Research and development of smart irrigation in China

• Published in: Irrigation and drainage 2020-11, Vol.69 (S2), p.108-118
• Main Authors: Yu, Yingduo, Li, Zhao, Gao, Zhanyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural engineering; Agricultural land; Agricultural management; Agriculture; Application IOT; Cloud computing; Collections; Communication; Computation; Controllers; Crops; Cultures; Data collection; Decisions; Destructive testing; Drought; Feedback; Infrared detectors; Internet; IOT application; Irrigation; Irrigation efficiency; irrigation intelligente; irrigation précise; Irrigation systems; irrigation à économie d'eau; Meteorological solenoids; Plant cover; precise irrigation; R&D; Remote control; Research & development; Sensors; smart irrigation; Soil; Soil moisture; Temperature sensors; water‐saving irrigation; Wire
• ISSN: 1531-0353; 1531-0361
• DOI: 10.1002/ird.2491

Smart irrigation systems are the focus of modern agriculture and have many engineering applications in China, in a still growing trend. According to the communication mode between the irrigation controller and the on‐farm execute devices, such as solenoids and sensors, irrigation controllers currently used in agriculture fields can be classified into three categories: (a) multi‐wire controller, (b) wireless controller, and (c) two‐wire decoder controller. The characteristics and application scopes of these three irrigation controllers are summarized and analysed; the result shows that the wireless controller and two‐wire decoder controller are more suitable for the large‐scale intensive irrigated agriculture in China. In addition, control of irrigation systems is gradually progressing from the conventional open‐loop mode to the closed‐loop mode, which can achieve precise irrigation decisions based on sensor feedback and crop water requirement model. Furthermore, non‐destructive testing technologies, such as crop canopy infrared temperature sensors and meteorological sensors, which can safely reflect crop drought or soil moisture over a large area are preferred as feedback sensors of irrigation controllers. More importantly, with the development of the internet, local operation of irrigation controllers is gradually being replaced by remote control, and then by comprehensive control and management, based on cloud computation. The application of internet technology can efficiently manage multiple irrigation controllers located in different places, make big data collections, share irrigation experiences, and make reasonable irrigation decisions much easier. This paper introduces the development of smart irrigation in China. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Résumé Les systèmes d'irrigation intelligents sont au cœur de l'agriculture moderne, qui a de nombreuses applications d'ingénierie en Chine, dans une tendance toujours croissante. Selon le mode de communication entre le contrôleur d'irrigation et les dispositifs d'exécution à la ferme, tels que les solénoïdes et les capteurs, le contrôleur d'irrigation actuellement utilisé dans les domaines agricoles peut être classé en trois catégories: i) contrôleur multifilaire; ii) contrôleur sans fil; iii) contrôleur de décodeur à deux fils. Les caractéristiques et le champ d'application de ces trois contrôleurs d'irrigation sont résumés et analysés, le résultat montre que le contrôleur sans fil et le contrôleur de décod