Design and Implementation: An IoT-Framework-Based Automated Wastewater Irrigation System

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (New Reviewer)

This manuscript presents an automated water irrigation system which utilize IoT communication technology for agriculture monitoring. The results are useful, however, there are some issues that have to be addressed throughout the paper, as detailed in the following comments:

Comment 1: Introduction Section. In literature review, I think that there is still room to add some important relevant references that are missing. See for example the following works:

- https://doi.org/10.47248/ges2202010001

- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2019.05.007

Comment 2: Results and Discussion section:

- A figure presenting the environmental conditions is needed.

- One month of results is not enough (Fig7). The data of the whole irrigation period must be added in the paper (i.e in Appendix)

- Ιs there any rainfall during the growing season? If yes, these data must be also included.

Comment 3. Conclusion section: "The IoT-based irrigation system is superior to other irrigation systems recently proposed and developed. This is because, the process of implementing automatic irrigation was done in a traditional, luxurious, and inefficient manner, which results in a small profit margin and misfortunes in the production of manure". More information and details must be included in Results Section in order to support this. 

Author Response

Comment 1: Introduction Section. In literature review, I think that there is still room to add some important relevant references that are missing. See for example the following works:

Response:       

Thank you so much for your useful comment.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors have benefitted as above in the Introduction from the underlying references as:

 

The use of Renewable Energy powered technology in Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants has been penetrating in preparation for embracing Industry 4.0 in every sector with promising results benefitting humans and agriculture [8][9].         

:

• Karavas, Christos-Spyridon, Evangelos Dimitriou, Athanasios T. Balafoutis, Dimitris Manolakos, and George Papadakis. "Development of a computational tool for the design of seawater reverse osmosis desalination systems powered by photovoltaics for crop irrigation." Journal: Green Energy and Sustainability(2022): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.47248/ges2202010001
• Karavas, Christos-Spyridon, Konstantinos G. Arvanitis, and George Papadakis. "Optimal technical and economic configuration of photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis desalination systems operating in autonomous mode." Desalination466 (2019): 97-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2019.05.007

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

The authors proposed an irrigation system that measures soil moisture, temperature, and atmosphere temperature. The system transmits data, and the data is shown as a result. 

I think the paper lacks novelty and evaluation results. First, the paper's novelty should include optimization on any irrigation method used in the system that plays a role as a smart function, i.e., using AI or an optimization method for irrigation. I could only see the implementation of a conventional method that has been proposed in many papers. This is what can be called 'responsive.' I feel that the implementation is a work in progress work.

The evaluation result is shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. However, I did not find any new knowledge or interesting facts from the shown result. Moreover, the result did not show what kind of problem it solved and proved to be solved. I can only know the experiment scenario was done in a dry land with changing soil moisture. More experiment is needed to show the effectiveness.

-Figures such as the graph was not prepared to the level of journal standard, such as the label on the x and y axis and coloring of the graph are not standard. 

-The block diagram in Fig. 2 shows a straight sequence of data flow. I do not understand the dataflow. Please consider using DFD (Data Flow Diagram) instead.

-Fig. 3 shows a very simple flow chart. The flow chart should represent algorithms such as optimization algorithms or AI algorithms if it is going to be used.

Author Response

I think the paper lacks novelty and evaluation results. First, the paper's novelty should include optimization on any irrigation method used in the system that plays a role as a smart function, i.e., using AI or an optimization method for irrigation. I could only see the implementation of a conventional method that has been proposed in many papers. This is what can be called 'responsive.' I feel that the implementation is a work in progress work.

 

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your useful comment.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors have moderated the paper as under:

 

The novelty of this work lies in the implementation of the idea through the use of components and devices available in the market as shown in Figure 5. However, it is the development of the user interface in Figure 4 where the authors have satisfied their search for real-time data acquisition.

 

 

The evaluation result is shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. However, I did not find any new knowledge or interesting facts from the shown result. Moreover, the result did not show what kind of problem it solved and proved to be solved. I can only know the experiment scenario was done in a dry land with changing soil moisture. More experiment is needed to show the effectiveness.

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your useful contributing comment.

 

Authors Reply:

The paper is produced with a critical review of contemporary literature and the use of an algorithm to support the title “Design and Implementation: An IoT Framework based Automated Waste Water Irrigation Systems”. This work contributes well to the body of engineering knowledge through simple electronics and developing simple program code for relevant application for use on mobile-phone-based control.

 

- Figures such as the graph was not prepared to the level of journal standard, such as the label on the x and y axis and coloring of the graph are not standard. 

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your comment.

 

Authors Reply:

All the figures are x , y labels accordingly with graph standard

 

-The  diagram in Fig. 2 shows a straight sequence of data flow. I do not understand the dataflow. Please consider using DFD (Data Flow Diagram) instead.

 

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your comment.

 

Authors Reply:

However, the authors would like to respond by saying that Fig. 2 shows the whole project consisting of data collection and processing, the GUI, the programming code, sensors and hence they would to respectfully retain the caption of “Block diagram of the IoT based irrigation system”.

 

-Fig. 3 shows a very simple flow chart. The flow chart should represent algorithms such as optimization algorithms or AI algorithms if it is going to be used.

Response:          

Thank you so much for your comment.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors are in the process of using Long Short-Term Memory Networks DL-based model suited for use of problems producing hyperspectral data which is sequential in nature, certainly for another work related to cloud-based non-intrusive irrigation system or soil data or underground water quality data collection. At this moment, it is going to be much beyond the scope of our work titled “Design and Implementation: An IoT Framework based Automated Waste Water Irrigation Systems” to respond to this query.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

In this work, the authors proposed IoT Framework based Automated Waste Water Irrigation System. The required sensors have been used in the system to capture the required data. A GUI is also designed to help the user to use the proposed system. There are some issues which need to be incorporated in the paper.

