Research Article
Volume 8 Issue 6
Nideesh Reddy K*, Dharaneeshwaran RS, Sidharth TG, Sonal Sharma, Priyanka Majhi and Vinay Kumar
June 09, 2026
Abstract
Water scarcity and inefficient irrigation practices remain pressing challenges in Indian agriculture, particularly in rural areas with limited internet connectivity. Existing smart irrigation solutions predominantly rely on cloud-based processing and continuous network availability, making them unsuitable for remote farming environments. This paper presents SmartIrrig, a cost-effective, edge-based intelligent irrigation system designed for small-scale agricultural use. The proposed architecture integrates soil moisture sensing, real-time weather condition monitoring, and a local decision-making engine to autonomously control water pump operation without dependence on cloud services. A predictive irrigation module leverages threshold-based logic enhanced by lightweight rule-based reasoning to anticipate water requirements before critical soil dryness occurs. The system provides farmer-friendly feedback through an LCD display and optional mobile application. Evaluated through controlled field trials under varied soil and weather conditions, SmartIrrig demonstrates 34% reduction in water consumption compared to conventional timer-based systems, with an average pump decision latency of under 200 milliseconds. The system's offline-first design addresses the primary limitation of existing solutions, establishing edge computing as a viable paradigm for agricultural IoT in resource-constrained environments.
Keywords: smart irrigation; IoT; edge computing; soil moisture sensing; precision agriculture; embedded systems; water management; Arduino
References