IoT-Based Smart Irrigation Systems: An Overview on the Recent Trends on Sensors and IoT Systems for Irrigation in Precision Agriculture

Water management is paramount in countries with water scarcity. This also affects agriculture, as a large amount of water is dedicated to that use. The possible consequences of global warming lead to the consideration of creating water adaptation measures to ensure the availability of water for food production and consumption. Thus, studies aimed at saving water usage in the irrigation process have increased over the years. Typical commercial sensors for agriculture irrigation systems are very expensive, making it impossible for smaller farmers to implement this type of system. However, manufacturers are currently offering low-cost sensors that can be connected to nodes to implement affordable systems for irrigation management and agriculture monitoring. Due to the recent advances in IoT and WSN technologies that can be applied in the development of these systems, we present a survey aimed at summarizing the current state of the art regarding smart irrigation systems. We determine the parameters that are monitored in irrigation systems regarding water quantity and quality, soil characteristics and weather conditions. We provide an overview of the most utilized nodes and wireless technologies. Lastly, we will discuss the challenges and the best practices for the implementation of sensor-based irrigation systems.