PFI-TT: Prototyping an Adaptive Irrigation System for Saline Water

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this PFI project lies in improved understanding of development of smart systems and in potentially significant resource savings. Irrigation with saline water is a complex problem requiring consideration of many factors such as irrigation water quality, soil conditions, plant tolerance thresholds, and weather forecasts. This project will develop a prototype wireless sensor network and a control system that consider sensor inputs, user-defined thresholds and weather forecasts to determine when and where to irrigate. From an economic perspective, implementation of even a single soil moisture sensor in home lawns can significantly reduce water consumption and produce a return on investment within a few months. Cities stand to save millions of dollars by implementing efficient irrigation technology to reduce water use. The proposed adaptive system for irrigation with reclaimed water thus represents a tremendous potential market for more efficient water use.The proposed project offers a transformative approach for landscape irrigation based on closed-loop control. Landscape irrigation accounts for a majority of urban summer domestic water use; irrigating with reclaimed water has the potential to substantially extend water resources but may pose hazards to environmental and plant health. Existing ?smart? irrigation control systems have proved water-efficient but have limitations and have not been widely adopted. The proposed system is unique in its combination of wireless water and soil quality sensors into an advanced network capable of controlling several critical agronomic variables, while welcoming but limiting the need for human inputs. A team of domain experts in academia and industry will work together to understand the practical challenges and to design such an adaptive irrigation system to address widespread water resource issues. Key contributions of the proposed research are (1) realizing a truly self-organizing ad-hoc wireless irrigation sensor and actuator network that integrates traditional monitoring and stakeholder input for adaptive irrigation control; and (2) testing the efficient and protective delivery of saline irrigation water using the network. Such fundamental and applied knowledge will provide the basis to ultimately realize significant water savings while protecting human and plant health.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.