Field intelligent wheel irrigation system and method

Abstract

The application discloses a field intelligent wheel irrigation system and method, relates to the field of agricultural irrigation technology, and avoids the change of the original irrigation pipe network and the update of the sensing control equipment during the field rotation and intercropping, only changes the upper logic, saves a large amount of later maintenance cost, and simplifies the management cognitive burden of the management personnel; meanwhile, the application is suitable for the rotation, intercropping, management and water and fertilizer integration of the field, realizes the efficient and accurate wheel irrigation control mechanism based on the variable wheel irrigation unit management, and solves the problem of the lack of flexibility and variability in the field wheel irrigation process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of agricultural irrigation technology, specifically to an intelligent rotational irrigation system and method for large fields. Background Technology

[0002] Water is the lifeblood of agriculture and forestry, and water scarcity has become a bottleneck restricting the development of agriculture and forestry, even hindering national economic and social development. my country suffers from severe spatial and temporal imbalances and unbalanced combinations of water and soil resources, leading to a prominent water shortage problem in agricultural irrigation, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. With the continuous expansion of agricultural industrialization, there is an urgent need to develop and utilize efficient and intelligent water-saving irrigation technologies to improve the utilization rate of agricultural irrigation water. Water-saving irrigation based on sprinkler and drip irrigation is a core technology of resource-saving large-scale modern agricultural systems. Extensive research on it has not only promoted the development of agricultural facilities but also the deep integration of information technology and agriculture. Sprinkler and drip irrigation, as advanced and effective irrigation technologies, can deliver water and nutrients needed by crops evenly and at regular intervals to the soil around the crop roots. Due to the limited transport capacity of irrigation networks, large-scale farmland irrigation requires a regional rotation irrigation method. Large-scale irrigation areas are generally planned and designed with multiple irrigation units based on factors such as crops, soil type, and topography. These irrigation units have corresponding rotation irrigation valves to control the water inlet closure. Effective control of these rotation irrigation units is fundamental to large-scale farmland irrigation. Therefore, building an intelligent rotation irrigation system based on IoT devices, which can adapt to various operational needs and changes in the field, facilitate field management and professional trusteeship, and employ low-cost, high-efficiency, and reliable irrigation strategies, is of great value.

[0003] To achieve automatic rotational irrigation by irrigation units, patents CN104756834A and CN112219697A describe how these units can be connected in series with a control center via irrigation circuit units, enabling automatic relay irrigation. CN110870455A describes configuring different head control units for multiple irrigation units, then unifying the control of these head control units to achieve automatic rotational irrigation. CN218337390U uses physical devices to complete water intake and irrigation for multiple areas. CN106960129A and CN112734136A describe how optimization algorithms are constructed based on different objective functions to determine the division of irrigation groups.

[0004] In implementing automatic rotational irrigation, each unit needs to set an irrigation strategy to determine the irrigation start time and irrigation volume. CN109819881A involves manually setting the start time and rules for the rotational irrigation group, and then implementing irrigation according to the rules when the start time arrives. CN103329783B uses soil moisture sensor data; when the soil moisture falls below a certain threshold, it determines the start time for irrigation, and then iterates through all rotational irrigation units at fixed intervals. CN113439648A uses date, time, soil moisture, and air temperature as rotational irrigation parameters, manually sets a minimum threshold standard in advance, and compares it with parameters obtained from the actual environment to determine the irrigation start time and irrigation volume. CN107278832A uses weather and soil condition monitoring to adjust the pre-set irrigation plan to complete the irrigation process.

[0005] Existing technologies for achieving automated rotational irrigation connect different irrigation zones in series for control, effectively merging all zones into a single, ordered whole. This results in a loss of independence for each zone, necessitating extensive reconstruction work when implementing crop rotation, intercropping, or managed farmland, or when replanning land use. Matching different head pump systems to different irrigation zones incurs enormous design and construction costs, and the operation is essentially equivalent to managing multiple independent control systems, making the process complex. Similarly, using mathematical models to divide irrigation groups is complex and requires substantial data support, failing to effectively respond to variations in field production. Setting strategy values ​​for irrigation groups suffers from inaccurate irrigation dosage and excessive costs, failing to effectively obtain and control actual dosage. Existing technologies pre-set irrigation plans for timed and quantitative irrigation, but do not consider crop and environmental factors. To compensate for these shortcomings, some solutions utilize meteorological and soil sensors to acquire environmental data and adjust irrigation strategies accordingly, particularly soil moisture sensors. However, the data acquired by soil sensors can only correspond to a limited number of plots. If all soil information is to be obtained for large fields, a large number of soil sensors need to be deployed, which is extremely costly and will affect agricultural production.

