Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

Proposal for Computing

Research Project
A study on impact of IoT based Smart Agriculture.

Manju Pokharel (BTEC HND |

ISMT College
III SEMISTER)
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 Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background Study................................................................................................................1
1.2 Problem Statement................................................................................................................2
1.3 Research Questions:..............................................................................................................3
1.4 Significance of the study.......................................................................................................3
1.5 Scope and limitation of the research:....................................................................................4
1.6 Research Objectives:.............................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Reasons for choosing the topic......................................................................................5
Chapter 3: Literature Review..........................................................................................................6
Chapter 4: Methodology.................................................................................................................7
3.1 Research Methodology:........................................................................................................7

MANJU POKHAREL (BTEC HND | III SEMISTER)

 Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

MANJU POKHAREL (BTEC HND | III SEMISTER)

 Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background Study

The internet of things or simply IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical
and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the
ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer
interaction. It is a system of physical objects whose purpose is to collect and exchange data with
each other over the Internet. The invention and involvement of IoT revolutionized has different
processes that are involved in many domains such as home security, equipment manufacturing,
health monitoring, automated transportation and especially agriculture. In modern agriculture,
IoT is efficiently utilized in many subdomains such as precision farming, smart crop monitoring,
soil quality, smart irrigation systems and mainly others.

Agriculture is an important part of Nepal's economy and is the backbone of our country. Around
68% of livelihood is depended on agriculture which accounts for about 34% of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Like Nepal and other countries, majority of country population
depends on farming and nations incomes has comes from farming. Agriculture is major boon to
country's economy. Agriculture contributes nearly one-third of the nation's GDP and provides
employment to two-third of the Nepali people. However, the annual population growth rate of
1.3% has put pressure on agricultural productivity and one of its impacts seen is the decreasing
value added by agriculture in GDP. The agro-ecological lands of Nepal have been divided into
three kinds: the terai, or the plains, the hills in the midsection, and the mountainous region. 23%
of the land area lies in Terai part of Nepal and is the most fertile land. The annual cultivation rate
in terai region is over 40%.Terai region produces crops including jute, sugarcane, maize, wheat,
and vegetables. The hilly region comprises of 42% of the land area of Nepal, but only 20% of it
is currently used for cultivation. Maize and wheat are mostly produced here. Owing to weather
conditions, only 5% of the land in mountainous region is suitable for cultivation. Out of the
country’s 14.7-billion-hectare area, only 2.6 million hectares of land in Nepal is arable. With the
increasing population, the per capita consumption demand for agricultural products is expected to
grow rapidly. For example, the demand for fresh vegetables is expected to grow at 1.9% annually
till 2020. It is therefore, more important now than ever to utilize these arable land to produce
maximum crops possible.

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The main purpose of this study will be investing how IoT based smart agriculture change the face
of farming and cultivation. Now a day, Farmers can get lots of knowledge and information about
latest technology and farming techniques through IoT. In smart farming, a system is built for
monitoring the crop field with the help of sensors (i.e. light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture
etc.) and automating the irrigation system.

1.2 Problem Statement

The traditional agriculture and allied sector cannot meet the requirements of modern and smart
agriculture which requires high-yield, high quality and efficient output. Similarly, the major
problems that farmers face is irregular distribution of water in the field. Crops don't get the
required nutrients because of poor soil quality which results in the improper growth of crops.

Agricultural tools are not advanced Due to traditional farming, cultivation is very difficult and
production is low. Farmers are not skilled in the methods of the modern agriculture. They are also
not healthy enough to realize the potential of their farms. Similarly, due to lack of market agro-
based products rot in the places where they are grown. Food grains that are grown in Terai cannot
be transported to other areas nor easily can fruits such as apple grown in the north easily get
market in the south. Due to lack of storage facilities, agricultural products suffer low price. Fertile
valley and plains are being occupied by the settlement and industries land distribution is not
scientific and democratic. These are day to day problems faced by farmers of Nepal.

Thus, as a solution to the existing problems, I have focused on smart Agricultures and farming
automated system with the help of IoT. I have focused on smart systems for monitoring and
controlling agricultural parameters by enhancing productivity and efficiency. Smart systems
collect data for measurements to get accurate results that can lead to accurate actions. Current use
of smart agricultural system relates to collecting data on environment parameters such as
temperature, humidity, soil moisture. With accurate sensor data collection using a range of
different sensors, I will implement smart agricultural systems to make the farm process more
effective. I will mainly focus on sub-verticles such as water management, crop management,

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 Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

smart farming, precision farming, smart greenhouse, agricultural drones and data analytics to
make processes automated by reducing human intervention costs, power consumption and water
consumption.

