DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF THE IRRIGATION REGIME OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN A GREENHOUSE

Authors

  • Veselin Mengov dept. “Electronics, communications and information technologies”University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski” (BG)
  • Nikolay Komitov dept. “Automation, Information and Control technology”University of Food Technologies (BG)
  • Georgi Komitov dept. “Agricultural Mechanization”Agricultural University – Plovdiv (BG)
  • Evgeni Kehayov dept. “Agricultural Mechanization”Agricultural University – Plovdiv (BG)
  • Katya Popova dept. “Crop Porduction”Agricultural University – Plovdiv (BG)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17770/etr2025vol1.8667

Keywords:

automatic control, irrigation mode, sensors, agricultural production, greenhouse

Abstract

Water is known to be a chemical compound and plays an essential role in sustaining life on our planet. Fresh water on earth is only 2.5% and the problems with the drought of the regions are known. Therefore, its sparing use will contribute to reducing this effect. This requires the revision of some of the policies of the agricultural sector and the implementation of new and innovative irrigation solutions. Through irrigation and their root system, plants grow and develop. The application of a proper irrigation regime will contribute to a reduction in water use. In this study, an attempt has been made to create an autonomous system for determining and applying the irrigation regime of plants. For this purpose, a greenhouse was used for the industrial production of cucumbers. A soil moisture sensor is used, and the signal is processed by software developed for this purpose, which produces a control signal for the beginning and end of the irrigation process. The process is controlled autonomously, depending on the current state of humidity and when a certain value is reached, the process is terminated. The sensor part is made of standard soil moisture sensors, and the control part is entrusted to a single-board computer with the ability to control via a wireless network.

References

B. Zierl and H. Bugmann, Global change impacts on hydrological processes in Alpine catchments, Water Resour, Res., 41,W02028, 2005.

A. Kay, V. Bell and H. Davies, Model Quality and Uncertainty for Climate Change Impact. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, 2006.

D. Nohara, A. Kitoh, M. Hosaka and T. Oki, Impact of climate change on river runoff, J. Hydrometeorol., 7, 2006, pp. 1076-1089.

P. Milly, K. Dunne and A. Vecchia, Global pattern of trends in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate. Nature, 438, 2005, pp. 347-350.

A. Ociepa-Kubicka and K. Wilczak, Water Loss Reduction as the Basis of Good Water Supply Companies’ Managemen, EEMS 2017, E3S Web of Conferences 19, 02015, 2017, DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/20171902015.

R. Aldrich and J. Bartok, Greenhouse Engineering. NRAES-33, Ithaca, NY: Natural Resource, Agriculture and Engineering Service, 1994.

P. DeFacio, L. Pickerel, and S. Rhyne, Greenhouse Operation and Management, Instructional Materials Laboratory, Columbia MO: University of Missouri, 2002.

K. Singh, P. Goutam, S. Xaxa, Nasima, S. Pandey, N. Panotra, G. Rajesh, The Role of Greenhouse Technology in Streamlining Crop Production, Journal of Experimental Agriculture International, 46 (6), 2024, DOI 10.9734/jeai/2024/v46i62532, pp. 776-798.

J. Birkby and G. Soto-Velez, Vertical Farming, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Butte, 2024, MT 59702-3838.

R. Dhake, S. D’Costa, V. Bhuwaniya, A. Daga, A. Chaure, Vertical Farming: An energy effective form of Agriculture, International Journal of Scientific Research & Engineering Trends, Vol. 10, Issue 2, Marth-April.2024, pp.659-663.

M. Morris, The California microirrigation pocket guide. Pumps, motors and engines, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Butte, MT 59702-3838, 2023.

M. Morris and L. Schwankl, The California microirrigation pocket guide. System management and maintenance, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Butte, MT 59702-3838, 2023.

CEPEX AC-6. User guide, GDB55X, Fluidra S.A., Barcelona, 2003.

ESP 32 Series. Datasheet, Espressif Systems (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., version 4.6, 2024.

S. Adla, N. Rai, S. Karumanchi, S. Tripathi, M. Disse and S. Pande, Laboratory Calibration and Performance Evaluation of Low-Cost Capacitive and Very Low-Cost Resistive Soil Moisture Sensors, Sensors 20, 2020, pp. 363.

D. Schwamback, M. Persson, R. Berndtsson, L. Bertotto, A. Naoki, A. Kobayashi and E. Wendland, Automated Low-Cost Soil Moisture Sensors: Trade-Off between Cost and Accuracy, Sensors 23, 2023, pp. 245.

Temperature and humidity module AM2302 Product Manual, Aosong electronics Co Ltd, 2023.

MV07. Datasheet, Nieruf LtD, 2018.

Downloads

Published

11.06.2025

Issue

Vol. 1 (2025): Environment. Technology. Resources. Proceedings of the 16th International Scientific and Practical Conference. Volume 1

Section

Environment and Resources

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Veselin Mengov, Nikolay Komitov, Georgi Komitov, Evgeni Kehayov, Katya Popova

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

[1]
V. Mengov, N. Komitov, G. Komitov, E. Kehayov, and K. Popova, “DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF THE IRRIGATION REGIME OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN A GREENHOUSE”, ETR, vol. 1, pp. 371–375, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.17770/etr2025vol1.8667.