[0006] The above analysis shows that existing rotational irrigation control technology lacks flexibility and adaptability. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This invention addresses the lack of flexibility and variability in existing rotational irrigation control technologies by providing a rotational irrigation system and method with dynamically configurable rotational irrigation groups, a simple rotational irrigation strategy, and measurable and controllable water consumption for each rotational irrigation unit.

[0008] This invention provides an intelligent rotating irrigation system for large fields, comprising a head system, IoT sensing devices, and a control center that are interconnected; wherein:

[0009] The header system includes:

[0010] A water pump, located at the irrigation inlet of the field, is used to supply water to the field.

[0011] Multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves are installed at multiple irrigation outlets in the field. These multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves are used to control the start, stop, and speed of water supply to the field. The multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and water pumps form multiple irrigation units, and these irrigation units are divided into multiple irrigation groups.

[0012] The IoT sensing device includes:

[0013] Weather sensors are used to collect weather data in the fields;

[0014] The water pump status sensor is connected to the water pump in communication and is used to collect status data on the on / off state of the water pump.

[0015] Multiple pressure and flow sensors are installed at multiple irrigation outlets in the field to collect pressure and flow data of water supplied to the field.

[0016] The control center is communicatively connected to the water pump, multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves, meteorological sensors, water pump status sensors, and pressure and flow sensors. The control center is used to determine the irrigation start time and irrigation amount based on the field meteorological data collected by the meteorological sensors and the crop water requirement model. Based on the determined irrigation start time and irrigation amount, the control center controls the opening and closing of the water pump and multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves to irrigate multiple rotation irrigation groups in sequence.

[0017] Meanwhile, the control center ensures normal irrigation by collecting status data on the on / off status of the water pumps from the water pump status sensor and pressure and flow data on the water supply to the field from the pressure and flow sensor.

[0018] Furthermore, the head system also includes a fertilizer applicator, which is communicatively connected to the control center and is used to apply fertilizer to the field according to the control of the control center;

[0019] The IoT sensing device also includes a fertilizer applicator status sensor, which is communicatively connected to the fertilizer applicator and the control center. The fertilizer applicator status sensor is used to collect the status data of the fertilizer applicator and send the status data of the fertilizer applicator to the control center.

[0020] Furthermore, the control center is connected to the fertilizer applicator, weather sensor, water pump, and wireless solenoid valve gateway via RS485 serial communication.

[0021] The control center is connected to the human-machine interface screen via RS232 serial communication.

[0022] The wireless solenoid valve gateway is connected to multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and pressure / flow sensors via a network communication protocol called LoRa.

[0023] Furthermore, the control center is a microcontroller-based software system, and the microcontroller is an ARM-based multi-interface embedded system;

[0024] The control center is communicatively connected to a human-machine interface screen, which is communicatively connected to the cloud and an app; the control center includes:

[0025] The first control module is used to control the water pump and fertilizer machine and to collect data on the equipment status;

[0026] The meteorological monitoring module is used to acquire data from meteorological sensors, which have seven parameters, including temperature, humidity, light intensity, wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and rainfall.

[0027] The communication module is used for communication between the control center and the wireless solenoid valve gateway, as well as for issuing opening and closing commands for each wireless solenoid valve and reporting water pressure and flow data.

[0028] The rotation irrigation group configuration module is used to divide the rotation irrigation groups, set data in manual mode, and set water requirement models for different growth stages of different crops in automatic mode.

[0029] The irrigation compensation module is used to adjust the irrigation amount under the automatic model by using meteorological monitoring data and pressure and flow data, through model calculation and data verification.

[0030] The management and control module is responsible for communicating with the human-computer interaction screen. It supports the operation of the interface on the human-computer interaction screen by calling the functions of other modules, which facilitates operation and management.

[0031] Furthermore, the aforementioned head unit, meteorological sensors, and human-machine interface screen constitute peripheral equipment:

[0032] The water pump is equipped with a frequency converter, which is used to monitor and control the operating status of the water pump. The water pump power supply line is connected to the relay of the digital input channel of the control center through a contactor. The control center controls the switching of the water pump. The water pump frequency converter is connected to the control center through an RS485 serial bus to collect the water pump's operating status and modify relevant parameters to control the operation of the water pump.

[0033] The fertilizer applicator includes a mixer, a fertilizer tank, a channel solenoid valve, and a fertilizer injection pump. When applying fertilizer, the fertilizer applicator mixes the fertilizer in the fertilizer tank evenly, and after opening the channel solenoid valve, it is injected into the irrigation network through the fertilizer injection pump. The mixer and fertilizer injection pump in the fertilizer applicator are connected to the control center, and the channel solenoid valve is directly connected to the digital input channel of the control center to control the opening and closing of the fertilizer injection channel.

