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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » Agricultural Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #200152
Title: A Remote Irrigation Monitoring and Control System (RIMCS) for Continuous Move Systems. Part A: Description and Development

Author
item Chavez Eguez, Jose
item PIERCE, GRACIS - WASHINGTON ST. UNIV.-CPAS
item ELLIOTT, TODD - WASHINGTON ST. UNIV.-CPAS
item Evans, Robert

Submitted to: Precision Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/26/2009
Publication Date: 2/24/2009
Citation: Chavez Eguez, J.L., Pierce, G.J., Elliott, T.V., Evans, R.G. 2009. A Remote Irrigation Monitoring and Control System (RIMCS) for Continuous Move Systems. Part A: Description and Development. Precision Agriculture. 11:1-10.

Interpretive Summary: Continuous move irrigation systems have been modified since the 1990s to support variable rate irrigation. Most of these systems used PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) technology that did a good job of on-site control but were expensive to add remote, real-time monitoring and control aspects made possible by wireless sensor networks and the Internet. A new approach to control and monitoring continuous move irrigation systems is described. This system 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 sensors on the irrigation system monitoring performance and in the field monitoring irrigation soil and crop conditions. The SBC automatically populates a remote data base on a server in real time and provides software applications to monitor and control the irrigation system from the Internet.

Technical Abstract: Continuous move irrigation systems have been modified since the 1990s to support variable rate irrigation. Most of these systems used PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) technology that did a good job of on-site control but were expensive to add remote, real-time monitoring and control aspects made possible by wireless sensor networks and the Internet. A new approach to control and monitoring continuous move irrigation systems is described. This system 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 sensors on the irrigation system monitoring performance and in the field monitoring irrigation soil and crop conditions. The SBC automatically populates a remote data base on a server in real time and provides software applications to monitor and control the irrigation system from the Internet.