Precision Irrigation
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Great progress has been made in irrigation technologies and in the implementation of irrigation management practices such as scientific irrigation scheduling. However, irrigation scientists report that irrigation inefficiency remains the rule rather than the exception.
Gains in water use efficiency can be achieved when water application is precisely matched to the spatially distributed crop water demand, a central principle underlying precision irrigation. This distributed crop water demand is present in agricultural fields mainly because of variability in soil properties and topography but may also result from variable rainfall or crop variation associated with multiple crops planted in the same field or plants growing at different phenological stages induced by natural or manmade causes.
There are many examples of precision irrigation over the last two decades. From these studies, three major needs are recognized: a) that some sort of wireless communication among the controllers is required in order to optimize the hydraulic operation of the irrigation system b) that in-field variable soil water holding capacities demand remote spatial soil moisture monitoring in specific areas within the field, thus requiring an integrated irrigation control and monitoring system; and c) critical research needs to include improved decision support systems and monitoring and feedback to irrigation control in real time.
We developed a Remote, Irrigation Monitoring and Control System (RIMCS) for continuous move irrigation systems that integrates localized wireless sensor networks for monitoring soil moisture and weather and provide control for individual or groups of nozzles with wireless access to the Internet to enable remote monitoring and control. The RIMCS uses a Single Board Computer (SBC) using the Linux operating system to control solenoids connected to individual or groups of nozzles based on prescribed application maps. The main control box houses the SBC connected to a sensor network radio, a GPS unit, and an Ethernet radio creating a wireless connection to a remote server. A C-software control program resides on the SBC to control the on/off time for each nozzle group using a “time on” application map developed remotely. The SBC also interfaces with the sensor network radio to record measurements from sensors on the irrigation system and in the field that monitor performance and soil and crop conditions. The SBC automatically populates a remote database on the server in real time and provides software applications to monitor and control the irrigation system from the Internet.
For details of the RIMCS system, see Chavez et al. (2006) and Pierce et al. (2006).
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