IOT-DRIVEN SOIL HEALTH MONITORING USING LOW-COST SENSORS AND DATA FUSION TECHNIQUES: A CASE STUDY OF MUBI NORTH AND MUBI SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33003/Keywords:
Internet of Things, Soil Health Monitoring, Low-Cost Sensors, Offline System, Data Fusion, Precision Agriculture, MubiAbstract
This study developed a low-cost offline soil health monitoring system for smallholder farmers in Mubi North and Mubi South Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria. The system used an ESP32 microcontroller and a CWT-Soil-THCPH-5 sensor to measure soil moisture, temperature, and pH simultaneously through Modbus RTU communication. It operated entirely without cloud connectivity by functioning as a local Wi-Fi hotspot and allowed direct download of high-resolution data in XLS format via any mobile device. One monitoring node was deployed for three months at 5cm depth with 10-minute sampling intervals. Calibration followed a two-stage procedure, and an Irrigation Suitability Index was computed offline through simple data fusion of the measured parameters. Results showed reliable simultaneous readings, stable temperature between 27 °C and 34 °C pH between 5.8 and 7.3, and a clear seasonal decline in soil moisture and Irrigation Suitability Index that matched local drying patterns. The system demonstrates a practical solution for precision agriculture in areas with limited internet and power infrastructure. It eliminates cloud dependency, reduces costs, and provides farmers with immediate, actionable soil information. Future work will expand to multiple nodes, incorporate NPK sensors, and develop a mobile application for automated alerts.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Suleiman Aliyu, Hyellamada Simon, Solomon Makasda Dickson, Jibrin Aliyu Dawaki, Aisha Muhammad Hussein, Yusuf Bello Garga
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