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53
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
DOI: 10.22620/agrisci.2021.30.008
THE INTERNET OF THINGS IN AGRICULTURE - THE ADVANTAGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
Margarita Gocheva1*, Velika Kuneva1, Georgi Gochev2
Agricultural University – Plovdiv1
University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski”, Bulgaria2
*E-mail: gocheva@au-plovdiv.bg
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become increasingly popular in the recent decade. The Internet
of Things helps people live and work smarter, as well as gain complete control over their lives. The
concept of the IoT went widely into practice in different fields – Infrastructure, Production, Healthcare,
Banks, Smart cities, Insurance, Media, Retail, Connected homes / Smart buildings, Agriculture, and
many more. Modern agriculture can show its potential and importance by using these innovative
technologies. The measuring devices, ensuring the transformation of data for the external environment
into machine-readable data, at the same time filling the computing environment with significant
information are very important. A wide range of measuring devices is used, from elementary sensors
(e.g. temperature, pressure, illumination), consumption meters (e.g. smart meters) to complex integrated
measuring systems. Satellites, drones, wireless sensor networks, analytical farming devices systems,
farm management systems, big data applied to the farm are very useful and applicable in smart farming.
The Internet of Things is a huge opportunity for farmers to monitor their crops and increase productivity,
to monitor their livestock, to manage all the processes in their work and to take decisions at the right
time. The article analyzes issues related to the modern IoT methods and their usage in general and in
the area of agriculture. The main goal is to analyze the current state of IoT and its potential in areas of
rural development and agriculture in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Key words: Internet of Things, WSN, M2M, Sensor, Agriculture, Smart Farm, Precision Agriculture
INTRODUCTION
The Internet of Things (IoT) broadly
describes a scenario in which vast numbers of
objects or organisms are embedded with
uniquely identifiable computing devices
connected to the internet, enabling them to
collect, store, share, and analyze data and be
remotely controlled via other internet-connected
devices.
The term "Internet of Things" (IoT),
introduced in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British
technology pioneer, the co-founder of Auto-ID
Center in the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology is becoming more and more
important. Upon the opening of the IoT Week
event in 2013 with a video message recorded in
advance, Ashton insisted on the realization that
the IoT was here and now it was a reality. The
Internet of Things is not the future, but the
present.
IoT was widely applied into practice in
different fields – Infrastructure, Production,
Healthcare, Banks, Smart cities, Insurance,
Media, Retail, Connected homes / Smart
buildings, Agriculture and many more (Fig. 1.).
54
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
Fig.1. Internet of Things.
Source: www.engineersgallery.com
IoT technology has played a major role
in the recent revolution in agriculture, which
faces major challenges, including meeting the
needs of a growing world population, reducing
production costs, and adapting to climate
change.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The article analyzes issues releted to the
modern IoT methods and their usage in general
and in the area of agriculture. The main goal is
to analyze the current state of IoT and its
potential in areas of rural development and
agriculture in the Republic of Bulgaria.
A small part of Bulgarian farmers is
aware of the possibilities of digital technologies
in agriculture. A survey conducted in 2018
shows that only 5% of the respondents are
familiar with the nature of digital agriculture,
49% are unaware, 27% are partially familiar,
and 19% are moderately informed. 86% say they
do not use modern digital technology, the rest
use only the GPS navigation systems. Only 4%
say they intend to invest more than 10% of the
funds planned for investment in digitalization,
96% of the respondents plan less money for this
purpose or do not intend to engage in
digitalization at all. This data is quite alarming.
Based on the survey, a draft strategy for the
digitalization of
agriculture was created to support Bulgarian
farmers. (source: http://agroinnovations.bg/ )
There are many EU projects that fund
the implementation of digital technologies in
agriculture in Bulgaria.
(source: https://www.mzh.government.bg/ )
The EU has started a €30 million project
called “Food & Farm 2020” to assess and
improve IoT technologies. In this IoT model,
sensors can be deployed in the farm – to the
ground, in the water, in vehicles, etc. to collect
data. The collected data is stored in the cloud
system or a server and accessed by the farmer
via the internet or their mobile phones. In some
cases, the farmer can remotely control the
activities on the farm due to this connectivity.
