Innovative Automated Approach Towards Water Security Using Remote Sensing and Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies

Sultanate of Oman lies at tropic of Cancer and situated in gulf region of Middle East. This geographical setting of Oman made it one of the arid country in the world with limited water resources mainly due to the inadequate amount of precipitation and limited water recharge with the precipitation of only about 75-100 mm annually which mainly concentrate in few regions of the country. Like other Gulf countries Oman?s economy mainly dependent on hydrocarbon resources results in affluent economic standard of living in the Sultanate. To relish the modernization, urbanization and industrialization that occurred in last few decades, large number of occupational migration of skilled and unskilled labor force occurred in Oman to support the manpower requirement of the country. This influx of population increased the pressure on country?s natural resources especially on food and water resources. To support its increasing population, Oman largely depends on import of food and on desalinated water for domestic and industrial consumption. Water security are among the key elements and necessary to maintain sustainability. The Sultanate of Oman has natural water resources with limited water recharge capacity to support its present population on natural water and to reduce its water resources deficit. The water security will be attained by the implementation of the state of art modern means of water conservation practice especially in relation with irrigation which consumes 80% -90% of natural water resources. The proposed project is about the idea of the implementation of automation methods in achieving water security through the control the water supply to plants in optimal ways and reduce water wastage in farming by using automated close loop controlled system, Internet of Things (IOT) and Remote Sensing technology. The project will develop the means which will not only conserve water but it will also facilitate and give the farmers freedom to control and monitor their farms irrigation remotely just by using smart phones, laptop, tablets and PC. Upon successful completion of the project the outcome of the project will develop hi-tech system that can be used by farmers of Oman and Arabian countries to implement in irrigation as routine practice. The proposed approach will be applicable to all sizes of farms from small to medium and large areas. The result of this research will also help in enhancing the capabilities of creating an operational technical team for agricultural water monitoring and controlling systems which will greatly contribute to the nation's water security and economy.