Remote Sensing and Control of an Irrigation System Using a Distributed Wireless Sensor Network

TLDR

Efficient water management is a major concern in many cropping systems in semiarid and arid areas, and distributed in‑field sensor‑based irrigation systems offer a potential solution for site‑specific irrigation that can maximize productivity while saving water. The study details the design and instrumentation of a variable‑rate irrigation system, a wireless sensor network, and real‑time software for site‑specific precision linear‑move irrigation control. The system used six in‑field sensor stations mapped to soil properties, wirelessly transmitting data to a base station, while an irrigation machine was electronically controlled by a PLC that updated sprinkler locations from differential GPS and communicated with the base station, all coordinated by software that enabled stable remote access and real‑time control. Bluetooth wireless communication successfully linked the sensor network and irrigation controller to the base station, and the GUI software provided stable remote access and real‑time control of the variable‑rate irrigation system.

Abstract

Efficient water management is a major concern in many cropping systems in semiarid and arid areas. Distributed in-field sensor-based irrigation systemsoffer a potential solution to support site-specific irrigation management that allows producers to maximize their productivity while saving water. This paper describes details of the design and instrumentation of variable rate irrigation, a wireless sensor network, and software for real-time in-field sensing and control of a site-specific precision linear-move irrigation system. Field conditions were site-specifically monitored by six in-field sensor stations distributed across the field based on a soil property map, and periodically sampled and wirelessly transmitted to a base station. An irrigation machine was converted to be electronically controlled by a programming logic controller that updates georeferenced location of sprinklers from a differential Global Positioning System (GPS) and wirelessly communicates with a computer at the base station. Communication signals from the sensor network and irrigation controller to the base station were successfully interfaced using low-cost Bluetooth wireless radio communication. Graphic user interface-based software developed in this paper offered stable remote access to field conditions and real-time control and monitoring of the variable-rate irrigation controller.