[0034] The meteorological sensor is connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus. The meteorological sensor is a multi-parameter integrated sensor that can acquire multiple meteorological index data at the same time. The control center collects data periodically.

[0035] The human-machine interface screen visually displays the irrigation status and allows for the setting of irrigation strategies through a user interface. The human-machine interface screen and the control center are connected via an RS232 serial bus and contain an internal 4G communication module, ensuring remote control operation and big data analysis insights from cloud software and APP to the control center.

[0036] Furthermore, multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and multiple pressure and flow sensors are all communicatively connected to a wireless solenoid valve gateway. The wireless solenoid valve gateway includes multiple wireless solenoid valve gateways and multiple wireless solenoid valve switches. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the control center are wirelessly connected via the LoRa communication protocol. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switches are wirelessly connected via LoRa. The wireless solenoid valve switches are installed at the capillary inlet of each irrigation unit.

[0037] The control center converts the control signal into a LORA signal through a LORA and RS485 converter to communicate with the wireless solenoid valve gateway. The LORA signal frequency is 470MHz.

[0038] The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switch communicate via a 433MHz LoRa signal.

[0039] The wireless solenoid valve switch is connected to the pressure and flow sensor via an RS485 serial bus. During one closing operation cycle of the wireless solenoid valve switch, two data acquisition commands are sent, and the acquired pressure and flow data are then uploaded to the control center.

[0040] Furthermore, the control center also includes a rotation irrigation management module, which is used for user permissions, header management, alarm handling, and crop management;

[0041] The user permissions for the rotation irrigation management module are divided into two levels: administrator and operator. Administrators are responsible for processing rotation irrigation settings, head system settings, and crop data, and for performing irrigation operations.

[0042] The first management unit monitors and controls the pump and frequency converter, sets the pump's operating status, including PID settings and feedback;

[0043] Alarm processing involves reporting and handling data anomalies, including rainfall information from meteorology, pipe pressure in the pipeline network, and indicator data of pumps and frequency converters.

[0044] Crop management involves calibrating crops in the field across different irrigation units.

[0045] Furthermore, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for field fields provided by this invention includes an automatic mode, which includes:

[0046] The control center uses crop water requirement models and meteorological data to determine the timing and amount of irrigation to start;

[0047] When formulating irrigation strategies, the control center calculates the water requirement of the crop during its growth period in 10-day cycles, and then averages it over the irrigation cycles within that growth period to obtain the timing of irrigation initiation and the amount of irrigation used.

[0048] The control center automatically divides the irrigation according to the crop water requirement cycle and determines the irrigation start time. When the time is reached, the irrigation task is automatically started, and multiple irrigation units are divided into multiple irrigation groups, and irrigation is carried out on multiple irrigation groups in sequence.

[0049] In automatic mode, the irrigation group selects the shortest irrigation unit's irrigation time as the group's irrigation time and uses the pressure and flow sensor data on the wireless solenoid valves of each irrigation unit for compensation. The difference between the flow data uploaded when the irrigation group is closed and the preset irrigation amount is converted into different irrigation times for irrigation compensation.

[0050] Furthermore, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for field fields provided by this invention also includes a manual mode, which includes:

[0051] The entire irrigation process can be manually controlled through the control center, and irrigation operations can be performed at any time. The irrigation time and start time of each irrigation group can be set, and the irrigation time can be changed before each manual irrigation.

[0052] The manual mode operation procedure is as follows: Confirm that the water source is normal, turn on the water pump to inject water into the main pipeline, turn on the irrigation group to be irrigated one by one, and the irrigation group will automatically turn off after completing the irrigation task according to the preset time, or be manually turned off during irrigation; turn on the next irrigation group to irrigate until all irrigation tasks are completed; turn off the water pump and fertilizer applicator.

[0053] The manual mode calls upon a specific irrigation strategy from the automatic mode, enabling one-click irrigation at any time and allowing manual selection of the irrigation strategy; when fertilizer needs to be injected, the fertilizer applicator is operated during the irrigation of the rotating irrigation group.

[0054] Furthermore, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for large fields provided by this invention divides multiple rotational irrigation units into multiple rotational irrigation groups, specifically including:

[0055] The rotation irrigation units are combined according to actual production needs to form multiple rotation irrigation groups;

[0056] The control center abstracts the rotation irrigation unit into an independent rotation irrigation resource through the different device addresses of each rotation irrigation solenoid valve for control.

[0057] Each independent irrigation resource is assigned a serial number, and the irrigation groups are divided in real time on demand on the human-computer interaction screen.

[0058] Each irrigation group can include up to 8 irrigation units; the maximum number of irrigation groups is 30.

