LoRa-based data communication, acquisition, and visualization system for real-time monitoring of soil parameters

Regular monitoring of soil moisture and temperature is required for obtaining better crop growth and productivity. Traditional methods are time consuming and costly. Electromagnetic sensors have been in use for monitoring these parameters in agricultural fields. A wireless sensor network, Arduino-LoRa-Raspberry Pi for agriculture (ArLoRa-Ag) has been developed in this study. Also, a web-based tool agricultural data monitoring (AgDaMo) was developed using JavaScript for visualizing real-time data. The sensors (soil moisture and temperature) were calibrated and then tested in field for their accuracy. The calibration of sensors was satisfactory with coefficient of determination (<i>R</i>²) of 0.999 and 0.993 for measuring soil temperature and moisture, respectively. Both sensors performed with acceptable degree of accuracy in measuring soil moisture and temperature in field soil with <i>R</i>², root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.935 °C, 0.607 °C and 0.369 °C; and 0.929%, 1.049%, and 0.875% for soil temperature and soil moisture sensor, respectively. The ArLoRa-Ag was tested for data loss and communication range in agricultural and semi-urban environment. A data transmission range of 500 m was achieved, and further data communication was limited by presence of trees and buildings. The real-time data visualization and monitoring was achieved with the help of AgDaMo.