Enhancing Internet of Things monitoring systems through solar power, 3D printing and multi-cellular network connectivity for outdoor precision agriculture

• Main Author: Kisheen Rao Gsangaya
• Format: text::Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023

Agriculture monitoring systems allow farmers to direct resources efficiently, reducing resource use, environmental impact, and labour costs, while boosting yields and profit. Current Internet of Things-based monitoring systems suffer from limited size of deployment, high cost, and are fragile and unsuitable for outdoor use. Secondly, due to the rural location of agriculture fields, communication services are limited with unreliable coverage. The first part of this research is to identify a portable, self-powered high-strength, and weather-resistant mechanical design for the data acquisition device. The second part isto establish a high-quality wireless communication network for stable Internet connectivity in the field. In summary, the data acquisition device is suitable for outdoor use as the high-strength enclosure can withstand up to 1900 N 0f force with a safety factor of 1.73 and IPX4 water resistance, while the solar power supply extends battery life from 6 days to over 1-month, coupled with accurate sensors for precise data collection. Meanwhile, the network selection algorithm in the multi-cellular modem compares and selects the best network with a 100% success rate, while providing a 10% speed improvement and 99.2% packet transfer success rate, coupled with a large coverage area for uninterrupted data broadcast. The integration of enhanced data acquisition device and network modem results in a reliable agriculture monitoring system with a 100% data broadcast success rate, compared to 96% and 89% when using a single network setup, while hardware fabrication and network deployment cost are reduced by 51% and 88% respectively, for a cost-effective system.