[0059] Compared with existing technologies, the intelligent rotational irrigation system and method for field fields provided by this invention have the following advantages:

[0060] The rotation irrigation unit management method of this invention avoids the need to modify the original irrigation network and update the sensor control equipment during field rotation and intercropping. It only requires changes to the upper-level logic, saving a significant amount of later maintenance costs and simplifying the management and cognitive burden on managers. At the same time, this invention is suitable for the implementation of field rotation, intercropping, entrusted management, and integrated water and fertilizer management, and achieves an efficient and precise rotation irrigation control mechanism based on variable rotation irrigation unit management. In summary, this invention can solve the problem of lack of flexibility and variability in the field rotation irrigation process. Attached Figure Description

[0061] Figure 1 This is a system block diagram of the intelligent rotational irrigation system for paddy fields provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0062] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the control center provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0063] Figure 3 The system flowchart provided for embodiments of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0064] The following is in conjunction with the appendix Figure 1-3 The following describes specific embodiments of the present invention in further detail. These embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention more clearly and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0065] Example 1: The present invention provides a smart rotating irrigation system for paddy fields, comprising a head system, IoT sensing devices, and a control center that are interconnected. The head system includes: a water pump located at the irrigation inlet of the paddy field for supplying water; multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves located at multiple irrigation outlets of the paddy field, used to control the start, stop, and speed of water supply; the multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and the water pump form multiple rotating irrigation units, which are further divided into multiple rotating irrigation groups. The IoT sensing devices include: a meteorological sensor for collecting meteorological data from the paddy field; a water pump status sensor, communicatively connected to the water pump, used to collect status data on the pump's on / off state; and multiple pressure and flow sensors. The system consists of multiple irrigation outlets in the field, each designed to collect pressure and flow data of the water supplied. The control center is connected to the water pumps, multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves, a meteorological sensor, a water pump status sensor, and a pressure and flow sensor. Based on the meteorological data collected by the meteorological sensor and the crop water requirement model, the control center determines the irrigation start time and dosage. According to the determined start time and dosage, it controls the opening and closing of the water pumps and the multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves to irrigate multiple irrigation groups sequentially. Simultaneously, the control center ensures normal irrigation operation by using the water pump status data collected by the water pump status sensor and the pressure and flow data of the water supplied to the field collected by the pressure and flow sensor.

[0066] In this embodiment, the first system also includes a fertilizer applicator, which is communicatively connected to the control center. The fertilizer applicator is used to apply fertilizer to the field according to the control of the control center. The IoT sensing device also includes a fertilizer applicator status sensor, which is communicatively connected to the fertilizer applicator and the control center. The fertilizer applicator status sensor is used to collect the status data of the fertilizer applicator and send the status data of the fertilizer applicator to the control center.

[0067] In this embodiment, the control center is connected to the fertilizer applicator, weather sensor, water pump, and wireless solenoid valve gateway via RS485 serial communication; the control center is connected to the human-machine interface screen via RS232 serial communication; and the wireless solenoid valve gateway is connected to multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and pressure and flow sensors via LORA communication protocol networking.

[0068] In this embodiment, the control center is a microcontroller-based software system, and the microcontroller is an ARM-based multi-interface embedded system. The control center is connected to a human-machine interface (HMI) screen, which in turn is connected to the cloud and an app. The control center includes: a head control module for controlling the water pump and fertilizer applicator and collecting equipment status data; a meteorological monitoring module for collecting data from meteorological sensors, which have seven parameters: temperature, humidity, light intensity, wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and rainfall; a communication module for communication between the control center and the wireless solenoid valve gateway, as well as for issuing commands to open and close various wireless solenoid valves and reporting water pressure and flow data; a rotation irrigation group configuration module for dividing rotation irrigation groups, setting data in manual mode, and setting water requirement models for different growth stages of different crops in automatic mode; an irrigation compensation module for using meteorological monitoring data and pressure and flow data to correct irrigation usage under the automatic model through model calculation and data verification; and a management control module for communicating with the HMI screen and supporting the operation of the interface on the HMI screen by calling the functions of other modules, facilitating operation and management.

[0069] In this embodiment, the primary system, meteorological sensors, and human-machine interface screen constitute the peripheral equipment. The water pump is equipped with a frequency converter, which is used to monitor and control the pump's operating status. The water pump's power supply line is connected to a relay via a contactor and the digital input channel of the control center. The control center controls the pump's on / off state. The pump's frequency converter is connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus to collect the pump's operating status and modify relevant parameters, thus controlling the pump's operation. The fertilizer applicator includes a mixer, a fertilizer tank, a channel solenoid valve, and a fertilizer injection pump. During fertilization, the fertilizer applicator mixes the fertilizer in the fertilizer tank evenly, and after opening the channel solenoid valve, it injects the fertilizer into the irrigation system via the fertilizer injection pump. In the pipeline network, the mixer and fertilizer injection pump in the fertilizer applicator are connected to the control center. The channel solenoid valve is directly connected to the digital input channel of the control center to control the opening and closing of the fertilizer injection channel. The meteorological sensor is connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus. The meteorological sensor is a multi-parameter integrated type, which simultaneously acquires multiple meteorological index data. The control center collects data periodically. The human-machine interface screen displays the irrigation status visually and sets irrigation strategies through a user interface. The human-machine interface screen is connected to the control center via an RS232 serial bus and contains a 4G communication module to ensure remote control operation and big data analysis insights of the control center by cloud software and APP.

