Design and Implementation of a Solar-Powered IoT Platform for Intelligent Crop Pest Control
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46610/JCIE.2025.v011i02.005Keywords:
APR9600 voice module, Microcontroller, Scarecrow, Ultrasonic, PIR sensorsAbstract
The High-tech Scarecrow is an intelligent, solar-powered device developed to safeguard farms from birds and animals. Unlike traditional scarecrows, which are passive and often fail to prevent crop damage, this advanced system employs an ESP32 microcontroller along with ultrasonic and PIR sensors to detect motion around the field. When movement is sensed, it triggers an APR9600 voice module to emit pre-recorded warning sounds and operates a moving scare mechanism to deter intruders. It runs on solar energy supported by a rechargeable battery, ensuring uninterrupted, eco-friendly performance. Built-in LCDs provide operational status, enhancing ease of use. This smart, low-cost solution integrates IoT and renewable energy, offering a reliable and expandable approach for today’s farmers, with future possibilities like AI-based detection and remote monitoring via the internet of things.
References
P. Chomtip, M. Homnan, N. Pramuksan, and W. Rakyindee, “Smart scarecrow,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation, Shanghai, China, 2011, pp. 380–384. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232620372_Smart_Scarecrow
D. P. Miller, J. Q. Milstein, and C. Stein, “Scarecrow: If I only had AI,” Autonomous Robots, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 325–332, Jan. 2007, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-006-9017-4
Espressif Systems, ESP32 Technical Reference Manual, 2022. Available: https://www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/esp32_technical_reference_manual_en.pdf
Blynk Inc., Blynk IoT Platform Documentation, 2023. Available: https://docs.blynk.io
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Solar Energy in Agriculture: Best Practices. Abu Dhabi, UAE: IRENA, 2021. Available: https://www.irena.org/publications/2021/Jun/Solar-Energy-in-Agriculture
Texas Instruments, LM2596 Buck Converter Datasheet, 2021. Available: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm2596.pdf
Tamura Corporation, Power Supply Modules, 2022. Available: https://www.tamuracorp.com/global/products/power-module/
DFRobot, APR9600 Voice Playback Module Guide, 2023. Available: https://wiki.dfrobot.com/APR9600_Voice_Playback_Module
World Health Organization (WHO), Guidelines for Non-Chemical Pest Control, Geneva, Switzerland, 2020. Available: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240000000
Farmers’ Cooperative Society, “Plot test results,” Cooperative trials, field test data from pilot implementations, 2023. Available: https://www.farmerscoopsociety.com/agronomy-over/plot-test-results
D. Salami, R. Hasibi, S. Palipana, P. Popovski, T. Michoel and S. Sigg, “Tesla-rapture: A lightweight gesture recognition system from mmWave Radar Sparse Point clouds,” in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 4946-4960, 1 Aug. 2023, doi: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9720163
K. Król, R. Kao, and J. Hernik, “The scarecrow as an indicator of changes in the cultural heritage of rural Poland,” Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 23, p. 6857, Jan. 2019, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236857
A. Nollkaemper, “Saving the Scarecrow,” European Journal of International Law, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 957–964, Nov. 2015, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chv060
Open Agriculture Initiative, Community-Driven Agricultural Tech Development, 2023. Available: https://openag.media.mit.edu
O. Barakat, S. Hashim, A. Ramli, F. Hashim, K. Samsudin, I. Al Baltah, and M. Al Habshi, “SCARECROW: Scalable malware reporting, detection, and analysis,” Journal of Convergence Information Technology, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1–12, Jan. 2013. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257709257