When the IoT helps save water
In times of climate change, water is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity in Germany too. Although the proportion of water used for agricultural irrigation is relatively low at 2.2 per cent, modern irrigation solutions should still use this precious resource as sparingly as possible – something that this solution achieves in an exemplary manner with the help of controllers from comtac AG.
"Groundwater: Farmers aim to save water with this pilot project," headlined the Bavarian Agricultural Weekly. The project involves developing a new solution for effective precision irrigation for a water board. The area in question is one of the largest contiguous vegetable-growing areas of its kind in Germany. Of the approximately 2,000 hectares of agricultural land, around 1,500 hectares are used exclusively for vegetable cultivation. The light, sandy soils are ideal for vegetable growing, but require additional irrigation. The water board supplies 900 hectares of land with irrigation water.
The fact that this can be done in a particularly efficient and water-saving manner is thanks to an intelligent irrigation solution implemented by the water board. As part of a pilot project, a remote control unit for valve control was developed based on a comtac series product – the configurable Cluey controller and monitor – with hardware and software tailored precisely to this application. Equipped with a solar cell for power supply, this Cluey variant can cope with the harsh operating conditions in fields and farmland, fulfils all measurement and control tasks and meets the communication and data exchange requirements of the control system.
State-of-the-art IoT solution for the field
Irrigation systems consist of a main valve and a varying number of sub-valves. To monitor and control the system remotely, the smart irrigation solution uses IoT sensors for moisture detection to collect data from the soil of the cultivated areas.
The sensors send their data to a central monitoring console via a wireless, energy-efficient LPWAN connection (e.g. LoraWAN®, mioty, LTE CAT-M, 450 Mhz). There, the user can view the location and status of the irrigation system components and schedule irrigation jobs by time or quantity. By using soil sensors, weather data and weather forecasts, precision irrigation can also respond to unpredictable weather conditions and adjust irrigation accordingly.
Based on this data and defined thresholds, Cluey automatically irrigates the fields as needed and only in the required amount. If the flow rate is too high, the unit automatically shuts off the main valve via LoRaWAN® communication. This allows pipe breaks and leaks to be detected and the resulting damage and downtime to be minimised – another saving for the farmer.
New development based on proven technology
Cluey was not originally intended for use as a telecontrol device for agriculture – comtac AG was only commissioned to make the necessary adjustments as part of the project. During implementation, the hardware and software concept proved to be just as advantageous as comtac AG's flexibility in terms of development and (series) production.