[0070] In this embodiment, multiple wireless solenoid valves and multiple pressure and flow sensors are communicatively connected to a wireless solenoid valve gateway. The wireless solenoid valve gateway includes multiple wireless solenoid valve gateways and multiple wireless solenoid valve switches. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the control center are wirelessly connected via the LoRa communication protocol. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switches are also wirelessly connected via LoRa. The wireless solenoid valve switches are installed at the capillary inlet of each irrigation unit. The control center converts the control signal into a LoRa signal using a LoRa-RS485 converter to communicate with the wireless solenoid valve gateway. The LoRa signal frequency is 470MHz. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switches communicate via a 433MHz LoRa signal. The wireless solenoid valve switches are connected to the pressure and flow sensors via an RS485 serial bus. During a single closing operation cycle, the wireless solenoid valve switch sends two data acquisition commands and then uploads the acquired pressure and flow data to the control center.

[0071] In this embodiment, the control center also includes a rotation irrigation management module, which is used for user permissions, head system management, alarm handling, and crop management. The user permissions for the rotation irrigation management module are divided into two levels: administrator and operator. The administrator processes rotation irrigation settings, head system settings, and crop data, and is responsible for performing irrigation operations. The head system management monitors and controls the pumps and frequency converters, setting the pump's operating status, including PID settings and feedback. Alarm handling reports and processes data anomalies, including rainfall information from meteorology, pipe pressure in the pipeline network, and indicator data of the pumps and frequency converters. Crop management calibrates crops in the field across different irrigation units.

[0072] In this embodiment, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for large fields provided by the present invention includes an automatic mode. The automatic mode includes: the control center determines the irrigation start time and irrigation amount through crop water requirement models and meteorological data; when formulating irrigation strategies, the control center calculates the water requirement of the crop growth period as a 10-day irrigation cycle, and then averages it over the irrigation cycle within that growth period to obtain the irrigation start time and irrigation amount; the control center automatically divides the irrigation according to the crop water requirement cycle, determines the irrigation start time, and automatically starts the irrigation task when the time is reached, dividing multiple rotational irrigation units into multiple rotational irrigation groups, and irrigating multiple rotational irrigation groups in sequence; wherein, in the automatic mode, the rotational irrigation group selects the irrigation duration of the shortest irrigation unit in the group as the irrigation duration of the group, and uses the pressure and flow sensing data on the wireless solenoid valves of each irrigation unit for compensation operation; the difference between the flow data uploaded when the rotational irrigation group is closed and the preset irrigation amount is converted into different irrigation durations for irrigation compensation.

[0073] In this embodiment, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for large fields provided by the present invention also includes a manual mode. The manual mode includes: manually managing the entire irrigation process through the control center, performing irrigation operations at any time, setting the irrigation time length and irrigation start time for each rotational irrigation group, and changing the irrigation time before each manual irrigation. The operation process of the manual mode is as follows: confirming that the water source is normal, turning on the water pump to inject water into the main pipeline network, turning on the rotational irrigation group to be irrigated one by one, and automatically turning off the rotational irrigation group after completing the irrigation task according to the preset time, or manually turning it off during the irrigation; turning on the next rotational irrigation group to irrigate until all irrigation tasks are completed; turning off the water pump and fertilizer applicator; the manual mode calls a certain irrigation strategy of the automatic mode to realize one-click irrigation at any time, and manually selecting the irrigation strategy; when fertilizer needs to be injected, the operation of the fertilizer applicator is completed during the irrigation of the rotational irrigation group.

[0074] In this embodiment, the intelligent rotational irrigation method for large fields provided by the present invention divides multiple rotational irrigation units into multiple rotational irrigation groups. Specifically, it includes: combining the rotational irrigation units according to actual production needs to form multiple rotational irrigation groups; the control center abstracts the rotational irrigation units into independent rotational irrigation resources through the different device addresses of each rotational irrigation solenoid valve for control; assigning serial numbers to each independent rotational irrigation resource, and dividing the rotational irrigation groups in real time on demand on the human-machine interface screen; wherein, each rotational irrigation group covers a maximum of 8 rotational irrigation units; the maximum preset number of rotational irrigation groups is 30.

