As mentioned in the previous article, soil irrigation is an important aspect of agriculture as it reduces the risk of crop loss (frost and drought resistance). In the first article, we talked about the chosen solution to automate Valley Irrigation’s center pivot: the power line communication (PLC).
This machine is an automatic watering system that rotates the lathes around the central pivot. This pivot also serves as a well for the water supply, eliminating the need for garden hoses.
The issue
Once the surveillance problem was solved, Valley Irrigation wanted to improve the lathes direction to prevent breakage. Indeed, a machine that stretches for as many kilometers as an irrigation pivot can indeed suffer major breakages if there is a deviation in the trajectory of the spans.
Also, each pivot is fitted with directional spans at the ends to enable the entire field to be watered (rectangular shape with a circular watering system). This additional direction increases the chances of trajectory deviation.
The solution
With the PLC system in place, it was therefore easy to enhance the existing automation by adding further sensors and connecting them to the existing system. To pre-establish a passage trajectory for the wheels of the lathes, we needed two things: a very precise GPS location on a continuous basis, and an exact map of the route to be taken. Once we had this, we developed a GPS system with 1 cm accuracy, using static and mobile GPS (GPS RTK). This means that the static GPS can tell the mobile GPS if it’s off by a centimetre.
This GPS solution solved all the problems: automatic guidance allowing the bends to reach every corner of the field, linear guidance allowing the lathes to properly pivot around the center, and machine safety.
The results
Automating the trajectories of the center pivot spans has enabled Valley Irrigation to offer farmers a safe solution. They are now able to guide the pivots across their fields and avoid equipment breakdowns. They are also able to receive alerts in the event of problems, since these elements have been added to the main management system interface.
These modifications to the center pivot were not the last to be made, as other additions were made in collaboration with Valley Irrigation. To learn more about these additions, please refer to the third article.
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