1.3 Research Questions:

From the problem statement presented previously in this proposal, following questions are
developed:

1. What are the role of traditional agriculture in implementing smart agriculture based on
Internet of things?
2. What are the uses of smart agriculture and how it improves the efficiency of agricultural
production and operation?
3. Does smart agriculture solve the problems of growing shortage of agricultural labors,
infrastructure and storage?
4. Does water management, Precision farming, agricultural drones, smart green house, crop
management enhance the way to cultivation?

These are the questions that are raised based on the topic of my research and these questions will
be answered showing definite results backed with the findings obtained after the data are
collected, and then analyzed.

1.4 Significance of the study

One of the important considerations that will more often play a decisive role in our selection of
smart agriculture is the choice of an appropriate techniques and methods that is conductive to our
distinct usage patterns. As this research is being carried out for solving traditional way of
agriculture into smart way. This study will surely help people to understand the Importance in
adopting modern technology for farming and cultivation. The modern agriculture meet the
requirements of smart agriculture, which high-yield, high quality and efficient output. The results
obtained from this study will contribute to the farmer's way of cultivation as this research is based
on precision farming, smart irrigation system, crop monitoring and data analytics.

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1.5 Scope and limitation of the research:

Smart farming based on IoT technologies enables growers and farmers to reduce waste and
enhance productivity and enabling efficient utilization of resources such as water etc. Agricultural
Drones used in agriculture enhance various agriculture practices, crop health, irrigation, data and
field analysis. Data collected by smart agriculture sensors can be used to track the state of the
business in general as well as staff performance, equipment efficiency. Similarly, smart
greenhouse intelligently controls the climate, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

Precision farming makes the farming practice more precise and controlled by realizing smart
farming applications such as livestock monitoring, Field observation and inventory monitoring.
These all methods and techniques directly changes the face of traditional agriculture.
Implementing this methods will rapidly enhance the future of agriculture.

Smart devices based on IoT must have unique identities and they should have the ability to
connect and interact with each other and with other network entities along with mobile and web-
based platforms. IoT devices enables farm managers to track crops in real-time, with precise
planting, water management and smart greenhouse management etc. Unfortunately, there is too
high rate of water turnover from the agricultural sector to other industries. Unlike other
industries, IoT system devices installations and maintenance are a little troublesome and need lot
of investment, smart farming continually requires internet connectivity. But rural portion of our
country did not follow those criteria and the internet is slower. The IoT related equipment allows
the farmers to understand the use of technology and to learn. It is the biggest challenge for
Nepalese farmers as one third of Nepalese farmers are uneducated and are not aware of these
modern technology.

This research considers the respondents of the age group 45-60 years old and else with these
people engaged in farming. This research will be organized in a short period of time (about 5
months) in a particular location where the respondents are provided with a set of questionnaires
and different interviewing question will be asked to perform descriptive analysis of certain

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criteria which cannot be measured in quantity but rather in a qualitative manner. Due to limited
time period, data samples will be collected from only 30-40 respondents and not more than that
which may result into large collection of data which might be difficult to analyze in the given
time period.

1.6 Research Objectives:

This research is related to the smart farming through varieties of internet based things for high-
yield, high quality, less human effort and efficient outputs. My research is to give a clear view of
IoT based smart agriculture. The objectives for this research can be stated as follows;

1. To identify the role of traditional agriculture in implementing smart IoT based

agriculture.
2. To identify techniques, methods and equipment's that enhance the productivity of
agriculture and also solutions to the problems of human efforts.
3. To determine whether IoT based smart agriculture can lead the efficiency of
agricultural products as well as changes in the future of agriculture or not.

The result obtained from this study will be valuable for those people who are engaged in farming
as well as those people who are engaged in farming as well as those people who are interested in
farming using the latest technology. The result obtained from this study, will make sure that the
smart agriculture is for better than traditional agriculture. The results will show that modern way
of cultivating like precision farming is for better than traditional way. Similarly, use of modern
equipment's like sensors, drones etc. is more trustworthy than older equipment's.

Chapter 2: Reasons for choosing the topic

Firstly, I have always been agriculturally conscious and I think it is about time that we use these
modern technology in agriculture so that it directly change the face of farming and cultivation.
So, the main reasons behind choosing the topic is to change the traditional way of farming into
smart way using technologies such as drones, sensors and many internet based things. Traditional
farming creates lots of problems to farmers. There is shortage of irrigation facilities, data is not

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 Proposal for Computing Research Project | ISMT College

analyzed properly. Poor soil quality leads to improper growth of crops. Similarly, lack of proper
agricultural tool directly hamper cultivation. So, to overcome all the problem, the methods,
techniques and equipment's of IoT based smart agriculture is needed. It directly change the future
of agriculture. Though IoT based faming the devices are used to connect and interact with every
farmers. It enables farm mangers to track crops in real-time with precise planting, water
management, green house and many more. In additional to this, due to exponential growth of
population in Nepal, the Nepalese farmers will need to produce 70% more food in upcoming
years. Similarly, agricultural labor in most part of Nepal has declined. As a result of the declining
agricultural workforce, adoption of internet connectivity solutions in farming products has been
triggered to reduce all these needs. But, this is not possible through traditional way of farming.
Hence, adoption of IoT based smart agriculture is best choice. So, the reasons behind choosing
this topic is to implement smart way of farming.