The Bulgarian farmer must look to the
future, to accept these technologies as
something that would be extremely useful. The
purpose of the study is to highlight the
advantages and opportunities of IoT
technologies in agriculture and how they can
be applied.
According to FAO (The Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations), the current world population of 7.3
billion is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050,
according to the UN. The world will
consequently need to produce 70% more food
in 2050 compared to 2006 to feed the growing
population of the earth, according to the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the UN.
(source: http://www.fao.org/e-
agriculture/news/why-iot-big-data-smart-
farming-are-future-agriculture )
Farmers will need to turn to new
technologies to meet the growing demand for
food production in the world.
We compared the increase in the global
quantities of cereals, vegetables and fruits
(Fig.2.). In a recent study a detailed analysis is
given (Dimova, 2018).
55
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
Fig.2. FAOSTAT – World production of
Cereals, Vegetables, and Fruits from 1988 –
2018. (source: http://www.fao.org )
According to FAO - the cited study
above and (Fig. 2.), we see the enormous rate at
which the amount of food for humanity is
growing and should increase. To keep up with
this rate, the world economy often resorts to
genetic modification, which is not the right way
in our opinion. That is why here come the new
and modern technologies that can deal with this
problem. They are the preferred and cheaper
option to deal with the growing trend for
producing more food worldwide. Our goal is to
show how important IoT technologies are in
agriculture and how they can be applied. The
Republic of Bulgaria, as part of the world, must
also pay attention to these technologies and
apply them to agriculture.
In our study, we emphasize the nature of IoT
and the application in agriculture, examples,
advantages, negatives, devices used, and
conclusions for Bulgaria.
1. Concept of IoT.
Internet of Things is the internetworking
of physical devices that have network
connectivity enabling to collect and exchange
data between them. The Internet of Things is a
huge opportunity for farmers to monitor their
crops and increase productivity. Satellites,
drones, wireless sensor networks, analytical
farming devices systems, farm management
systems, big data applied to the farm, and a food
management chain are all examples of IoT and
smart farming.
IоT uses some of the better-known
technologies and combinations of these
technologies:
- M2M(machine-to-machine
communication) is communication Internet of
Things infrastructure. It refers to
communication technologies that allow
embedded computing devices to exchange data
with each other via wireless or cable
connections without the need for human
interaction or activation of communication.
M2M communication will enable devices to
communicate directly with each other.
- WSN (Wireless Sensor Network)
refers to a group of spatially dispersed and
dedicated sensors for monitoring and recording
the physical conditions of the environment and
organizing the collected data at a central
location. WSNs measure environmental
conditions like temperature, sound, pollution
levels, humidity, wind, and so on. The WSN is
built of "nodes" – from a few to several hundred
or even thousands, where each node is
connected to one (or sometimes several)
sensors. WSN sensor nodes consist of
microcontrollers, a radio frequency receiver and
a transceiver, a power source, and memory.
- RFID Technology (Radio Frequency
Identification Technology) - in the IoT design,
distinctive infinite objects could be a vital issue.
Such objects typically mimic the functions of
animate things like an observance heart trans-
plant or inanimate things like sensors are fixed
in the automobile system. The article fitted with
RFID chips contains all its info that is shifted
and allot with the reader devices throughout the
operation, whereas the antenna
transmits/receives the radiation from the reader
in shut proximity. Then the knowledge data
forwarded to the back-end server by the reader
for confirming the received information, before
any appropriate action is initiated (Hota, 2020).
56
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
- RTS Technology (Real Temperature
System Technology) - At the core of its focus,
IoT seeks to tackle adverse environmental
conditions like pollution, disaster, and global
warming by applying real-time data. The
physical objects in the IoT ecosystem display
higher levels of awareness of the context for
better sensing of the environment, besides
enhanced interaction among objects. In such
scenarios, objects were shown responding by
taking real-time decisions like, for example
making safe switching in lanes on roads as well
as automatic maneuvering switches in rooms
when not occupied (Hota, 2020).
- CC (Cloud Computing) is a paradigm
in computer technology where a large number of
systems are connected in private or public
networks to provide a dynamically scalable
infrastructure for applications, data, and file
storage. With the advent of this technology, the
cost of calculations, hosting applications,
content, storage, and delivery is significantly
reduced. The most appropriate definition of
cloud computing is provided by Borko Furht of
the Florida Atlantic University, which defines it
as “a new style of computing in which
dynamically scalable and often virtualized
resources are provided as a service over the
Internet." The integration of IoT and cloud
computing is of great significance (Patil, 2012).
