A Smart Agricultural System Based on PLC and a Cloud Computing Web Application Using LoRa and LoRaWan

Abstract

The increasing challenges of agricultural processes and the growing demand for food globally are driving the industrial agriculture sector to adopt the concept of ‘smart farming’. Smart farming systems, with their real-time management and high level of automation, can greatly improve productivity, food safety, and efficiency in the agri-food supply chain. This paper presents a customized smart farming system that uses a low-cost, low-power, and wide-range wireless sensor network based on Internet of Things (IoT) and Long Range (LoRa) technologies. In this system, LoRa connectivity is integrated with existing Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are commonly used in industry and farming to control multiple processes, devices, and machinery through the Simatic IOT2040. The system also includes a newly developed web-based monitoring application hosted on a cloud server, which processes data collected from the farm environment and allows for remote visualization and control of all connected devices. A Telegram bot is included for automated communication with users through this mobile messaging app. The proposed network structure has been tested, and the path loss in the wireless LoRa is evaluated.