.
Operating Current: 130 ~ 220mA.
Flow Rate: 80 ~ 120 L/H.
Maximum Lift: 40 ~ 110 mm.
Outlet outside Diameter: 7.5 mm.
Outlet inside Diameter: 5 mm.

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 CHAPTER 5
ARDUINO IDE
5.1Introduction to Arduino IDE:
Arduino IDE
We are using ARDUINO UNO as the microcontroller, for the purpose of coding the
ARDUINO UNO WE USE Arduino IDE.

5.1.1 Introduction to Arduino IDE

Arduino IDE is open-source software that is mainly used for writing and compiling the code
into the Arduino Module.
It is official Arduino software, making code compilation too easy that even a common person
with no prior technical knowledge can get their feet wet with the learning process.
It is easily available for operating systems like MAC, Windows, and Linux and runs on the
Java Platform that comes with inbuilt functions and commands that play a vital role for
debugging, editing and compiling the code in the environment.
A range of Arduino modules available including Arduino Uno, Arduino Mega, Arduino
Leonardo, Arduino Micro and many more.
Each of them contains a microcontroller on the board that is actually programmed and accepts
the information in the form of code.
The main code, also known as a sketch, created on the IDE platform will ultimately generate a
Hex File which is then transferred and uploaded in the controller on the board.

IV-ECE, KEC 11
The IDE environment mainly contains two basic parts: Editor and Compiler where former is
used for writing the required code and later is used for compiling and uploading the code into
the given Arduino module.
This environment supports both C and C++ languages.

5.1.2 How to Download Arduino IDE

You can download the Software from Arduino main website. As I said earlier, the software is
available for common operating systems like Linux, Windows, and MAX, so make sure you
are downloading the correct software version that is easily compatible with your operating
system.
If you aim to download Windows app version, make sure you have Windows8.1 or Windows
10, as app version is not compatible with Windows 7 or older version of this operating
system. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) window will be as shown in figure.

5.1.3 Parts of IDE

Compile – Before your program “code” can be sent to the board, it needs to be converted into
instructions that the board understands. This process is called compiling process.
Create new Sketch – This opens a new window to create a new sketch.
Open Existing Sketch –This loads a sketch from a file on your computer.
Save Sketch –This saves the changes to the sketch you are working on.
Upload to Board –This compile and then transmits over the USB cable to your board.
Sketch Editor –This is where you write or edit sketches.
Serial Monitor –Serial monitor is used to check the output values that read by the micro
controller. Text Console – This shows you what the IDE is currently doing and is also where
error messages display if you make a mistake in typing the program.
Line Number – This shows you what line number is your cursor is on. It is useful since the
compiler gives error messages with a line number.

5.1.4 Arduino sketch software

The Arduino sketch structure flow graph will be as follows

Void setup () {
//put your setup code here, to run once: }
Void loop () {

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 Useful IDE shortcut: Press Ctrl-/
To comment (or uncomment) a selected portion of your program

Arduino program has mainly two parts:

Setup
Loop
Void setup (): It will be executed only when the program begins or if reset is pressed,
Void loop (): It will execute the condition repeatedly.

5.1.5 STEP FOR CODING ARDUINO IDE

Settings: Tools – Serial Ports
Computer communications to the Arduino microcontroller via a serial port through a USB-
Serial adapter. b. Check to make sure that drivers are properly installed. c. Any
communication will take place through serial communication only
Settings: Tools – Board
Next, double-check that the power board is selected under the Tools Board menu. In this we
must select the appropriate board of Arduino UNO
Write the program:
In the Arduino IDE Window, write the program in the format of setup and loop. The IDE
window
will
appear as
follows:

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 IDE Window After writing code

Compilation:
In the Arduino IDE window, we must compile the program before execution to check the
errors in the code. To compile the program, we must select the Tick mark present in the
window.

During Compilation

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 After Compilation

Upload the code to board:

Now we must dump the code into the hardware circuit so the hardware must be connected to
the computer by means of USB and by using the upload option we can dump the code into the
hardware and check the outputs.

After uploading the code

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 CHAPTER 6

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 CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION
In this project an automation of farm irrigation and soil moisture control by Arduino using soil
moisture sensor and ARDUINO. This automatic irrigation system senses the moisture content in
the soil and automatically switches the pump when the power is on. A proper usage of
agriculture system is very necessary because the main reason is the shortage of land reserved
water due to lack of rain, spontaneous use of water results large amount of water goes waste.
For this reason, we use this automatic plant watering and soil moisture monitoring system,
and this system is very useful in all climatic conditions. India is an agriculture based country.
Our most of the people is completely depending on the agricultural harvesting. Agriculture is
a source of employment of majority Indians and has a great impact on the economy of the
country. In dry areas or in case of lacking rainfall, irrigation becomes difficult. So, it needs to
be automated for proper watering a plant and handled remotely by farmer. When soil goes dry
pump will start watering. The main aim of implementing this project is to reduce water usage
and automatic irrigation can be used to save time and a low power monitor device. This
project can be defined by using the automatic plant irrigation can be used to reduce water
usage and save your time.

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