2. Precision agriculture and IoT.
"Precision farming" also known as
"smart farming" is a combination of three main
elements: information, technology, and
management. Information is the most valuable
resource for farmers. Accurate and timely
accurate information is important for all stages
of production. The information includes the
characteristics of the crops, the properties of the
soil, the requirements for the use of fertilizers,
the population of weeds, yield data. Modern
technology is the second step to success. With
the rapid development of new technologies the
farmer must keep pace with changes that can
bring benefits to production. Specialized
software, spreadsheets, databases, geographic
information systems (GIS), and other types of
application software have long been developed
and available on the open market. Information
and technology, in return, could support and
facilitate management. Intelligent agriculture
aims to optimize yields per unit of agricultural
land through the most modern means to achieve
the best in terms of quality, quantity, and
financial return. Precision farming, using
several technologies, some of which include
GPS services, sensors, and large databases,
seeks to optimize yields. The farmer has the
opportunity to support decision-making with
real-time data that can further provide
information on all aspects of agriculture that
was not possible before and achieve its main
objectives: increase production efficiency,
improve product quality, cost reduction,
efficient use of chemicals, energy savings,
protection of soil and groundwater, which are
characteristic of any precision agriculture.
Fig.3. Agricultural IoT device shipments.
Source: https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/iot-
and-agriculture-what-options-are-there-and-
how-to-develop-your-own-smart-farming-
solution
The graph (Fig.3.) is showing the
shipment growth of IoT devices for agriculture
over the years.
57
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
3. Prerequisites of IoT Applications in
Agriculture:
Improvement in the use efficiency of
inputs (Soil, Water, Fertilizers, Pesticides, etc.)
Increased business efficiency through
process automation
Reduced cost of production
Increased profitability
Sustainability
Food safety
Protection of the environment. (Hota,
2012)
4. Different sectors of agriculture in
which IoT can be successfully applied:
Greenhouses and closed farms -
Sensors have long been used in greenhouses and
stables - to monitor humidity, the availability of
animal feed, and many other indicators.
Connected to centralized systems, field
management, and greenhouse sprayers can be
done remotely and at any time the day,
according to the weather forecasts, optimized
for quality and quantity.
Pest control - Pheromones can be
extremely effective and useful, especially
combined with technologies from the Internet of
Things. Wireless sensor networks monitor the
number of pests in an area, and when found that
the population is too high, the system activates
devices for controlled release of pheromones to
disrupt pest mating patterns. This minimizes,
and in some cases completely replaces the use
of pesticides. (source:
https://venturebeat.com/2014/12/07/surprise-
agriculture-is-doing-more-with-iot-innovation-
than-most-other-industries/.)
Management of agricultural
machinery - Monitoring important real-time
information on critical technical indicators such
as engine oil application, operating hours, the
battery voltage can save expensive repairs.
Collecting and processing GPS information can
demonstrate the efficiency of machines and
offer solutions to optimize the process of
sowing, processing, and harvesting of
agricultural products. Using cloud services and
information from large data sets, tillage
machines can be sent automatically to harvest at
the most appropriate time of day, so that cost
optimization is achieved.
Livestock monitoring - The cost of
raising livestock continues to rise every year. At
the same time, the public is also pushing for a
more humane treatment of animals as the
animals reared humanely produce higher quality
meat that is more nutritious. Under pressure to
reduce costs and raise their livestock in a more
humanely manner, farmers are starting to turn to
the Internet of Things technology. For example,
farmers can embed internet-connected sensors
on their livestock that do not cause discomfort.
Using the information from these sensors,
farmers can monitor the overall health of the
animal by analyzing blood pressure, heart rate,
and other parameters. Not only can these sensors
help monitor the health of the animal, but also in
some cases, GPS technology can also help track
the animal's location. Location monitoring can
be extremely useful to farmers rearing free-
range or pastured livestock, as it would enable
farmers to better account for their livestock.
(source: https://davra.com/iot-and-agriculture-
how-the-internet-of-things-is-changing-
agricultural-operations/ )
5. Examples of applying IoT in
agriculture in the world.
