Smart fertigation system for precision agriculture

Leow, Kien Zen (2026) Smart fertigation system for precision agriculture. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable and efficient agriculture has driven the adoption of smart farming technologies. This project focuses on the development of a Smart Fertigation System for Precision Agriculture, applying both IoT and industrial automation approaches for the cultivation of ginger plants. For the indoor setup, an ESP32 microcontroller was used to build a prototype fertigation system. Sensors such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and DS18B20 temperature sensors were employed to monitor the growth environment, while a water pump controlled via a relay module regulated the delivery of nutrients to the plants. This setup demonstrates how a low-cost microcontroller can automate fertilizer application in a controlled environment. In addition, an outdoor system was developed using an AMX-FX3U-M26MRE Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to manage agricultural processes in the field for ginger cultivation. The PLC was integrated with an ESP32 over Modbus TCP/IP via the UTARSF2 Wi-Fi network, enabling remote access, real-time monitoring, and flexible management through a web-based MQTT dashboard. By implementing both an ESP32-based prototype and a PLC-based control system, this project highlights two complementary approaches to smart agriculture tailored for ginger farming. The systems improve precision in fertilizer application, reduce manual labour, and provide remote accessibility, contributing to more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices

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