[0075] Example 2: This example further explains and illustrates the intelligent rotational irrigation system and method for field fields provided in Example 1, with specific examples:

[0076] 1 System Construction

[0077] The control center is a microcontroller-based software system, comprising a head control module, a meteorological monitoring module, a communication module, a rotation irrigation group configuration module, an irrigation compensation module, and a management control module. The head control module primarily controls equipment such as water pumps, frequency converters, and fertilizer applicators, and collects equipment status data. The meteorological monitoring module collects data from meteorological sensors, typically with seven parameters: temperature, humidity, light intensity, wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and rainfall. The communication module handles communication between the control center and the wireless solenoid valve gateway, issuing commands for the opening and closing of various wireless solenoid valves and reporting water pressure and flow data. The rotation irrigation group configuration module divides the irrigation groups, sets data in manual mode, and establishes water requirement models for different growth stages of different crops in automatic mode. The irrigation compensation module uses meteorological monitoring data and pressure and flow data to adjust irrigation amounts under the automatic model through model calculations and data verification. The management control module communicates with the human-machine interface (HMI), supporting operations on the HMI interface by calling functions from other modules, facilitating staff management. The microcontroller is an ARM-based multi-interface embedded system.

[0078] The peripheral equipment mainly consists of a head unit, meteorological sensors, and a human-machine interface screen. The head unit comprises a pump and a fertilizer applicator. The pump is equipped with a frequency converter to monitor and control its operation. The fertilizer applicator includes a mixer, a fertilizer tank, a channel solenoid valve, and a fertilizer injection pump. During fertilization, the fertilizer in the fertilizer tank is thoroughly mixed, and after opening the channel solenoid valve, it is injected into the irrigation network through the fertilizer injection pump. The meteorological sensor is a multi-parameter integrated type, capable of simultaneously acquiring multiple meteorological index data, which are collected periodically by the control center. The water pump power line is connected to the relay of the control center's digital input channel via a contactor, allowing the control center to control the water pump's on / off state. The water pump frequency converter is connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus, enabling the acquisition of the water pump's operating status and modification of relevant parameters to control the water pump's operation. The connections between the mixer and fertilizer injection pump in the fertilizer applicator and the control center are the same as those for the water pump. The channel solenoid valve is directly connected to the control center's digital input channel to control the opening and closing of the fertilizer injection channel. The meteorological sensors are connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus, requiring calibration and conversion of the meteorological data. The human-machine interface (HMI) screen visually displays irrigation information and allows for the setting of irrigation strategies. It connects to the control center via an RS232 serial bus and includes a 4G communication module, ensuring remote control and big data analysis of the control center via cloud software and an app.

[0079] The gateway switch mainly consists of several wireless solenoid valve gateways and multiple wireless solenoid valve switches. To ensure effective coverage of the field area, the wireless solenoid valve gateways and the control center are wirelessly connected via the LoRa communication protocol. Typically, the wireless solenoid valve gateways are installed in the central area of ​​the corresponding field area. The wireless solenoid valve gateways and wireless solenoid valve switches are also wirelessly connected via LoRa, with the wireless solenoid valve switches installed at the capillary inlet of each irrigation unit. The control center uses a LoRa-to-RS485 converter to convert control signals into LoRa signals for communication with the wireless solenoid valve gateways. The LoRa signal frequency between them is 470MHz. The LoRa signal coverage distance of the wireless solenoid valve gateways is 2-4KM. When the coverage distance exceeds this range in the field area, it is necessary to increase the number of wireless solenoid valve gateways and bridge them to extend the coverage distance. The wireless solenoid valve gateways and wireless solenoid valve switches communicate via a 433MHz LoRa signal. Both are powered by solar photovoltaic charging of lithium batteries. The wireless solenoid valve switch is connected to the pressure and flow sensor via an RS485 serial bus. During one closing operation cycle of the wireless solenoid valve switch, it sends two data acquisition commands and then uploads the acquired pressure and flow data to the control center.

[0080] 2. Irrigation Implementation

[0081] Each irrigation unit is bound to a wireless solenoid valve switch, which controls the irrigation network in that area. Each wireless solenoid valve switch is assigned a unique physical address for identification. Irrigation units can be grouped on the human-machine interface. Considering factors such as network pressure transmission and terrain, each irrigation group can contain a maximum of 8 irrigation units. The maximum preset number of irrigation groups is 30. Setting this up involves simply entering the serial number corresponding to the wireless solenoid valve switch. The irrigation order can also be considered, placing irrigation units that need to be irrigated first into the highest-numbered irrigation groups. Each irrigation group also has a group switch status setting to accommodate different irrigation cycles for different irrigation groups.

