Automated Irrigation System

Title Automated Irrigation SystemTitle (native language)

Category Reacting or variable rate technology

Short summary forpractitioners (Practiceabstract) in English)

An automated irrigation system was developed to optimize water use for agricultural crops. Thesystem has a distributed wireless network of soil-moisture and temperature sensors placed in theroot zone of the plants. In addition, a gateway unit handles sensor information, triggers actuators, andtransmits data to a web application. An algorithm was developed with threshold values of temperatureand soil moisture that was programmed into a microcontroller-based gateway to control waterquantity. The system was powered by photovoltaic panels and had a duplex communication linkbased on a cellular-Internet interface that allowed for data inspection and irrigation scheduling to beprogrammed through a web page. The automated system was tested in a sage crop field for 136 daysand water savings of up to 90% compared with traditional irrigation practices of the agricultural zonewere achieved. Three replicas of the automated system have been used successfully in other placesfor 18 months. Because of its energy autonomy and low cost, the system has the potential to be usefulin water limited geographically isolated areas.

Short summary forpractitionersWebsiteAudiovisual materialLinks to other websitesAdditional comments

Keywords Water managementAdditional keywords Automation; Cellular networks; Internet; Irrigation; Water resourcesGeographical location(NUTS) EU

Other geographicallocationCropping systemsField operations IrrigationSFT users Farmer | ContractorEducation level of users AllFarm size (ha) 0-2 | 2-10 | 10-50

Scientific articleTitle Automated irrigation system using a wireless sensor network and GPRS module

Full citation Gutierrez, J.; Villa-Medina, J.F.; Nieto-Garibay, A.; Porta-Gandara, M.A. (2014). IEEE Transactions onInstrumentation and Measurement, DOI:10.1109/TIM.2013.2276487

Effects of this SFTProductivity (crop yield per ha) No effectQuality of product No effectRevenue profit farm income Some increaseSoil biodiversity No effectBiodiversity (other than soil) No effectInput costs No effectVariable costs No effectPost-harvest crop wastage No effectEnergy use Large decreaseCH4 (methane) emission No effectCO2 (carbon dioxide) emission No effectN2O (nitrous oxide) emission No effectNH3 (ammonia) emission No effectNO3 (nitrate) leaching No effectFertilizer use No effectPesticide use No effectIrrigation water use Some decreaseLabor time Some decreaseStress or fatigue for farmer No effectAmount of heavy physical labour No effectNumber and/or severity of personal injury accidents No effectNumber and/or severity of accidents resulting in spills property damage incorrectapplication of fertiliser/pesticides etc. No effect

Pesticide residue on product No effectWeed pressure No effectPest pressure (insects etc.) No effectDisease pressure (bacterial fungal viral etc.) No effect

Information related to how easy it is to start using the SFTThis SFT replaces a tool or technology that is currently used. The SFT is better than thecurrent tool agree

The SFT can be used without making major changes to the existing system no opinionThe SFT does not require significant learning before the farmer can use it agreeThe SFT can be used in other useful ways than intended by the inventor no opinionThe SFT has effects that can be directly observed by the farmer agreeUsing the SFT requires a large time investment by farmer no opinionThe SFT produces information that can be interpreted directly no opinion

View this technology on the Smart-AKIS platform.

This factsheet was generated on 2018-Apr-03 11:57:17.