Implementation of and atmospheric variables monitoring system with a weather station and soil moisture sensors using LoRa technology and the LoRaWAN protocol

• Grant number: 25/04417-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Telecommunications
• Principal Investigator: Jayme Garcia Arnal Barbedo
• Grantee: Otávio Biadola Nery
• Host Institution: Embrapa Agricultura Digital. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/01308-3 - Estimating wheat productivity using crop modeling: assimilation of in-situ data, AP.R

Abstract

Recently, the use of new technologies has been growing, aiming to increase agriculturalproduction, without neglecting food quality and the sustainable use of natural resources. Inthis sense, many research projects have been carried out using Internet of Things conceptsaimed at precision agriculture.In this context, this work presents a solution for monitoring soil moisture, ambienttemperature and relative humidity variables, with data being transmitted in real time usingthe LoRaWAN TM protocol, and the data being made available on an IoT (Internet of Things)platform and stored in a database.The proposal considers the integration of a weather station with a wheat plantationmonitoring system. In order to achieve the objective, it is necessary to specify and select aweather station, understand how the equipment works, develop a project to monitor thevariables produced by the weather station and integrate it with IoT platforms, includingSmart Campus, as well as the solution to be implemented together with the Embrapa Trigoteam in a crop in the city of São Miguel Arcanjo (SP). In addition, the project proposes thecreation, calibration and integration of soil moisture sensors (at three depths) into the samesolution, in addition to measuring temperature and battery level, as well as other variables tobe defined as relevant to wheat crops. Finally, the project will evaluate the possibility ofintegrating a system to control the irrigation system into the solution.With the introduction of connectivity in agriculture, it is expected that real-time datacollection and remote access to this data can contribute to assertiveness and agility indecision-making by rural producers, resulting in better efficiency, productivity, cost reductionand sustainability.The work is aligned with the FAPESP project 2024/01308-3 and will use the materials andequipment provided.The objectives of the project are:* Evaluate solutions for remote sensing applied to precision agriculture.* Develop a system for monitoring and analyzing data collected through sensors applied toprecision agriculture, specifically in wheat crops.* Monitoring of signals measured in real time by soil moisture sensors, with measurementsat different depth levels, in addition to atmospheric sensors and sensors specific to the cropin question, to use this information to help automatically control the flow rate in theirrigation system and control the dosage of nutrients and fertilizers.The sensors for monitoring soil moisture at different depth levels will be developed andcalibrated, and their data will be validated. This is an innovative aspect, as there are very fewreferences on the development of capacitive sensors for different depths; measurements atdifferent depths allow for the assessment of moisture characteristics suitable for differentgrowth phases of the crop, in addition to allowing for the verification of heterogeneous soilcharacteristics in different regions of the plantation, depending on the altitude and thepresence of elevations. These aspects will be assessed specifically for wheat crops.The system with connectivity and data sharing over a network using LoRa¿ technology andthe LoRaWAN¿ protocol will be implemented in São Miguel Arcanjo (SP), allowingmonitoring at considerable distances and with reduced energy consumption. The collecteddata will be stored in real time in a database, allowing historical data recording and remoteaccess. The smart antennas (gateways) used in the project will receive the data sent by thesensors and send them in the form of data packets to a data server.