[0082] Rotation irrigation management mainly includes user permissions, head system management, alarm handling, and crop management, facilitating operations by different personnel and handling of field crop rotation. User permissions are divided into two levels: administrator and operator. Administrators can process rotation irrigation settings, head system settings, and crop data; administrators are only responsible for irrigation operations. Head system management mainly monitors and controls pumps and frequency converters, setting pump operating status, especially PID settings and feedback. Alarm handling reports and processes abnormal data, including rainfall information, pipe pressure in the pipeline network, and pump and frequency converter performance data. Crop management calibrates crops in different irrigation units in the field. Different crops have different water requirement cycle models, which can lead to different irrigation compensation amounts.

[0083] Irrigation operations are divided into manual and automatic modes. In manual mode, the entire irrigation process is fully controlled by the irrigation personnel, allowing for irrigation at any time. The manual mode procedure involves confirming a normal water source, first turning on the water pump to fill the main pipeline, then sequentially turning on the irrigation groups to be irrigated. Each irrigation group automatically shuts off after completing its pre-set irrigation task, or it can be manually shut off during irrigation before starting the next irrigation group, continuing until all irrigation tasks are completed, at which point the water pump and fertilizer applicator are turned off. Manual mode can also recall a specific irrigation strategy from automatic mode for one-click irrigation at any time, requiring the operator to select the strategy. If fertilizer needs to be added during this process, the fertilizer applicator must be operated during the irrigation of the irrigation group. Automatic mode requires minimal operator intervention. The system automatically divides the irrigation time according to the crop's water requirement cycle, and automatically starts the irrigation task at the designated time, irrigating the irrigation groups sequentially.

[0084] 3 Irrigation System

[0085] The irrigation system primarily determines the irrigation start time and irrigation volume. Irrigation volume is generally represented by time duration, which requires calculation and evaluation using the drip rate of each irrigation unit's drip irrigation pipes to determine the ratio of irrigation volume to time for that unit. Manual irrigation requires setting the irrigation time length for each irrigation group, which can be changed before each manual irrigation session. In manual mode, the irrigation start time is determined manually by the operator based on site conditions and is not preset.

[0086] The system automatically sets the irrigation start time and amount based on crop water requirement models and meteorological data. Crop water requirement models are tools that use mathematical methods to estimate the amount of water needed by crops during their growth period. Through long-term data accumulation and measurement, they are widely used in agricultural production to formulate irrigation plans. Since the main ways water is consumed in the field are soil evaporation and crop transpiration, irrigation mainly replenishes the water lost through transpiration and evaporation, keeping the soil moisture content within the range of readily available water. Under normal circumstances, without considering effective rainfall, the crop water requirement in field drip irrigation is approximately equal to the crop's transpiration evaporation. The formula for calculating crop water requirement is:

[0087] ETc = ET0 * Kc, where ETc represents the transpiration and evaporation of the target crop, ET0 represents the transpiration and evaporation of the reference crop, and Kc is the crop coefficient. ET0 can be calculated using the Penman-Monteith formula, typically through software or weather station calculations, and can be used directly. The crop coefficient is related to the crop's growth cycle; for example, the Kc coefficient for potatoes is shown in the table below.

[0088]

[0089] The calculation of ET0 requires the accumulation of meteorological data and is based on the theories of energy balance and water vapor diffusion. It also requires separate handling of effective rainfall and extreme drought conditions. The KC coefficient, on the other hand, depends on the actual conditions of the crop. Different crops vary in different regions, growth cycles, and planting methods, but the variation is weakened under drip irrigation.

[0090] Specifically, when formulating irrigation strategies, each 10-day period is considered an irrigation cycle. The water requirement for the crop's growth period is calculated using the formula above, and then averaged over the irrigation cycle within that growth period to determine the irrigation start time and irrigation amount.

[0091] Dosage Measurement and Control

[0092] When setting up a rotational irrigation group, multiple irrigation units are typically included. Usually, similar crops are grouped together. However, this can still lead to uneven irrigation usage within the group, resulting in different irrigation durations for different units within the same group. In automatic setup, the rotational irrigation group selects the shortest irrigation duration from the units within the group. This requires compensation using pressure and flow sensor data from the wireless solenoid valves of each irrigation unit. The difference between the flow data uploaded when the rotational irrigation group is closed and the preset irrigation amount is calculated and converted into different irrigation durations for compensation, achieving precise irrigation and dosage control.

[0093] Data Analysis

[0094] The system stores meteorological data, irrigation data, and pipeline network-related data in corresponding databases, enabling data insights and visualization. Data accumulation is crucial for optimizing subsequent irrigation plans and also provides relevant data reporting services to field managers.

[0095] 4. System process as follows Figure 3 .

