eAgrar Sensor Network Monitors Crops and Weather Conditions for Better Plant Forecasting

Changing weather patterns and temperatures can wreak havoc on crops, which can lead to lower productivity, diseased/damaged plants, and lower yields. Because of these issues, many farmers, nurseries, and gardeners are turning to digital agriculture, which can provide a wealth of accurate data on crops and plants. How much water, pesticides, or fertilizer plants need is usually made by rough measurements, and once a course of action is determined, the results are generally not seen until harvest time.

Digital agriculture, on the other hand, lets you get data on plant and weather conditions frequently and precisely, allowing you to make decisions that are more informed, leading to greater efficiency and overall plant crop health and yield. While some sensor arrays that monitor fields can be on the expensive side, most DIY solutions are more affordable, like Croatia-based electrical engineer Slaven Damjanovic’s eAgrar system.

eAgrar is designed around an ATmega328 MCU, which garners data on air temperature, humidity, pressure, soil moisture, and leaf moisture using a sensor suite — including FC28/FC37 moisture sensors, and DHT22, BME280, or SHT71 temp/humidity sensors. The system also sports an RTC and an RFM95W LoRa module for long-range communication.

The electronics are all connected to a custom PCB, powered by a 3.7V Li-ion battery, and housed in a 3D-printed enclosure. Collected data is routed wirelessly to dashboard and displayed in several different forms, including graphs (for temperature data), widgets (for measurements), and tables (for water/moisture data), making it easy to read and understand. For a complete overview, along with schematics and links to files and code, visit Slaven’s build log.