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A survey of wireless sensor network approaches and their energy consumption for monitoring farm fields in precision agriculture

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Abstract

Precision agriculture (PA) is the use of information and communication technology together with best agricultural practices for farm management. PA requires the acquisition, transmission and processing of large amounts of data from farm fields. A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a system for monitoring agriculture fields. Several researchers have used WSNs to collect the required data from the regions of interest for their intended usages in various applications. In a WSN, the energy consumption of the sensor nodes is the main issue, due to its direct impact on the lifetime of the network. Many approaches have been proposed to address this issue using different power sources and types of nodes. Specifically, in PA, because of the extended time period that is required to monitor fields, using an appropriate WSN approach is important. There is a need for a comprehensive review of WSN approaches for PA. The aim of this paper is to classify and describe the state-of-the-art of WSNs and analyze their energy consumption based on their power sources. WSN approaches in PA are categorized and discussed according to their features.

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Abbreviations

AG:

Above ground

BS:

Base station

CP:

Center pivot

ET:

Evaporation–transpiration

FW:

Full-wave

GW:

Gateway

GPRS:

General packet radio service

GPS:

Global positioning system

IMS:

Irrigation management system

iPAGAT:

Intelligent precision agriculture gateway

IS:

Irrigation station

ISSPA:

Integrated wireless sensor networks solution for PA

KIP-AF:

Knowledge information processor for agriculture sensor data and fire-sensor data

LNA:

Low noise amplifier

LOFAR:

Low frequency array

LOS:

Line of sight

LQI:

Line quality indicator

MAC:

Medium access control

PA:

Precision agriculture

PC:

Personal computer

PHP:

Hypertext preprocessor

RF:

Radio frequency

RFID:

Radio-frequency identification

RMS:

Remote monitoring station

RSSI:

Received signal strength indicator

RTAS:

Real-time alert system

RTK-DGPS:

Real-time kinematic differential global positioning system

SEA:

Single ended elliptical antenna

SIM:

Subscriber identity model

T-MAC:

Time-out medium access control

TDMA:

Time division multiple access

TinyOS:

Tiny operation system

UG:

Underground

VRI:

Variable rate irrigation

WC:

Wireless co-ordinator

WED:

Wireless end device

WSN:

Wireless sensor networks

WR:

Wireless router

WUSN:

Wireless underground sensor networks

XML:

Extensible mark-up language

ZC:

ZigBee co-ordinator

ZED:

ZigBee end device

ZSIM:

ZigBee enabled SIM

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer System and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Mohammad Hossein Anisi

  2. Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

    Gaddafi Abdul-Salaam & Abdul Hanan Abdullah

Authors
  1. Mohammad Hossein Anisi
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  2. Gaddafi Abdul-Salaam
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  3. Abdul Hanan Abdullah
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Correspondence to Mohammad Hossein Anisi.

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Anisi, M.H., Abdul-Salaam, G. & Abdullah, A.H. A survey of wireless sensor network approaches and their energy consumption for monitoring farm fields in precision agriculture. Precision Agric 16, 216–238 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-014-9371-8

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