Fundamentals in agriculture and food

Advancements in Automated irrigation systems 
Irrigation is the supply of water to crops to replace a lack of rainfall or to 
support crops grown in controlled environments (Sorensen et al., 2006). There 
are different types of irrigation methods, such as surface irrigation systems that 
rely on gravity to move water across the terrain and into the earth, and localized 
irrigation systems that distribute water through piped networks under pressure 
and deliver it directly to the crop and the environment. Automated irrigation 
systems have evolved significantly in recent years. These include irrigation 
timers such as electromechanical and mechanical timers, and sensors that 
measure soil properties and plant stress (Zazueta and Smajstrla,1992; Wanjura 
et al., 2004; Lailhacar et al., 2005; Evett et al., 2006; Haley and Dukes, 2007) 
(Figure 1).
Figure1:
Wireless irrigation structure conceptual layout (Edan et al., 2009) 
High-resolution information on water and soil dynamics is obtained from 
weight-based soil lysimeters and volumetric lysimeter structures (Poss et 
al.,2004; Raut and Shere,2014). The development of scheduling programs that 
use weather data to recommend and control the timing of irrigation, crop growth 

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FUNDAMENTALS IN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD | 160 
stage, and the amount of water and nutrients required in real time, has resulted 
in a significant advance in automated irrigation systems (Upcraft et al.,1989; 
Hess,1996). Commercial produce monitors and remote sensors are also used to 
accurately map crop production.
In addition, wireless sensor-based irrigate on management structures 
have been developed to provide variable rate irrigation. Real-time control 
signals are sent by a computer to irrigation controllers through wireless 
communication based on GPS sprinkler locations and field information, thus 
controlling the irrigation (Peters and Evett,2005). These advances in irrigation 
management allow efficient control of labor and water use across all techniques 
by controlling the amount, duration, and frequency of water application 
precisely at the point of application.