Example 1. An appropriate example of
agricultural machinery management is Rowbot,
an automated motor vehicle for monitoring and
correcting nitrogen levels in soil fields sown
with maize. The project was developed in the
USA. Worldwide, many acres of corn are
grown, a crop that grows very quickly. The rapid
growth challenges farmers to provide essential
nutrients efficiently - especially nitrogen.
Weather plays an important role, as nitrogen is
easily lost during heavy rains. Fertilizing at a
time when it would be used by a fast-growing
crop is most appropriate. The problem for many
growers is that a fast-growing crop mixed with
58
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
uncertain field conditions leads to a situation
where, at the beginning of the seasonal
application of nitrogen fertilizers, it cannot
always be carried out as planned. Moreover,
Rowbot is a vehicle especially designed with
large enough tires, at the same time small
enough to be able to pass below the basic height
of the plants. It "sneaks" between the rows of
sown corn, using sensors to monitor nitrogen
levels and, if necessary, spreads fertilizers
where needed. The machine is controlled
remotely using GPS services.
(source:https://www.rowbot.com/blog)
Example 2. The Korean Telecom is
developing a management system that will
improve the current process of managing eel
farms using the Internet of Things technology.
Based on wireless sensor networks,
manufacturers are offered the ability to remotely
monitor their aquariums in real-time via smart
devices and smartphones. The technology is
implemented in a farm that has twenty-six water
tanks, each 6m in diameter. To achieve a high-
quality production, several indicators in the
tanks are monitored at all times, including water
temperature, oxygen levels, and water pH. Even
the small changes in the environment, such as
changes in temperature, lack of oxygen, or water
pollution, are fatal to the young generations of
eels. The data is sent to cloud systems and after
analysis and processing, employees can monitor
the levels of indicators and take timely action if
necessary. Also, after filling in the reported data
on the amount of food and the growth of the
production, the system generates significant
statistics and information about the production,
as well as forecasts expectations for profit and
realization.(source:http://telecomdrive.com/iot-
helping-sk-telecom-fish-farm-management/ )
Example 3. Intelkia, a Spanish start-up
focused on projects related to the Internet of
Things, has developed a Smart Garden solution
based on the Libelium Waspmote sensor
platform to optimize the use of resources
sustainably and save costs to their customers.
The city of Ontinyent in Valencia has been the
first municipality in Spain to take advantage of
the wireless sensor networks technology applied
to green areas projects. The aim of Intelkia has
been to develop a technological solution aimed
to monitor, measure, and manage conditions and
needs of green areas in real-time. Smart Garden
is a fully integrated solution that covers different
areas: water quality, air quality, soil quality,
water flow measurement, controlling irrigation
system, and security (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. Spanish smart garden.
Source:https://www.libelium.com/libeliumworl
d/success-stories/monitoring-green-areas-in-
spain-to-develop-a-smart-garden-system/
Example 4. To help food producers
cope with the challenges ahead, the Russian
company developed a dairy production
management service, the Dairy Production
Analytics (DPA), supported on the cloud-based
analytical service. DPA gives extra information
about the environmental conditions to
veterinarian teams such as temperature,
humidity, pressure, cow health, and other
parameters. DPA has been implemented on one
farm in Voshazhnikovo in Russia. This smart
farm has the capacity of 8000 heads of cattle,
4,500 of which are dairy cows. Before the
implementation, it used to produce 125 tons of
milk daily, almost 28 liters per cow a day. To
improve forecasting performance, DPA collects
data with external sources: weather station and
sensors by Libelium (temperature, pressure,
59
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
wind speed and direction, precipitation,
humidity level, illumination), RFID tags, ERP-
system, Excel reports and different external data
sources to the cloud-based data platform in the
farm. As a result, the correlation was found
between temperature, nutrition, and even the
daily performance of farm workers. DPA found
out that if temperature decreased in the farm, the
cows' needs for food increased. The system
warned the staff about these changes and
farmers received notifications by e-mail or
SMS. With proper feeding, milk yield has been
raised. As a result, Voshazhnikovo smart farm
got better results: the savings from feeding 2000
dairy cows were €340,000 for 180 days.
This project is designed to predict herd
reproduction, milk production, and animal
diseases based on a combination of external and
internal factors, statistical data, economic
indicators, staff information, and laboratory
data. It allows not only for reducing the costs
associated with the maintenance of the health of
cows, labor and reproduction, but also for
completing the strategic tasks of the business:
expanding production, opening new units, etc.
