Smart Melon Farm System: Fertilizer IoT Solution

Abstract

Embedded systems are increasingly being employed for a wide range of applications. Small and large enterprises can benefit from sensor networks and Internet of Things technologies. Farmers, particularly the next generation of farmers, are tremendously interested in the smart farm system. This is due to Thailand’s favorable geography, and young farmers are becoming more technologically literate. However, smart farm systems on the market are still too expensive and don’t meet small farms’ needs. Consequently, the study proposed a low-cost irrigation and fertilizer system for high-quality melon farms in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The system can properly carry out irrigation and fertilization operations on the melon farm, which require specific attention at various stages of production. As a result, the technique reduces human work while simultaneously supplying adequate water and nutrients to the entire plant. Moreover, farmers with Internet access can manually monitor or supervise the operation at any time, from any location, and on any device. The developed system may gather information from sensors and operational procedures for further analysis in order to increase output and reduce waste. The system is affordable since it was constructed primarily using open-source software and low-cost embedded components with an ergonomic architecture. The results of the comparison show that the automatic method outperforms the human approach in terms of quality and production yield.