Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become increasingly popular in the recent decade. The Internet of Things helps people live and work smarter, as well as gain complete control over their lives. The concept of the IoT went widely into practice in different fields – Infrastructure, Production, Healthcare, Banks, Smart cities, Insurance, Media, Retail, Connected homes / Smart buildings, Agriculture, and many more. Modern agriculture can show its potential and importance by using these innovative technologies. The measuring devices, ensuring the transformation of data for the external environment into machine-readable data, at the same time filling the computing environment with significant information are very important. A wide range of measuring devices is used, from elementary sensors (e.g. temperature, pressure, illumination), consumption meters (e.g. smart meters) to complex integrated measuring systems. Satellites, drones, wireless sensor networks, analytical farming devices systems, farm management systems, big data applied to the farm are very useful and applicable in smart farming. The Internet of Things is a huge opportunity for farmers to monitor their crops and increase productivity, to monitor their livestock, to manage all the processes in their work and to take decisions at the right time. The article analyzes issues related to the modern IoT methods and their usage in general and in the area of agriculture. The main goal is to analyze the current state of IoT and its potential in areas of rural development and agriculture in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Keywords: Internet of Things, WSN, M2M, Sensor, Agriculture, Smart Farm, Precision Agriculture