Chapter 3: Literature Review

[ CITATION Lam18 \l 1033 ] conducted a research on topic of “The Smart Agriculture
Technology” in which smart farming presents a viable remedy of trouble. By increasing both the
quantity and the quality of agricultural products, it can improve the intelligence of farms. IoT
based smart farming is exceptionally efficient in comparison with the traditional strategy. It is
found that the whole lot of technology used to produce modern agriculture is more efficient.
Similarly, there is the software that helps to allow the connected farm to enhance the utilization of
assets and outback inefficiency.

[ CITATION Rit19 \l 1033 ] found that the Internet of Things would be one of the promising
technology to improve productivity by monitoring and controlling in a right way using various
embedded controllers, sensors, activators and cloud services in their research of topic. Potential
use of scope of IoT in Agriculture and farm monitoring. In context of Nepal this study provides
an insight and experimental based observation to monitor and analyze various sensor that has
been deployed in agricultural farm using cloud service and IoT components.

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As from one of the journals of Nepal, [ CITATION Raj \l 1033 ]three people, Rajan Bhandari,
Ravi and Nirdesh Bhami together form a company which plans to automate a widely used cooling
storage systems. They introduce “zero cooling technology” that basically use locally available
resources like bamboos, bricks and water to create a chamber where the temperature is lower than
the room temperature which is to be maintained manually. They come up with a technology that
would detect the humidity, moisture and all the other factors that are needed to have the constant
temperature for proper storage of fruit and vegetable.

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Chapter 4: Methodology

3.1 Research Methodology:

At the beginning of the research, selecting the topic is a crucial stage. The topic that I selected to
conduct a research on is, “A study on impact of IoT based smart agriculture for better farming

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and cultivation”. The objective of this study is to study if smart agriculture can lead the efficiency
of agricultural products or not and also to determine the techniques, equipment that enhance the
productivity of agriculture, After selecting the topic of my research, all the previous studies or
research is studied to know what where the findings and what those research papers have to say
on that very topic. These research papers are thoroughly studied to understand all the aspects that
is to be covered by my research and to understand the best approach for my findings in this
research. The very next step after studying and analyzing all the previous studies is to prepare a
proposal for the research where all the ideas for inspecting on a certain topic is explained from
beginning of the research to its end along with its objectives, scope and limitations. Now, after
the proposal is completed, identifying a location and the respondent will be the next phase in my
study where I would be taking samples from 30-40 respondents of age group 45-60 years old, in
most of the cultivating areas of terai and hilly regions. A set of questionnaires will be prepared
for collecting data from the mass along with various opened interviewing questions to understand
the respondents view towards this issues. The data collected from these individuals will be
calculated in the work sheet. Every techniques and methods will be discussed with each
individuals. Their view towards every methods of cultivating will be kept on priority. After the
data are collected and analyzed, the final findings, results and methods will be presented in the

final report.

Analyzing the time period in mind for the research, different IoT based technologies will be used
and their effect will be viewed experimentally. Precision farming will be done, so that it helps
farmers to generate data with the help of sensors and analyze that information to take intelligent
and quick decisions. Similarly, there are numerous precision farming technologies like irrigation
management, livestock management, climatic conditions and many more which play vital role in
increasing the efficiency and effectiveness. With the help of Precision farming, I can analyze soil
conditions and other related parameters to increase the operational efficiency. Not only this, I can
also detect the real-time working conditions of the connected devices to detect water and nutrients
level.

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Many of the traditional agricultural production is to destroy the environment in exchange for the
increase of grain output. Now, implementing the intelligent agricultural Internet of Things
solution can effectively improve the agro-ecological environment. For example, quantitative
fertilization will not cause soil compaction, instead will fertilize soil and other conditions,
promote crop growth, Smart agriculture. IoT solution is based on accurate agricultural sensors for
real-time monitoring, using cloud computing, data mining and other technologies for multi-level
analysis, and linking analysis instructions with various control devices to complete agricultural
production and management, significantly improve the efficiency of agricultural production and
operation. By implementing the intelligent agricultural Internet of Things solution one can
manage and can carry out large-scale soil fertilization and irrigation and hence, the problem of
increasing shortage of agricultural labor force will be effectively solved. Agricultural production
will be highly scaled, intensive and industrialized. The methodology of smart greenhouse will
enable weather stations to automatically adjust the climate conditions according to a particular set
of instructions. Solar-powered will be used so that the sensors built will collect and transmit the
real-time data which helps in monitoring the greenhouse state very precisely in real-time. With
the help of the sensors, the water consumption and greenhouse state can be monitored via emails
of SMS alerts. Automatic and smart irrigation will be carried out with the Help of IoT. These
sensors help to provide information on the pressure, humidity, temperature and light levels.
Similarly, the technology used in agricultural drones will effectively be used for assessment of
crop health, crop monitoring, planting, crop spraying and field analysis. These all technologies
will be used as a method for smart agriculture.

