Development of an Embedded System for Irrigation Monitoring and Recommendations in Controlled Environments

The use of sensors in irrigation systems provides information about soil and environmental conditions. However, it is also important to understand how sensor readings are processed and which criteria are used to generate recommendations. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the operation of HydroSense Control v1.0, an ESP32-based embedded system designed for irrigation monitoring and recommendations in a controlled environment. The prototype integrates an analog soil moisture sensor, an ultrasonic sensor to estimate water level, and a DHT11 sensor to measure temperature and relative humidity. Based on these readings, the program calculates the Irrigation Need Index for Controlled Environments (INR-C) and applies predefined rules to display recommendations through a local web interface and an LED traffic light indicator. The evaluation included 21 computational test scenarios and three reports collected from the physical prototype. The results showed that the responses obtained were consistent with the programmed rules. Differences were also identified between the index category and the operational recommendation, as well as a limitation in how the water level is displayed when an invalid ultrasonic reading occurs. These findings confirmed the operation of the classification and recommendation rules in the evaluated scenarios and identified aspects of the program that need improvement before testing under real agricultural conditions.