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Computer puts water where it's needed
Remotely controlled system efficiently
controls irrigation
Samantha Graf
Capital Press
February 19, 2009
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| A center pivot sprinkler system stands in a Columbia Basin wheat field. The new Remote Irrigation Monitoring and Control System is designed to increase irrigation efficiency. |
As water delivery systems have evolved from flood and rill irrigation to remotely monitored systems, researchers with the Center for Precision Agricultural Systems at the WSU facility in Prosser, Wash., saw a need for a system that could be monitored and controlled remotely. The primary goals were to develop a system that could communicate wirelessly with a user and use the global positioning system to monitor water and crop conditions and the location of equipment, all the while gathering useful data.
The product of their work is the Remote Irrigation Monitoring and Control System. The system's sensors sit atop a center pivot or linear irrigation system, where they monitor elements crucial to water delivery and preservation. The sensors supply information to a simple onboard computer that controls the force and direction of the spray from the nozzles. The computer uses GPS to plot its position and the position of soil sensors and a wireless equipment to communicate with the user, soil sensors and servers that contain useful information. It also updates a database on outside servers with real-time information about crop conditions.
The RIMCS network uniformly delivers 96.5 percent of water in low-wind conditions and 88 percent when winds kick up. The study showed that while one irrigation application was not enough to penetrate to the desired depth, a second application was more than enough water to reach the depth for plant usage.
The Prosser research team worked with the research team at North Dakota State University to evaluate the effectiveness of remotely controlling the irrigation system and found comparable results.
Staff writer Samantha Graf is based in Grandview, Wash.
E-mail: sgraf@capitalpress.com.
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