Irrigation control system

When you hear “irrigation control system,” the first thing that comes to mind is a set of sensors and controllers. But in reality everything is more complicated. Many people still confuse automatic watering with an intelligent system, where the latter implies not just timers, but data analysis and adaptation. In our practice, we often encountered the fact that customers asked to “do it like everyone else?”, but after the first seasons we realized: without taking into account the type of soil and microclimate, even expensive equipment runs idle.

Basic design mistakes

The most common mistake is to install identical sprinklers on slopes and plains. Last year, on one of the farms in the Rostov region, the entire scheme had to be redone after the lower areas became swampy and the upper ones dried out.Irrigation control systemthere it was configured according to a template, without taking into account the relief.

Another point: saving on filters. It might seem like a small thing, but clogged emitters can reduce efficiency by 30-40%. In such cases, we recommend multi-stage filtration, especially if the water is from open sources. By the way, Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC has interesting solutions with self-cleaning filters - they themselves used it in a project near Krasnodar.

Reservations are often forgotten. Once the main controller failed during the peak season - I had to water it manually for a week. Now we always install duplicate modules, although this increases the cost of the system by 10-15%.

Equipment: What Really Works

Modernirrigation control systems— it’s not just about valves and pipes. For example, wireless soil moisture sensors are a seemingly simple solution, but their proper installation changes everything. It is important not to just stick it into the ground, but to take into account the depth of the root system of each crop.

This is what we encountered last season: the sensors showed the norm, but the plants began to wither. It turned out that the sand layer at a depth of 40 cm created a “dead zone?” — the water went away without stopping. I had to reconsider the entire logic of watering.

Interesting equipment includes remote valve control modules. Previously, you had to run through the fields, now you can control it from your phone. But there is a nuance here: in some regions the connection is unstable, so you always need a local controller with autonomous operation.

Integration with other systems

Whenirrigation control systemworks separately from weather stations - it's money down the drain. Somehow we connected our system to a local weather station in the Stavropol Territory - and immediately saved 20% of water by turning it off before the rain. But here it is important not to overdo it: if you react to every short rain, you can leave the plants without moisture.

The most difficult thing to integrate is fertilizer data. We tried different approaches until we settled on gradual application through the same irrigation system. By the way, there are good cases on the integration of fertigation on the website https://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru - we studied them before launching our project.

One more point: protocol compatibility. Often equipment from different manufacturers refuses to “talk?” with each other. Having to write intermediate drivers means additional time and expense.

Practical cases and solutions

Last year we implementedirrigation control systemin a greenhouse complex near Voronezh. The main problem is the different water needs of tomatoes and cucumbers in the same greenhouse. I had to do zoning with individual settings for each section.

An interesting experience was with drip irrigation in the garden. Apple trees of different ages required different approaches - young trees suffered from waterlogging when watered according to a common schedule. We made separate lines for different age groups.

But there was a problem with potatoes: too economical an irrigation regime during the tuberization period led to a decrease in yield. I had to make adjustments on the fly, based on moisture data at a depth of 25-30 cm.

Development prospects

Nowadays there is a lot of talk about AI in irrigation management, but in practice simple data analysis is still more often used. Although Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC is already testing systems with machine learning, it is interesting to look at the results.

One of the innovations that really works is forecasting water demand based on vegetation indices. We are trying to combine drone data with the readings of ground sensors - it is still difficult to say how effective this is than traditional methods.

Another trend is the modularity of systems. Instead of monolithic solutions, you can now assemble configurations for specific tasks. This is especially convenient for small farms where the budget is limited.

Speaking of budgets, I often hear that irrigation automation is expensive. But if you consider not only the cost of equipment, but also the savings in water, fertilizers and labor resources, then the payback rarely exceeds 2-3 seasons.