IM-FARM: FEASIBILITY, SYSTEM DESIGN AND RELIABILITY

Increasing population and abrupt weather fluctuations has put huge pressure on agricultural products. Nowadays, improved technology-based agricultural practices are replacing the existing old-fashioned farming practices. However, there are still limitations for the adaptation and conversion of smart farms due to high cost, non-availability of internet, and lack of application knowledge in the farming community. The innovative technology that most of all has spread in this application is the use of wireless sensor network that allows to implement real-time decisions. These devices have to work in harsh environmental conditions there are no functional and reliability characterization available in literature. This work proposes IM-FARM, a sensor network that aims at making smart farming technology accessible to everyone. Low cost, scalability, security and reliability are the key points of the proposed infrastructure. In addition, some of the key aspects of these stand-alone battery-powered systems are addressed. The use of the innovative li-ion batteries, addressing and analyzing the relative dependence on temperature. The batteries are usually charged by solar panels and an innovative DC-DC converter is therefore proposed and realized to optimize solar energy conversion. The work presents a reliability and risk assessment carried out integrating several techniques. The results of the analysis led toward the development of a Diagnostic-oriented solution.