Three months after implementing DPA, the milk
production in Voshazhnikovo Smart Farming
increased to 33 liters per cow a day, this is an
impressive 18% more than in the previous
months (Fig. 5.).
Fig. 5. Smart farm in Russia.
(source: http://www.libelium.com/how-a-dairy-
farm-increased-their-milk-production-18-with-
iot-and-machine-learning/#!prettyPhoto )
Example 5. The Spanish wine sector
faces the problems derived from rural
depopulation and global warming. Wineries in
numerous countries are starting to develop new
IoT technology to face climate change. Several
Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture
PRO was installed to control the parameters of
vineyards: temperature, humidity, atmospheric
pressure, soil moisture, soil temperature,
weather conditions (wind direction, wind speed,
and pluviometry), leaf wetness, solar radiation.
This information must be sent to the Microsoft
Azure cloud via 4G every 15 minutes. In the
cloud, the devices’ condition must be managed,
and information needs to be available and
accessible. Thus, valuable information can be
extracted, and this information will help
agriculturists so that they can make better
strategic decisions based on real data (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. Spanish Vineyard.
Source:https://www.libelium.com/libeliumworl
d/success-stories/new-vineyard-project-
developed-with-libelium-iot-platform-on-
agrotech-the-app-for-crop-management-
powered-by-efor-and-ibercaja-on-microsoft-
azure/
There are many more examples and they are
all successful and working. They show the
meaning of using IoT in agriculture along with
the experience, results, and efficiency of these
modern technologies. It is also important for the
Bulgarian farmers.
60
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
THE HARDWARE AND THE
SOFTWARE
In smart farming, sensors are applied for
gathering data from various fields like
temperature sensor, Humidity sensor, Soil
moisture sensor, Think to speak IoT app, Water
motor, and sprinklers. These sensors are well
connected with the microcontroller. The
microcontroller receives data from the sensors
and checks for the threshold values. Then
according to the threshold values, it takes the
needful action and informs the farmer by
sending a message. All the processes are
completed by the Wi-Fi module (Kashyap,
2019). Hardware: To build the agriculture in
IoT, we needed to be first selecting the most
important things that are the sensors for the
device. Moreover, the selections of the sensors
are dependent on the different types of
requirements, information, and related
solutions. Brain: The core part of the
agricultural production system is data analytics.
Therefore, we require an understanding of the
capabilities for powerful data analytics. It
should be applied in the predictive algorithm
and machine learning to get actionable insight
based on data. Maintenance: The challenges in
agricultural IoT products are present in its
maintenance. So, the field sensors used in the
agriculture grounds can be damaged easily.
Therefore, we need to ensure that the hardware
devices are robust and easily maintainable.
Mobility: Mobility issues can be effectively
handled if the customization of the farming
applications is done before they are used in the
field. In this process, data can be easily accessed
by the farm managers or executives on the site
or remotely by using smartphones or a desktop.
(source: https://easternpeak.com/blog/iot-in-
agriculture-technology-use-cases-for-smart-
farming-and-challenges-to-consider/ )
1. Sensors – The effective management of
agricultural land requires an information
collection system that operates quickly and is
comprehensive. The remote monitoring is the
collection of data from a distance and is a
solution for such a system. With the help of the
sensors, it is possible to detect important data
remotely. There are different kinds of sensors
and they are extremely important for the modern
precision agriculture – rain sensor, soil
temperature sensor, soil moisture sensor, wind
speed sensor, sensor for temperature, humidity,
and atmospheric pressure, etc.
2. Drones - The reason is that drones can
easily be monitored and controlled, respectively
to keep the plants healthy at a relatively low
cost. Farmers can use the many characteristics
of drones to ensure that the sowing and planting
processes are successful. The drones are
equipped with high-resolution cameras that
make both 2-D and 3-D images and videos of
the farm. The farmer can use the drone for
information on the topography of the land, the
composition of the soil in different parts of the
farm, as well as the distribution of weeds and
pests, for spraying crops, for animal
surveillance, for security surveillance, etc.
