The Internet of Things

Environmental parameters such as temperature and humidity are important for agricultural production. Sensors are used by farmers in the field to measure such parameters and this data can be used for efficient production. One application is automated irrigation according to weather conditions.

Production using greenhouses is one of the main applications of IoT in agriculture. Environmental parameters measured in terms of temperature, soil information, and humidity are measured in real time and sent to a server for analysis. The results are then used to improve crop quality and yield.

Pesticide residues in crop production are detected using an Acetylcholinesterase biosensor. This data is saved and analyzed for extracting useful information such as the sample size, time, location, and amount of residues. We can thus maintain the quality of the crop. Moreover, a QR code can be used to uniquely identify a carton of farm produce. Consumers can scan the QR code and check the amount of pesticides in it (via a centralized database) online before buying.

Air pollution is an important concern today because it is changing the climate of the earth and degrading air quality. Vehicles cause a lot of air pollution. An IoT application proposed by Manna et al. monitors air pollution on the roads. It also tracks vehicles that cause an undue amount of pollution. Electrochemical toxic gas sensors can also be used to measure air pollution. Vehicles are identified by RFID tags. RFID readers are placed on both sides of the road along with the gas sensors. With this approach it is possible to identify and take action against polluting vehicles.