Hyperidea of the Internet of Things (IoT)

This competition was held at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. The goal was to use the Internet of Things (IoT) to reduce water consumption economically and eventually make a functional MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
We had the opportunity to ask for any IoT devices that we wanted. As my B.Sc. thesis was about a very similar topic, I was more aware of the approach I wanted to follow and my needs for that purpose.

First of all, the only sensor that I wanted was the soil humidity sensor. There were more options available, for example, air/soil temperature sensors, rain sensors, etc. However, my previous investigations have shown me that there is no need for extra sensors and inputs by an appropriate data analysis and statistics model because many of them are correlated to each other and even by using them, we won't reach higher precision.

I chose to use the Arduino board for its simplicity, which aligned perfectly with what I was looking for. While the provided soil sensors were not as precise as I had hoped, they were still usable. My original plan was to deploy multiple sensors distributed across the farm or field to obtain a more accurate assessment of the soil’s condition. However, due to the competition’s constraints and limited time, we simplified the approach further and opted to use just one soil humidity sensor.

Naming a project is an important thing. It is like naming a child. That kid will grow while carrying that name and it will vastly influence their self-esteem and identity. I named my project "SuVar" because it has two relative meanings in Turkish:

Developing trust between users and automation is crucial for functionality. Based on our interviews, most target customers (farmers) have access to smartphones, but they often face limited internet connectivity in rural areas. Therefore, using SMS for communication emerged as the most reliable and practical choice.

Finally, I secured 2nd place in the Hyperidea Internet of Things (IoT) competition. I was also awarded a grant to further develop my project, which provided an excellent opportunity to refine my design for my thesis. About five months later, I successfully defended my B.Sc. thesis, presenting the same project but with a more robust and improved design.