🌱 IrrigateToNotIrritate™

Smart IoT Plant Care System using FreeRTOS & ESP32

Project Link

📌 Overview

IrrigateToNotIrritate™ is a real-time, IoT-enabled smart irrigation system designed to automate plant care. It monitors environmental conditions and dynamically adjusts watering using embedded systems and cloud integration.

The system combines FreeRTOS (MCXC444) for deterministic task scheduling with an ESP32 for connectivity, enabling a scalable and intelligent plant care solution.

---

🚀 Features

• 🌱 Automated soil moisture monitoring
• 🌦️ Weather-adaptive watering (via OpenWeatherMap API)
• 📲 Real-time Telegram alerts (watering + low tank warnings)
• 🔘 Manual override button (interrupt-driven)
• 💧 Water level detection
• 💡 Smart LED feedback with finite state machine (FSM)
• ⚡ Dynamic sensor power control (extends sensor lifespan)

---

🏗️ System Architecture

Hardware

• MCXC444 – Real-time control (FreeRTOS)
• ESP32 – IoT connectivity + API handling
• Sensors:
  • Soil moisture (FC-28)
  • Water level (HW-038)
  • Light sensor (KY-018)
• Actuators:
  • SG90 Servo motor (water valve)
  • Onboard LEDs (status indication)

Software

• FreeRTOS multi-tasking system (6 tasks):

  • Soil moisture polling
  • Alert handling
  • LED control
  • UART transmit
  • UART receive
  • Manual override

• Synchronization tools:

  • Queues (data transfer)
  • Semaphores (event triggering)
  • Mutex (resource protection)

---

🔌 Communication Protocol

• UART (8N1, 9600 baud) between MCXC444 and ESP32
• Custom packet format using < > delimiters

---

🌐 IoT Integration

• OpenWeatherMap API → Adjust watering thresholds based on weather
• Telegram Bot API → Sends real-time notifications with timestamps

---

⚙️ Key Design Concepts

• RTOS Scheduling → Deterministic, concurrent task execution
• Hardware-Software Co-design → Split responsibilities across MCXC444 & ESP32
• FSM-based LED control → Maintains consistent visual states
• Interrupt-driven design → Responsive manual override

---

🧠 Challenges & Solutions

• Heap memory exhaustion (FreeRTOS)
  → Increased heap allocation for stable multi-tasking

• UART interrupt noise
  → Resolved with proper common ground connection

• Telegram API limitations (GET requests)
  → Migrated to HTTP POST with JSON payload

---

📊 Skills Demonstrated

• Embedded Systems
• Real-Time Operating Systems (FreeRTOS)
• IoT Integration (ESP32, APIs)
• UART Communication Protocol Design
• Hardware-Software Integration
• Debugging & System Optimization

---

👨‍💻 Contributors

• Gan Andrew Hoa Thien
• Pang Ang Sheng Asher
• Zheng Kaiwen

---

📄 License

(Optional — add if needed)