CSCE 996 Independent Research Controlling Center Pivot Irrigation Systems

Excessive, wasted water has prompted the creation of the Top 10 Water Challenges of Nebraska [1]. 70% of the world’s water usage is related to agriculture [7], more efficient irrigation solutions promise a large benefit for farmers, consumers and the environment. Through a USGS grant, the Cyber-Physical Networking Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has pledged to complete an autonomous irrigation system to improve the efficiency of center pivot irrigation. As part of this project, an interface between the center pivot controller and the sensors was created. An above ground receiver was integrated with a center pivot controller and controlled by data from the field. Hence a wireless sensor network (WSN) can be used to aid precision agriculture. The remainder of this report will cover the equipment and process needed to create a communication link between sensor motes in the soil and a center pivot irrigation system. First, the background of precession irrigation will be discussed. Next, the implementation details will be presented with the demonstration setup following. An experiment was done before the final demonstration to assess the quality of communication while burial depth and antenna choice were varied. The results of the final demonstration are presented followed by a conclusion of the work presented. An appendix includes pictures from the final demonstration.