IT Technologies-Low-cost Computer-Controlled Automated Irrigation
System
Introduction
An automated irrigation computer control system has
been developed by an Indian institute for management
of irrigation. The development consisted of three distinctive
steps: (1) Design of soil moisture sensor; (2) Design
of suitable hardware to interface soil moisture sensors
with personal computer and to control water application;
(3) Development of device driver programme and a user-friendly
software interface that allows easy control of the system.
The system consists of eight soil
moisture sensors, a hardware input/output (interfacing
circuit), a computer with a software interface and solenoid
valves as actuators. The software offers options of
time-based and soil moisture-based irrigation scheduling.
Under the time-based irrigation scheduling there are
options of operating the irrigation either at regular
time intervals or at particular dates and times. Soil
moisturebased irrigation scheduling consists of setting
the upper and lower limits of the soil moisture content
by the user. The programme reads the soil mosture status
at pre-decided time intervals, also set by the user.
Irrigation starts when the read soil moisture content
is lower than the set lower limit of soil moisture content,
and stops when the soil moisture content reaches the
set upper limit of soil moisture content.
Areas of application
For automating irrigation at small
and medium size farms;
For drip and sprinkler irrigation;
and
In greenhouses.
Advantages
Applies precise quantity of water
and nutrients, which results in higher crop yield;
Low cost;
Starts watering just at the right
time;
Stops watering when soil moisture
attains field capacity or at any other desired level;
Takes into account effective rainfall
for scheduling irrigation;
Saves water;
Saves labour costs involved with
manual operations;
Precludes need to visit farm at
odd times;
Avoids leaching of minerals and
nitrogen vital for plants healthy growth;
Eliminates long-term ill effects
of over-irrigation that cause salinity;
Circuit can be interfaced to any
resistance-type soil moisture sensor;
Offers option of soil moisture-based
irrigation scheduling or time-based irrigation scheduling;
and
Irrigation scheduling at large
farms can be done conveniently. The circuit has been
designed for scheduling irrigation at 8 plots but
it can be further increased up to 64 plots.
Inputs required
Setting the upper and lower limits of soil moisture
level for stopping and starting irrigation.
Raw materials:
Personal computer 486 or pentium, solenoid valves, cable
for connecting soil moisture sensors and solenoid valves
to the computer, designed interfacing circuit, device
driver programme and software for taking irrigation
decisions.
Development
status Prototype
Economic data
Approximate cost INR 50,000 (US$ 1,100)
Transfer forms
Technology transfer
For further
information please contact :
Director
National Metallurgical Laboratory
Jamshedpur - 831007, India
Tel :
91-657-2271715, 2270092
Fax: 91-657-2270527, 2271159 E-Mail: director@nmlindia.org
