Kabakchieva et al. (2026) Digital Twin-Based Energy Management and Irrigation Optimization of PV-Powered Smart Agriculture Systems Using IoT Soil Monitoring

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Electronics
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-11
• Authors: Reni Kabakchieva, Plamen Antonov Stanchev, Nikolay Lyuboslavov Hinov
• DOI: 10.3390/electronics15163573

Research Groups

• Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis
• Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (IRES), Cranfield University

Short Summary

This study proposes a digital twin-based framework for energy management and irrigation optimization in photovoltaic-powered smart agriculture systems using IoT soil monitoring. The framework demonstrates high accuracy in synchronizing virtual models with physical system measurements.

Objective

• Investigate the feasibility of integrating digital twins with IoT sensors to optimize water and energy use in PV-powered smart agriculture systems.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field-scale, evaluated in a real apple orchard.
• Temporal Scale: Long-term, with data collected over several months.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Fuzzy logic control layer and digital twin environment.
• Data sources: IoT soil monitoring network, ESP32-based platform, and long-range (LoRa)-based network for transmitting measurements.

Main Results

• High soil twin synchronization accuracy with an overall RMSE of 1.47 percentage points and R2 of 0.981 based on experimental field measurements.
• Energy twin and irrigation twin demonstrated potential for integrated water–energy management in smart agriculture, evaluated using experimentally acquired sensor data together with model-based performance assessment.

Contributions

• Original contribution to the literature is the development of a digital twin framework that integrates IoT soil monitoring, fuzzy logic control, and energy-aware irrigation scheduling to optimize water and energy use in PV-powered smart agriculture systems.

Funding

• This research was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/R01366X/1.

Citation

@article{Kabakchieva2026Digital,
  author = {Kabakchieva, Reni and Stanchev, Plamen Antonov and Hinov, Nikolay Lyuboslavov},
  title = {Digital Twin-Based Energy Management and Irrigation Optimization of PV-Powered Smart Agriculture Systems Using IoT Soil Monitoring},
  journal = {Electronics},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/electronics15163573},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15163573}
}