Irrigation advances in precision irrigation (PI) or site specific irrigation (SSI) have been considerable in research; however, commercialization lags. SSI/PI has applications when soil texture variability affects...Irrigation advances in precision irrigation (PI) or site specific irrigation (SSI) have been considerable in research; however, commercialization lags. SSI/PI has applications when soil texture variability affects soil water holding capacity or when crop yield or biotic stresses (insects or diseases) are spatially variable. SSI/PI uses variable rate application technologies, mainly with center-pivots or lateral-move or linear irrigation machines, to match crop needs or soil water holding constraints. Variable rate applications are achieved by variable nozzle flow rates, pulsing nozzle flows, or multiple nozzles on separate submains. Newer center pivot and linear machines are controlled by on-board microprocessor systems that can be integrated with supervisory control and data acquisition controllers for both communication and control of the variable rate application for specific sets of nozzles or individual nozzles for management zones. Communication for center pivot or linear controllers typically uses radio telemetry, wireless interact links, or cellular telephones. Precision irrigation has limited utility without precise irrigation scheduling (temporally and spatially). Plant or soil sensors are used to initiate or complete an irrigation event. Automated weather stations provide site information for determining the irrigation requirement using crop models or simpler reference evapotranspiration (ET), data to be used with crop coefficients. Remote sensing is being used to measure crop water status or crop development from spectral reflectance. Near-surface remote sensing with sensors mounted on moving irrigation systems provide critical spatial integration from point weather networks and feedback on crop ET and irrigation controls in advanced automated systems for SSI/PI.展开更多
文摘Irrigation advances in precision irrigation (PI) or site specific irrigation (SSI) have been considerable in research; however, commercialization lags. SSI/PI has applications when soil texture variability affects soil water holding capacity or when crop yield or biotic stresses (insects or diseases) are spatially variable. SSI/PI uses variable rate application technologies, mainly with center-pivots or lateral-move or linear irrigation machines, to match crop needs or soil water holding constraints. Variable rate applications are achieved by variable nozzle flow rates, pulsing nozzle flows, or multiple nozzles on separate submains. Newer center pivot and linear machines are controlled by on-board microprocessor systems that can be integrated with supervisory control and data acquisition controllers for both communication and control of the variable rate application for specific sets of nozzles or individual nozzles for management zones. Communication for center pivot or linear controllers typically uses radio telemetry, wireless interact links, or cellular telephones. Precision irrigation has limited utility without precise irrigation scheduling (temporally and spatially). Plant or soil sensors are used to initiate or complete an irrigation event. Automated weather stations provide site information for determining the irrigation requirement using crop models or simpler reference evapotranspiration (ET), data to be used with crop coefficients. Remote sensing is being used to measure crop water status or crop development from spectral reflectance. Near-surface remote sensing with sensors mounted on moving irrigation systems provide critical spatial integration from point weather networks and feedback on crop ET and irrigation controls in advanced automated systems for SSI/PI.