Using sensor networks and cloud technologyto capture and visualize soil moisture data.

This thesis describes building a small scale wireless sensor network implemented using commodity hardware and open source software. The sensor network captures soil moisture and temperature data, and distributes the data to a web application programming interface running in a cloud environment. The goal of the implementation is to answer whether this system is a feasible way to reduce excess irrigation in agriculture through improved information and visualization. The system collects, stores and visualizes data and can support high throughput of data. The thesis describes both the system design and the implementation in detail. As well as describing how the modern technology paradigm cloud-computing can aid in the development and deployment of the system described in this thesis. The evaluation describes how the implemented system is a feasible way to address excess irrigation, and describes water management in agriculture as an information and management problem above all else. Through implementing a proof of concept system for monitoring soil moisture, the thesis will demonstrate how technology can be used as an integral part of monitoring and reducing excess irrigation