Applied Engineering in Agriculture · 1997 · 32 citations · 0 references
Irrigation ManagementAgricultural EngineeringPrecision AgricultureEnvironmental HorticultureEngineeringWater ResourcesAgricultural Water ManagementEnvironmental EngineeringIrrigation EngineeringSoil Moisture SensorsAgricultural EconomicsCrop Water RelationIrrigationWater ManagementWater TreatmentPublic HealthControl Systems
An automated irrigation computer control system was developed for management of greenhouse containerplants. The development consisted of three distinctive steps: (1) choice of suitable hardware to control water application;(2) development of a friendly software interface that allows easy control of the system; and (3) testing of the reliability ofthe control system.<br><br>The system consisted of soil moisture sensors, a hardware input/output interface (A/D card), a computer with asoftware interface, and actuators. A evaluation of the control system was performed at an experimental greenhouse of theDepartment of Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida. The results show that the control system isreliable in applying water responding to the plant demands. Reliable measurements of the substrate water tension usingsensors presented a major difficulty.