3. Robots - Trends show that robots will be
widespread in the coming years - both
automated field machines and small robots
performing tasks such as weeding and
harvesting
4. Arduino is an open-source electronics
platform based on easy-to-use hardware and
software. Thanks to its simple and accessible
user experience, Arduino has been used in
thousands of different projects and applications.
Arduino also simplifies the process of working
with microcontrollers, but it offers some
advantages: inexpensive, cross-platform,
simple, clear programming environment, open-
source and extensible software, and open source
and extensible hardware. Arduino is a free
access platform consisting of three important
components - hardware, software, and
community. The hardware and software are
designed in such a way as to allow a person,
61
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
without significant and even no prior knowledge
in these areas, to be able to work with these
components and quickly and easily implement
their projects. Arduino boards can read a variety
of input data from a variety of sensors and
devices, including messages from a phone or a
social network. It can also respond to these input
signals, depending on how the microcontroller
is programmed. A USB cable and a built-in
development environment (IDE) are sufficient
for issuing commands, in which a program
written in the Arduino programming language
can be written, compiled, and uploaded to the
board. Since it is distributed as open-source
hardware and software under the LGPL/GPL
license, its production and distribution are not
restricted. Everyone has access to diagrams,
drawings, and the source code. There are
options for complete self-development and
assembly or it could be purchased ready-made,
according to needs and capabilities. Arduino
IDE - Integrated Development Environment is a
set of basic software tools for writing and testing
software (Enkov, 2017). In his work, each
developer uses a wide range of tools such as text
editors, libraries, compilers, and testing
platforms. The role of an integrated
development environment is to bring them all
together in the form of a server, software
application or framework depending on the
case. Its purpose is to facilitate the work of the
programmer and assist in the detection of errors
(Enkov, 2015).
In agriculture – a Smart Farming System
is a mixture of hardware and software additives.
The hardware part includes embedded systems
and the software program is developed using the
Arduino IDE. The sensors used are a
temperature and humidity sensor, soil moisture
sensor, etc. The gathered information may be
displayed in an Arduino IDE. A GSM module is
hooked up to the Arduino to facilitate the
messaging service, which updates the farmer's
present climatic conditions on the subject - very
easy and comfortable for the farmer to collect
data and make decisions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The following conclusions we could
suggest: IoT in Bulgaria is still gaining
popularity. If we look at the data from the
survey, we see that they are worrying that they
are indicating that Bulgarian agriculture should
move in the direction of new digital
technologies. In this article we gave examples
from other countries in various fields of
agriculture, namely to show how useful IoT can
be. Bulgarian farmers will be able to measure
temperature, humidity, soil composition; drones
and robots can monitor and report data. All this
is a great help; cloud services can provide
additional benefits in terms of data access,
synchronization, storage and even reducing the
costs for the farmer.
If we look at the world situation, we
notice that the need for all kinds of food is
growing and will grow in the future more and
more. Bulgaria can participate effectively in this
production, namely through IoT. We
recommend giving more attention to funds
allocated for EU projects that stimulate the
development and implementation of digital
technologies in agriculture and rural areas. All
this is done precisely so that every farmer can
benefit from the new technologies and make his
work more efficient, precise and well controlled.
The purpose of our article was to show the good
examples in agriculture that use IoT and explain
the hardware that is used. We even paid
attention to Arduino, the open source platform
that anyone can use freely.
The Bulgarian farmer has the
opportunity to support decision-making with
real-time data anywhere and anytime, increase
production efficiency, improve product quality,
make cost reduction, control the use of
chemicals, save energy, etc., all of these are the
62
75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
characteristics of the modern precision
agriculture.
CONCLUSION
A few of the recent reports tell that the
IoT device installation will see a compound
annual growth rate of 20% in the agriculture
industry. Moreover, the number of connected
devices (agricultural) will grow from 13 million
in 2014 to 225 million by 2024. Using IoT can
still open doors for the agriculture industry and
farmers in Bulgaria by way of implementing
these digital technologies in their work to
improve the quality, quantity, sustainability, and
cost-effectiveness of agricultural production.
The advantages and opportunities of the Internet
of Things in Bulgarian Agriculture are great, so
that the objectives are increasing productivity
and minimizing time and human efforts in
addition to developing well-functioning smart
farms.
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75 years of Agricultural University – Plovdiv
JUBILEE SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE Plovdiv 26-28 November 2020
PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE
FOOD SYSTEMS
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