development of an evaluation model for automatic control systems in irrigation networks

for the performance improvement and higher flexibility in irrigation networks, applications of automatic systems are expanding and on evaluation of their success for achieving the objectives are essential and necessary. considering various equipment, algorithms, and their applications at different levels of irrigation networks, the performance of automatic systems is a function of the performance of all the elements, therefore development of performance evaluation model which takes into account all the required aspects is indispensable. in this study, for a performance evaluation of automatic systems in irrigation networks, inacsem model is developed, using classical method in terms of technical and general aspects. technical aspects include equipment, software and control structures, and while general aspects consist of management, social, economic and environmental factors. results of the model for automatic monitoring systems (arian, 2000) in aghili canal of gotvand irrigation network shows that performance of the system is 63% with 80% of credibility. the results revealed that the developed model is a suitable tool for performance evaluation of the automatic systems used in irrigation networks. it proves to consider all the necessary aspects of performance evaluation as regards the automatic systems, revealing the problems arising in each element of the system.