Sensor based Planter -cum- Site Specific Fungicide Applicator

Abstract

A mechatronic based planter cum fungicide/chemical applicator was designed and developed. It mainly consisted of Infrared (IR) obstacle detection sensors placed inside the seed delivery tube to detect the seed and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to receive and process the sensors signals and to activate the corresponding solenoid valves to discharge the fungicide amount at right time and right place. The developed ECU mainly consisted of an Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller to receive, process the sensors data and activate, three relay switches for activation of corresponding solenoid valves. The IR sensors and developed ECU was tested under laboratory and field condition and found satisfactory. With this system, both the operations such as planting and fungicide application can be done simultaneously which leads to reduction in cost of cultivation, saving of time and chemical consumption thereby reduce the environmental pollution.