SBIR Phase I: Wise-Irr: Smart Irrigation via Wireless Underground Sensors

这个小型企业创新研究计划(SBIR)第一阶段项目调查了用于实时农业田间监测的新型无线地下通信技术的可行性，以确定适当的灌溉时间和灌水量，以实现最大的效果。现有的解决方案由于成本高和运营中断而不能被广泛采用。这个SBIR第一阶段项目利用作为NSF职业奖项一部分开发的新颖地下通信技术，将智能灌溉管理解决方案商业化，并验证商业假设。在经验和理论井下通信模型的基础上，对井下通信系统进行了创新。由此产生的地下通信设计被用来提供从地下传感器到中心枢轴灌溉系统的长达85米的通信范围。因此，SBIR第一阶段项目集中在两个主要研究主题上：(1)差错控制：设计了一种自适应差错控制方案，以在变化的环境条件下提供可靠的通信；(2)采样调度：开发了有效的土壤水分采样调度算法，以提高地下传感器网络的寿命，并将运营成本降至最低。在这些创新的基础上，设计的系统将把实时土壤信息输入灌溉管理系统，以改进作物滴灌。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力对于通过无线地下传感器提供的实时土壤信息促进更有效的灌溉管理技术具有重要意义。目前，世界上40%的粮食是由灌溉农业生产的，所有可用水的70%用于农业灌溉。粮食需求的增加和淡水资源的日益稀缺增加了市场对更有效的水管理工具的需求，以提高每滴作物产量。在美国5680万英亩的灌溉农田中，大约53.7%(3050万英亩)的灌溉是由中央枢纽系统灌溉的，内布拉斯加州有850万英亩的灌溉土地。适当的灌溉管理将有助于防止过度或不足灌溉造成的经济损失，防止营养物质、杀虫剂和其他化学品进入地下水和其他水体，以及浪费水资源和能源消耗。与现有系统相比，新型无线井下通信技术大大降低了运营成本。因此，农民可以在更知情的情况下做出灌溉应用(时机)决定，而不需要阻碍田间作业的工具，从而显著降低成本和提高用水效率。开发的无线地下通信解决方案将对在受限环境中运行的系统的商业开发产生重大影响。

This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I project investigates the feasibility of novel wireless underground communication technologies for real-time agriculture field monitoring to establish the proper timing and amount of irrigation for greatest effectiveness. Existing solutions cannot be widely adopted due to their high costs and disruptive operations. This SBIR Phase I project leverages novel underground communication techniques developed as part of an NSF CAREER award to commercialize smart irrigation management solutions and validate business hypotheses. An underground communication system was innovated based on empirical and theoretical underground communication models. The resulting underground communication design is employed to provide communication ranges of up to 85m from an underground sensor to a center pivot irrigation system. Accordingly, this SBIR Phase I project focuses on two main research topics: (1) Error Control: An adaptive error control scheme is devised to provide reliable communication under varying environmental conditions and (2) Sampling Scheduling: Effective soil moisture sampling scheduling algorithms are developed to improve the lifetime of an underground sensor network and minimize operational costs. Based on these innovations, the devised systems will feed real-time soil information into irrigation management systems for improved crop for drop.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is significant in facilitating more efficient irrigation management technologies through real-time soil information provided by wireless underground sensors. Currently, 40% of the world's food is produced by irrigated agriculture, and 70% of all available water is used for agriculture irrigation. The increasing demand for food and the emerging scarcity in freshwater resources increase market demand for more efficient water management tools to improve crop per drop. Out of the 56.8M-acre of irrigated farm lands in the US, about 53.7% (30.5M acres) are irrigated by center pivot systems with 8.5M acre irrigated land in Nebraska. Proper irrigation management will help prevent economic losses caused by over- or under-irrigation; movement of nutrients, pesticides and other chemicals into the groundwater and other water bodies; and wasting water resources and energy consumption. The novel wireless underground communication techniques reduce the operation costs significantly compared to existing systems. Accordingly, farmers can make better-informed irrigation application (timing) decisions without the need for tools that obstruct field operations, thereby significantly reducing costs and improving water efficiency. The developed wireless underground communication solutions will have significant impacts on the commercial development of systems that operate in confined environments.