Smart Irrigation System

I created an 'Intelligent Irrigation System' in 2018, capable of watering, fertigating, and adding acidity control chemicals to crops only at optimal conditions so as to save on resource consumption. My motivation to create the device came about after reading that only one third of the three percent of water on the planet is available to us for consumption the rest is salt water or freshwater stuck in glaciers. I thought: as time goes on and as our population increases, efficient irrigation methods must be implemented to help avoid water scarcity, hunger, dead crops, and fertilizer runoff. Of course, I also wanted to take this project as a way to evolve my electronics and coding skills. Ultimately, this project led me to compete in the Canada Wide Science Fair, coming home with a bronze medal.

Code was written in Python using Python IDLE 3 as an interface. It used five parameters to tell when to optimally water, fertigate and add an acidity chemical: sunlight, soil moisture, pH, barometric pressure and temperature. The set of optimal environmental conditions can be changed based on the environment itself, and plant needs. This allows the intelligent irrigation system to be applied to any type of plant, anywhere in the world.

Waters when the following factors are met:

1. Time of day is optimal for most plant cultures (mornings or evenings)
2. Sunlight is not at peak daily intensity (causing plant pores to close and inefficient absorption of water and nutrients)
3. Soil temperature is appropriate
4. Barometric pressure is not dropping at a rate that hints at likely rainfall

Fertigating when:

1. The day of the week is the same as pre-defined
2. Fertilizer has not been recently added today

Adding calcium carbonate (CaCO3) when:

1. The pH value of the soil is met (based on the plant)