Advanced Control Strategies for Irrigation Systems

Water management and irrigation scheduling have become the main subjects of different studies in the last decades, due to their high influence on crop performance indicators. This study presents the most important parameters that have to be monitored in an irrigation management system and the most important ones are synthesized: air moisture and temperature, soil air and moisture, evapotranspiration. Based on the monitoring of these parameters, different control strategies and methods can be applied for optimization and efficiency of irrigation systems. The synthesis in this paper starts with classical control systems and, also, advanced methods such as fuzzy concept, decision support systems and model predictive control. Considering the currently necessity of integration into the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) concept, the paper finally proposes an irrigation control system for vineyards. The SCADA architecture is suitable for the Romanian context, it allows flexibility and ease of use and it reduced both energy consumption and irrigation operation costs.