1. Use the component to determine type of the crop in Figure 3.

2. Refer the paper - Estimation of soil properties from the EU spectral library using long short-term memory networks, Geoderma Regional, 2019 and use the concept of the paper in this work or future work.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this work, the authors proposed IoT Framework based Automated Waste Water Irrigation System. The required sensors have been used in the system to capture the required data. A GUI is also designed to help the user to use the proposed system. There are some issues which need to be incorporated in the paper.

1. Use the component to determine type of the crop in Figure 3.

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your futuristic comment.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors would like appreciate your comment by saying that Fig. 3 is being extended to recognize the types of soil and the type of underneath surface. However, it would be very challenging to determine the type of crop using camera as a sensor.

 

2. Refer the paper - Estimation of soil properties from the EU spectral library using long short-term memory networks, Geoderma Regional, 2019 and use the concept of the paper in this work or future work.

 

Response:          

Thank you so much for your comment regarding our futuristic work.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors have benefitted from the underlying reference as:

The authors are on work to quantifiable characterize the soil through the use of spectral characteristics for each pixel in an image of a scene cloud-based non-intrusive irrigation system or soil data or underground water quality collection.  

• Singh, Simranjit, and Singara Singh Kasana. "Estimation of soil properties from the EU spectral library using long short-term memory networks." Geoderma Regional18 (2019): e00233.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

The authors explained the significance of the paper in the cover letter. I understand the authors' stand regarding this work related to smart irrigation. 

Please include the following work that is related to the proposed work.

As the authors explain, smart irrigation and smart farming require many devices to interoperate together and run efficiently. Therefore, device interoperability is important. The following related works can be related to the discussion in related work (p. 22). Please include and elaborate on their work.

1. Bin Ahmadon, M.A.; Yamaguchi, S.; Mahamad, A.K.; Saon, S. Physical Device Compatibility Support for Implementation of IoT Services with Design Once, Provide Anywhere Concept. Information 2021, 12, 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12010030

2. Costa, N.; Rodrigues, N.; Seco, M.A.; Pereira, A. SL: A Reference Smartness Level Scale for Smart Artifacts. Information 2022, 13, 371. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13080371

 

Author Response

Response:          

Thank you so much for your comment regarding our futuristic work.

 

Authors Reply:

The authors have benefitted from the underlying reference as:

These are some examples (among many others) of how the word "smart" is used in works and prototypes that show different capabilities and features. In an effort to solve the problem of one-size-fits-all qualification, the research community has proposed different taxonomies that classify smart artifacts based on their features [23]. Bin Ahmadon et. al. consists of two major phases in their paper. Phase one is design, and phase two is implementation. Here are the scenarios for two major phases in which a service must be implemented in a different [24].   

• Costa, N.; Rodrigues, N.; Seco, M.A.; Pereira, A. SL: A Reference Smartness Level Scale for Smart Artifacts. Information 2022, 13, 371. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13080371
• Bin Ahmadon, M.A.; Yamaguchi, S.; Mahamad, A.K.; Saon, S. Physical Device Compatibility Support for Implementation of IoT Services with Design Once, Provide Anywhere Concept. Information 2021, 12, 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12010030

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has improved considerably and is now more akin to an actual scientific article. However, while the equipment developed by the authors is interesting, there is actually little novelty and scientific research involved in the study. As mentioned in my previous review, the manuscript is still more appropriate to be published either as a technical report, or as a technical article in a journal dedicated to this type of work.

Author Response

Thank you so much for your motivating comments on how to improve the article. I really appreciate it. In response to your previous comments, the authors have improved the article and made it more appropriate for publication based on your previous comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

A very interesting work. There are some suggestions that the authors may like to address.

1. The text is green somewhere and black somewhere. Please correct this.

2. Equation number is missing at line 356.

3. The authors should compare the results obtained with the previously published research. 

4. The discussion section is not that much convincing. The authors have just highlighted there contribution without reference to any previous research. 

5. What does figure 6 represent? No labels

 

Author Response

A very interesting work.

Author response:

Thank you very much

There are some suggestions that the authors may like to address.

1. The text is green somewhere and black somewhere. Please correct this.

Author response:

Corrections have been made to the text of the article

2. Equation number is missing at line 356.

Author response:

There is also a correction to the equation number at line 356 as well

3. The authors should compare the results obtained with the previously published research. 

Author response:

In the literature review, the results of the research are compared with those of the literature review. In addition, the results of the manuscript are also compared in the results as follows:

“Adapting IoT systems to Rwanda's context is described in previous work. One example is sensors for measuring water level in real time in disaster-prone areas. The value of the sensor is compared to a threshold, and if the water level reaches the threshold, the signal is sent to social networks in real time [23]”.

4. The discussion section is not that much convincing. The authors have just highlighted there contribution without reference to any previous research. 

 

 

Author response:

As a result of the published research, the authors have justified the results with the following:

 “The value of the sensor is compared to a threshold, and if the water level reaches the threshold, the signal is sent to social networks in real time [23]”.

5. What does figure 6 represent? No labels

Author response:

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

As commented in my previous reviews, the manuscript is technical in nature and does not bring enough scientific novelty for it to merit publication in a scientific journal.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thanks for the revisions. I don't think the authors understood the spirit behind my comments. I am not very convinced by the way the research is presented. In its current form, I don't think it can be accepted as a paper. It can be accepted as a technical report though. I think authors should understand what really reviewers want. Citing a single paper in the revision is not the solution.