Living in Boise, a high desert area, I learned very quickly how expensive watering the garden gets. Being a control engineer, I recognize that this is an optimization and control system problem. The goal of this project is to better control my sprinkler setting dynamically each day, based on the moisture in the soil, location, sun location and weather information. The tuning knob for the system is the activation time, frequency and duration. The sensors available are moisture probes located in multiple locations around the garden.
Phase 1 will start with pure simulation and coding up the controller, while I start working on the hardware. After the moisture sensors are tested, Phase 2 will be creating system for data collection and starts collecting real-world data. Phase 3 involves running and tuning the controller to optimize moisture level.
Soil Moisture Sensor >> https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/474-SEN-13322
Wifi-enabled Microcontroller >>