Wireless sensor network using nRF24L01+ for precision agriculture

Abstract

Precision agriculture is a strategy for varying inputs and cultivation methods to suit varying soil conditions and agricultural crops. In order to optimize precision agriculture, wireless sensor network (WSN) is suitable to be integrated. In this research, network devices that communicate using nRF24L01+ based WSN was proposed. As a prototype, four sensor nodes were employed to measure the parameters of air temperature and humidity, soil moisture, and power supply voltage. While, a sink node serves to store measurement data locally. The data are sent to the sink node with a mesh network topology and saved in a comma-separated values (CSV) file and local database. Experimental results show that each sensor node can measure all parameters and successfully send data to the sink node every 1 minute without losing the data. The mesh topology can route data transfer automatically. Round trip time (RTT) of each sensor node depends on the distance from each node. Average power consumption of all sensor nodes in send mode is between 84 mW and 90 mW. Meanwhile, in sleep mode, the sensor nodes 1 and 2 consumed around 21-22 mW and the sensor nodes 3 and 4 consumed around 30 mW which are lower than the send mode.