Various research methods will be done in my study. Surveys collecting information, usually from
fairly large group of people, questionnaires, and various cases will be studied. I will choose
participant observation for my studies, so that I will also be involved in my research proposals. I
will also be involved and will check different methods used in my research.

3.2 Data Collection:

Various methods will be used to collect data during my research. Experimentally cloud based
data storage plays an important role in the smart agricultural system. Sensors are the primary

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source of collecting data in the field. For my research, Secondary data is collected through
various websites, books, through various researches, journals and many more. Qualitative
research is done in my study which is used to understand concepts, thoughts and experiences. The
data collected from the techniques, websites, books will be basic method of collecting secondary
data which serves all research objectives. Similarly, questionnaire and interview will also be done
which comes under primary data collection. This research proposed IoT for local information data
collection on precise agriculture and uses some case study for examples. In this research paper, I
aim that the internet of things can be used to collect local information data on precision
agriculture. Similarly, recent development in IoT, comparison between traditional and smart
agriculture, and the roles of IoT in agriculture were analyzed in this research. This research were
purposely inspected while the qualitative data gathered was dissected utilizing content analysis.

3.3 Population and Sample:

Population refers to the respondent participating for the survey in order to collect data. The
respondent for this study (data sampling includes both male and female). Various respondents are
involved in farming will be selected for the study. Prepared questionnaires will be distributed
along with interviews will be conducted for the sole purpose of extracting information required
for the particular study. Based on the view expressed by the respondents, conclusion will be
drawn for the study. The respondents Are of age group 45-60 years old and have been involved in
agriculture in a daily basis. Sampling will be done on their personal value towards smart
agriculture.

Chapter-4: (Time Schedule)

For this particular Research, time period of the various task that is to be carried out in around six
months in developed which in two snow by the Gantt Chart(fig). This research is based on
considering all the parameters that are to be covered entirely for the particular topic starting
initially after the selection of desired topic. Around two months of time has been allocated for
conducting research which started on 1st July Of 2021 and will end at the end of August 2021.
Some of the research phases might he carried concurrently In order to utilize the given time

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period for the research itself and make the overall process for various prospects for a more
circumstantial learning experience.

A basic time frame allocated and work division plan developed for the research can be
understood by the following provided Table:

S.N Tasks Duration Starting Date Ending Date

.
Thru Sun 04/07/2021
1. Selection of topic based on the 3 days
01/07/2021
theme: “IoT on Smart
Agriculture”.

Mon Tue 13/07/2021

2. Literature Review for the research 8 days
05/07/2021
based on the references of similar
research papers developed by
other researchers.

Wed Sat 24/07/2021

3. Preparation of Research Proposal. 10 days
14/07/2021
Sun 25/07/2021 Wed 28/07/2021
4. Introduction of different 3 days
techniques and methods
Thru Thru 05/08/2021
5. Preparing questionnaires and set 7 days
29/07/2021
of interviewing questions for the
identified respondents.

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Fri 06/08/2021 Wed 11/08/2021

6. Data collection by conducting 5 days
various surveys based on the
prepared methods, questionnaire
and interviews and analyzing them
using MS Excel.

Thru Sun 22/08/2021

7. Report Writing 10 days
12/08/2021

Conclusion:
Hence, a study on the topic of “A study on impact of IoT based smart agriculture will be
conducted by experimental and practical investigation using different research methods and
methodology. The main objective of the research is to find whether IoT based smart agriculture
use improves the future of agriculture as well as the efficiency of agricultural production and
operation. It further explores the possibility of integrating agriculture and farming with the
technology to increase the production and real-time monitoring. Farming will play vital role in
the next few years in the country. Thus, there is need of smart farming to improve time
efficiency, water management, crop monitoring, smart greenhouse. It also minimizes human
efforts and simplifies techniques of farming.

To complete this research around two month's time is required. Thus study will be completed as
per the stated time period and a research findings will be presented in final report after collecting
and analyzing all the data that are to be collected and analyzing till the data that are to be

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collected using various techniques, methods, questionnaire and interviewing various respondents
which are within the age group of 45-60 years old.

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