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Dr. P. Manikandan is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Renganayagi Varatharaj College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu, India. His academic background is in electrical and electronics engineering. His contribution focuses on IoT-based smart irrigation and crop monitoring systems.
Agriculture encounters escalating difficulties associated with water shortages, erratic weather patterns, soil deterioration, and the necessity to enhance crop yields while reducing resource utilisation. Traditional irrigation techniques often rely on predetermined schedules or manual monitoring, potentially leading to overwatering, inconsistent soil moisture levels, and suboptimal utilisation of agricultural resources. IoT-enabled smart irrigation and crop monitoring systems offer a technology-centric solution to these challenges via interconnected sensors, communication infrastructures, cloud services, and advanced decision-support tools. A comprehensive implementation methodology is introduced, encompassing requirement analysis, sensor installation, connectivity, data processing, control design, testing, and performance assessment. Innovative avenues such as edge computing, digital twins, precision fertigation, autonomous agricultural systems, and AI-enhanced decision support are examined. The chapter asserts that IoT-driven agricultural systems can enhance water management and crop monitoring when underpinned by accurate measurements, contextually suitable irrigation methods, robust system architecture, and validation in real-world environments.