2014•University of Southern Queensland ePrints (University of Southern Queensland)Requires access
Autonomous site-specific irrigation control: the current state and a vision of a future system [Keynote]
Alison McCarthy, Rod Smith, Malcolm Gillies
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Abstract
Irrigation decision-making systems can automatically determine irrigation timing and/volume requirements. NCEA has developed control strategies and sensors to automate irrigation management, reduce labour, and improve water productivity and profit. NCEA's control frameworks 'VARIwise' and 'AutoFurrow' incorporate one or a combination of the following: infield sensing of irrigation application, soil-water status and plant growth and fruit load; hydraulic models for irrigation application; crop production models for predicting crop performance under different irrigation scenarios; optimisation procedure for processing data and determining appropriate irrigation control signals; and actuation hardware for application control. \nAn integrated, real-time, site-specific irrigation control system has been evaluated on a surface irrigation and centre pivot irrigation system on a cotton crop in Jondaryan, QLD in 2011/12 and 2012/13. The control system determined site-specific irrigation application with data from a weather station, soil-water sensors and camera-based crop monitoring sensing systems for vegetation and cotton fruit load. Field trials demonstrated yield improvements of 10-11% and water savings of 5-12 %. \nCurrent field trials are identifying the data input and measurement and actuation spatial resolution requirements for the control strategies; developing and evaluating control strategies which optimise both irrigation and fertigation application to maximise yield; and investigating control strategies based on artificial intelligence. This presentation will provide an overview of the NCEA's current irrigation control research and the envisaged irrigation automation system of the future.