INNOVATION
initiation of several other projects that were able to leverage other resources to support their work.
The following are highlights and outcomes from a few IIC-supported projects.
Project – Underground Wireless Networks for Soil Moisture Sensing and Irrigation Water Management
Goal – To provide affordable, real-time soil moisture data for irrigation scheduling and system control across space and time in different settings
Partners – Colorado State University, Kansas State University, The Toro Company, the United States Golf Association
Irrigation management decisions hinge on having accurate knowledge of the root zone’s soil water balance and forecasting how that will change. Deploying commercial sensors capable of providing automated, continuous soil water measurements and remotely delivering that information to the cloud, however, is expensive to do at scale. In field crop agriculture, the installation of high-density sensor networks can result in an array of above- ground obstacles — antennas, solar panels and other hardware — that can require removal and reinstallation each season or for certain field operations, increasing costs and creating logistical headaches.
To take advantage of recent developments in low- cost wireless modules, 3-D printing and advances in Internet of Things connectivity, a Colorado State University-based team set out to explore the potential of managing irrigation using a permanently buried wireless, battery-powered sensor network (see fig. 1).
FIELD
Figure 2. The new prototype soil moisture sensor (left) was compared to previous iterations of the sensor and commercial-grade sensors. Photo credit: Ian Aksland
In this proof-of-concept study, the team designed, built, tested and calibrated multiple low-cost soil moisture sensor prototypes ranging in cost from $3-$40 each, which demonstrated accuracy, precision and sensitivity comparable to $120 research-grade sensors (see fig. 2). The sensors were deployed in a variety of settings and soil types (one corn field, two residential lawns and a commercial golf course) and coupled with custom-built IoT carrier boards to upload soil moisture data to the cloud using cellular and Wi-Fi gateways.
The team is currently working on additional testing and sensor design efforts to lower sensor costs without sacrificing their accuracy, along with creative applications of these sensors. “We’ve got a lot planned.” says Jay Ham, PhD, professor of environmental physics and micrometeorology at Colorado State University, and principal investigator of this project. “For example, we’re looking at ways to monitor nutrient and sediment runoff into surface water, a water quality tie-in important for conventional corn production, for dairy systems, in organic agriculture and more.”
INTERNET CLOUD
PRODUCER/ MANAGER
Underground wireless sensor network Sensors Storage Analytics
Data management systems &
decision support
SINCE APRIL 2018, IIC HAS ALLOCATED A LITTLE OVER $1 MILLION OF FFAR FUNDING TO SUPPORT 14 RESEARCH PROJECTS.
Figure 1. Diagram showing soil moisture data flow in a network used to support accurate irrigation decisions with the help of cloud-based computing
irrigationtoday.org Summer 2020 | Irrigation TODAY 29
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