poster irrigation burkina

Potential and Open Issues in Internet of Things for Development: Wireless Sensor Networks for Irrigation in Burkina Faso 2016 UNESCO Chair Conference on Technologies for Development: From Innovation to Social Impact 2-4 May 2016 | EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

Clémence Ranquet Bouleau1, Tom Müller1, François Ingelrest2, Davis Daidie2, John Carmichael2

1 Cooperation and Development Center, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland 2 Sensorscope Sàrl, Switzerland

Contact: clemence.bouleau@epfl.ch / tom.muller1@gmail.com / davis.daidie@sensorscope.ch

Context and challenges

• Improve water management to secure yields and optimize water consumption in regions where water is scarce

• Environmental data acquisition

How

• Completely autonomous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) installed on a drip irrigation system with three soil matric potential sensors (Watermark) to monitor the water availability in the soil

• Data available in real time on the web (Figure 1).

• Alarm system by SMS when the soil dries out below a defined threshold

The Info4Dourou 2.0 research project : WSN to improve irrigation

Wireless Sensor Network

Features • Radio communication between field stations

transfer data to one base station

• Multi-hop network allows flexibility

• Base station transmits data via GPRS

• Web platform to access real-time data

• Various sensors can be connected

• Solar-powered and adapted to extreme conditions

• Alerts via SMS or email from web platform

• Local LED alarm

Towards the development of affordable stations for Sahel regions

Transfer of “Swiss made” technology

• A solution tailored to the specific needs of users

• Designed and assembled locally for affordability

• 3 different models will be developed to reach the widest user-population possible

• Development of low-cost sensors

Features of the 3 models Simple user interface Adapted to specific users’ needs Cost effective

Model 1 - local

Affordable for all

Local LED alarm

Easy to use

Model 2 – connected, isolated

Alarm via text message

Remote communication via GPRS

Data accessible on web interface

SMS

Model 3 – connected, network

Alarm via text message

Remote communication via GPRS

Data accessible on web interface

Radio communication between stations

SMS

Creation of a local manufacturing company in Burkina Faso

Dissemination of the technology and promotion by local actors to assure long term sustainability.

• Strong partnership with a well implanted social company in Burkina Faso

• Training of specialists for maintenance and dissemination

• Microcredits or Pay-as-you-go mechanism

Figure 1: Functioning of the Wireless Sensor Network.

Figure 2: Evolution of the soil water state with sensor-based and traditional irrigation. For sensor-based irrigation, yield is optimized and over-irrigation is avoided by irrigating only when the threshold is reached.

Threshold

Results

Figure 3: Mean agronomic indicators for different crops comparing traditional and sensor-based irrigation. The Water Use efficiency (WUE) or the ratio of harvest [kg] over water [m3] is greatly improved.

Challenges and improvement

1) Affordable stations for family farmers in Burkina Faso

• Reduction of communication costs

• Reduction of manufacturing and shipping costs

2) Interfaces adapted to different types of users : experts and non-experts

• Local LED alarm

• Remote communication via GPRS and SMS alarm

• Remote communication with data accessible on web interface

3) Potential future development

• Automatization of the irrigation (automatic valves)

• Other applications: Weather, wells, etc.

• Smart-phone app with additional meteorological and agronomic advice

Acknowledgments : SDC Burkina Faso (BF)/ Velux Stiftung (CH)/ Stiftung Drittes Millennium (CH)/ LCAV EPFL (CH)/ AHEAD group EPFL (CH)/ Sensorscope Sarl (CH)/ iDE Burkina Faso (BF)/ GEDES (BF)/ DGM (BF)/ DGADI (BF)/ INERA (BF)/ ACERD Sarl (BF)