{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T13:09:00Z","timestamp":1784293740856,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":10,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,1]],"date-time":"2013-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1367366400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012095","name":"Scottish Government","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012095","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"South African National Research Foundation"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> This paper demonstrates how an irrigation management system (IMS) can practically be implemented by deploying a wireless sensor network (WSN). Specifically, the paper describes an IMS which was set up in Manja township, city of Blantyre. Deployment of IMS in rural areas of developing countries like Malawi is a challenge as grid power is scarce. For the system to be self-sustained in terms of power, the study used solar photovoltaic and rechargeable batteries to power all electrical devices. The system incorporated a remote monitoring mechanism through a General Packet Radio Service modem to report soil temperature, soil moisture, WSN link performance, and photovoltaic power levels. Irrigation valves were activated to water the field. Preliminary results in this study have revealed a number of engineering weaknesses of deploying such a system. Nevertheless, the paper has highlighted areas of improvement to develop a robust, fully automated, solar-powered, and low-cost IMS to suit the socioeconomic conditions of small scale farmers in developing countries. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/2013\/150703","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,16]],"date-time":"2013-05-16T21:03:27Z","timestamp":1368738207000},"page":"150703","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":51,"title":["Successful Deployment of a Wireless Sensor Network for Precision Agriculture in Malawi"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9921-0643","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Million","family":"Mafuta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department, University of Strathclyde, Royal College Building, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK"},{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, Chichiri, Blantyre, Malawi"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0578-0830","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Zennaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"T\/ICT4D Laboratory, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera, 11-34151 Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antoine","family":"Bagula","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISAT Laboratory, University of Cape Town, 18 University Avenue, Rhodes Gift, Cape Town 7707, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Graham","family":"Ault","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department, University of Strathclyde, Royal College Building, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8258-1096","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harry","family":"Gombachika","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, Chichiri, Blantyre, Malawi"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4647-0329","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Timothy","family":"Chadza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, Chichiri, Blantyre, Malawi"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1-2013-150703","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/SAS.2010.5439386"},{"issue":"1","key":"B3-2013-150703","first-page":"1","volume":"3","author":"Keshtgary M.","year":"2012","journal-title":"Canadian Journal on Multimedia and Wireless Networks"},{"key":"B4-2013-150703","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/NSWCTC.2009.231"},{"key":"B5-2013-150703","unstructured":"Prince-Pike A.Power characterisation of a ZigBee wireless network in a real time monitoring application [M.S. thesis]2009Auckland University of Technology"},{"key":"B6-2013-150703","volume-title":"WATERMARK Soil Moisture Sensor MODEL 200SS","author":"IRROMETER Company","year":"2010"},{"key":"B8-2013-150703","first-page":"139","volume-title":"International Irrigation Show","author":"Shock C. 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