Advancing Rational Exploitation of Water Irrigation Using 5G-IoT Capabilities: The AREThOU5A Project

Water scarcity and desertification are considered to be among the greatest challenges of humanity over the coming decades. Worldwide, agriculture accounts to 69% of total water usage, while industry accounts for 23%, and urban use to 8%. In Greece, a rural development model and poor farming practices have resulted in an overwhelming 83% of total water consumption to be directed to farming uses. Furthermore, excessive use of water in agriculture combined with existing pesticides and fertilizers usage levels creates exponential problems in the water cycle in Greece. Taking into account the above challenges, the AREThOU5A Project aims to exploit the state-of-the-art technologies and, in particular, the emerging developments in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) as a means to promote rational use of water resources in agriculture. In particular, AREThOU5A Project aims at accelerating penetration of low-power wide-access (LPWA) technologies through a series of research and innovation actions focusing on the design, development, operation and commercial exploitation of relevant hardware/software & IoT applications. Preliminary results of the AREThOU5A Project are depicted and future remarks are outlined.