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AssigneesAgResearch Limited, Auckland Uniservices Limited
InventorsValerie Olga SNOW, Stuart George BRADLEY, Chandra Prasad GHIMIRE
Estimating the term…
Optimising water use in a way that avoids over watering or at least avoids or minimises water mobilisation may be useful. An irrigation control system is described, the system including a sound emitter arranged to emit sound towards a ground surface; a sound receiver arranged to receive sound emitted by the sound emitter and reflected or scattered from the ground surface. A controller then controls one or more irrigation parameters of an irrigator based at least in part on sound received by the sound receiver. In a further aspect, the irrigation control system senses the onset of surface water pooling or free water flow on the ground surface and the controller then controls irrigation parameters to reduce application of water in response to the sensed features. Related methods of controlling irrigation systems are also described.
An irrigation control system including:
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sound emitter is configured to emit sound with a frequency in the range 0.5 to 4.5 kHz.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sound emitter is configured to emit sound in the form of sound pulses.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sound emitter is configured to emit sound embodying a coded signal.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sound receiver is a microphone.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the sound receiver is a microphone array.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more irrigation parameters to reduce or prevent water application when the sound received by the sound receiver is indicative of the presence of surface water.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more irrigation parameters to reduce or prevent water application when a change in the sound received by the sound receiver is indicative of the onset of the presence of surface water.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the one or more irrigation parameters include a water application rate.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the one or more irrigation parameters include valve on/off status.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the one or more irrigation parameters include valve pulsing and/or valve pulse rate.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the one or more irrigation parameters include varying irrigation boom speed and/or varying irrigation intensity.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, including a positioning system configured to determine a position of the irrigator in real time.
An irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim, configured for continuous or periodic emission and detection of sound.
An irrigation system including an irrigation control system as claimed in any preceding claim and one or more irrigators arranged to supply water to the ground surface.
An irrigation system as claimed in any one of the above claims wherein the water is selected from:
A method of controlling an irrigation system including:
An irrigation control system including:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.