International Journal of Advanced Engineering Application

Design and Field Validation of a Low-Cost Wireless Sensor Network for Real-Time Soil Nutrient, Moisture and Microclimate Monitoring with Cloud-Based Crop Advisory Integration

Author(s):Ankita Srivastava, Deepak Patel, Ritesh Kumar Gupta, Sunita Yadav

Affiliation: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Page No: 86-90

Volume issue & Publishing Year: Volume 3, Issue 5, May 2026

Journal: International Journal of Advanced Engineering Application (IJAEA)

ISSN NO: 3048-6807

DOI:

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Abstract:
Smallholder farming in India, which constitutes 86% of agricultural holdings and produces approximately 51% of national food output, faces the dual challenge of yield gap closure and input cost reduction amid declining groundwater tables, rising fertiliser prices, and increasingly erratic monsoon patterns attributable to climate variability. Precision agriculture technologies that deliver real-time soil and microclimate data to farm management decisions offer a pathway to input optimisation, but existing commercial precision agriculture systems are priced beyond the reach of smallholders with average farm sizes of 1.1 hectare. This study presents the design, fabrication, and 120-day field validation of a low-cost wireless sensor network (WSN) node for real-time soil nutrient (N, P, K), volumetric water content, soil electrical conductivity, soil temperature, ambient temperature, relative humidity, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) monitoring. The node architecture uses a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W as the edge processor, LoRa (915 MHz) for long-range wireless transmission, and integrates with a cloud-based crop advisory engine delivering SMS and WhatsApp fertilisation and irrigation recommendations to farmers' mobile phones. Field validation was conducted across twelve 0.5-hectare plots cultivating wheat (Triticum aestivum, HD-2967 variety) in Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, across the rabi season (October 2023 to March 2024). Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) improved by 23% and irrigation water productivity by 31% in sensor-guided plots versus conventional farmer-managed control plots, with wheat yield improvement of 18.4% (5.82 vs 4.91 t/ha). Total system cost of INR 8,400 per node amortised over a 5-year operational life yields a benefit-cost ratio of 3.8 at prevailing wheat MSP, demonstrating economic viability for smallholder adoption.

Keywords: precision agriculture, IoT, wireless sensor network, LoRa, soil moisture, NPK sensor, crop advisory, smallholder farming, nitrogen use efficiency, Raspberry Pi

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