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Students develop device to aid farmers in water cultivation

The device will help monitor farming activities and prevent crops from nearby animals

Tamil Nadu: Students of Kalassalingam University near Madurai have developed a device that can help farmers conserve water by monitoring crop requirements and automatically switching on a motor to draw water from nearby sources.

"The microprocessor controlled system is a combination of various sensors that will study the soil moisture and find out if the land is dry and automatically switches on the DC motor and draws water to the soil from the nearby water source," Pallikona Rajasekaran, Head of Department of Electronics, told PTI.

He said the scheme would feed water to the field only when required and help improve irrigation, water management, especially in the context of saving water.

Rajasekaran said various sensors like Thermistor, soil moisture sensor, Co2 sensor, humidity sensor and air velocity sensor are connected to Analog pins of the 'Arudino Uno Microcontroller Board' and the required automation code is written and uploaded in it.

The DC, CPU (Central Processing Union fan) and Buzzer are connected to the Digital pin and the system would work in a way that the DC motor automatically draws water from a nearby source when the land is dry.

The device also has a passive infrared sensor, which detects if animals nearby can spoil crops and triggers an alarm instantly, preventing the crops from any damage.

"The total cost of the system is Rs 8,000 and it will be very advantageous to farmers who need not be in the field to know whether the soil is dry or wet. They can sit elsewhere and monitor the condition," said Rajasekaran.

( Source : PTI )
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