Tamil Nadu students' two-in-one low-cost device for farms, gardens

The group said that the main aim of the project is to facilitate farmers by which they can send an alert SMS regarding poor field conditions such as low soil moisture level, high temperature, brown leaves and low humidity. 

“The motor device will run automatically when the soil moisture level decreases. A website has also been created which would update conditions periodically. This project would be of immense help to increase productivity and minimise losses caused by environmental factors,” project head J Tharani of SA Engineering college told DT Next on Saturday. 

She said the instrument contains two main components - end device and coordinator. “The end device consists of four sensors- soil, humidity, temperature and colour detection sensors,” Tharani said, adding, the four sensors are connected to each analog channel. 

T Tamilarasi, another team member, said data on temperature, humidity and soil moisture would be collected from the field in analog format, which, in turn, would be converted to digital signal. “The colour sensor would detect leaf colour and the output would be generated in frequency,” she said. 

Accordingly, a voltage converter would be used to turn frequency into digital signal. The signal would be sent to the coordinator, which would send data as alert message to farmers instantly. “The alert messages would be in the local language. Since this does not require internet connection, any ordinary mobile would do,” B Ramya, another team member, said. 

The end device needs to be deployed in the farmer’s field. The soil moisture sensor would be immersed into the soil to detect moisture level. Other sensors would be in the end device. 

Therefore, through this gadget, the farmers would not have to visit the field frequently. 

A power supply or a battery would connect the end device and the coordinator would be placed in the farmer’s house. The coordinator, which would have internet connection, would send messages to multiple farmers’ mobiles. The mobile numbers would be given in the programme. Internet connectivity would be required only in a single system for the entire village or region. “The device, which is kept in the soil to monitor, will cost about Rs 3,000 only without any maintenance”, Dr A Mary Anita, the project guide said.