[0096] In summary, compared with existing technologies, the intelligent rotational irrigation system for field fields provided by this invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0097] This invention mainly addresses the problems of high cost and flexibility in the division and configuration of irrigation groups, complex control process of irrigation groups, low efficiency of irrigation strategy water application, high maintenance cost and management difficulty of irrigation pipeline network in the process of field rotation irrigation.

[0098] This invention constructs a variable and configurable rotational irrigation unit management method to adapt to crop rotation, intercropping, managed irrigation, and integrated water and fertilizer administration in field crops. Based on this variable rotational irrigation unit management, it achieves an efficient and precise rotational irrigation control mechanism. During field crop rotation and intercropping, the original crop planting plan and distribution are altered, affecting the setup of rotational irrigation groups and the determination of irrigation regimes for the changed crops. To address these changes, the existing irrigation network and sensor control equipment are typically modified. However, the large-scale laying of irrigation networks and the non-centralized distribution of sensor control equipment following the network layout result in significant material and maintenance costs. The rotational irrigation unit management method of this invention avoids modifications to the existing irrigation network and updates to sensor control equipment during field crop rotation and intercropping. It only modifies the upper-level logic, saving substantial subsequent maintenance costs and simplifying the management and cognitive burden on administrators. Currently, field farming is gradually shifting towards intensification, reducing the need for large-scale manual labor from planting to harvesting. Field management is typically entrusted to professional farmers for entrusted management. This invention is applicable to the daily entrusted management of fields, providing a convenient and efficient management tool for those in charge, from the logical division of irrigation rotation groups and the integration of manual and automatic irrigation to feedback on irrigation usage. When implementing integrated water and fertilizer management in fields, fertilization strategies are mainly formulated based on the crop growth cycle and nutrient deficiency status. The former can be planned according to the crop growth cycle, but the latter can result in uneven distribution. Conventional water and fertilizer strategies can waste fertilizer and harm the soil's pH balance. This invention can reorganize irrigation groups for unevenly distributed nutrient-deficient plots and plots with the same nutrient deficiency, implementing different fertilization strategies to ensure that fertilizer accurately reaches the required plot units, effectively avoiding over-fertilization and fertilizer waste.

[0099] This invention provides a low-cost, water-saving, and precisely controllable irrigation strategy for various crops. Establishing an irrigation regime is a challenge in field irrigation, influenced by multiple factors such as soil, climate, and crop variety. Extensive research has been conducted, resulting in numerous efficient and precise irrigation strategies. However, these strategies cannot be universally applied and are highly sensitive to changes in influencing factors. This invention utilizes crop transpiration based on water vapor dynamics as the basis for irrigation, combined with a crop water requirement model, to provide a universal irrigation regime with high practicality and significant water-saving effects. This irrigation regime primarily utilizes regional meteorological monitoring, avoiding the need for extensive soil moisture sensors and saving costs. Furthermore, this invention monitors and tracks irrigation water consumption in different irrigation units. Water usage data from each unit facilitates the identification of leaks and spills in the irrigation network, preventing water waste and reducing the manpower costs of large-scale inspections. Simultaneously, this data is used for data mining and insight analysis to optimize field irrigation management and enhance managers' understanding of the field.

[0100] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, if these modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this invention and their equivalents, this invention also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A field intelligent rotation irrigation method based on a field intelligent rotation irrigation system, characterized in that, The intelligent rotational irrigation system for paddy fields includes a head system, IoT sensing devices, and a control center that are interconnected; wherein: The header system includes: A water pump, located at the irrigation inlet of the field, is used to supply water to the field. Multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves are installed at multiple irrigation outlets in the field. These multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves are used to control the start, stop, and speed of water supply to the field. The multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and water pumps form multiple irrigation units, and these irrigation units are divided into multiple irrigation groups. The IoT sensing device includes: Weather sensors are used to collect weather data in the fields; The water pump status sensor is connected to the water pump in communication and is used to collect status data on the on / off state of the water pump. Multiple pressure and flow sensors are installed at multiple irrigation outlets in the field to collect pressure and flow data of water supplied to the field. The control center is communicatively connected to the water pump, multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves, meteorological sensors, water pump status sensors, and pressure and flow sensors. The control center is used to determine the irrigation start time and irrigation amount based on the field meteorological data collected by the meteorological sensors and the crop water requirement model. Based on the determined irrigation start time and irrigation amount, the control center controls the opening and closing of the water pump and multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves to irrigate multiple rotation irrigation groups in sequence. Meanwhile, the control center ensures the normal operation of irrigation based on the status data of the water pump's on / off state collected by the water pump status sensor and the pressure and flow data of the water supplied to the field collected by the pressure and flow sensor. The large-scale intelligent rotational irrigation method includes an automatic mode, which includes: The control center uses crop water requirement models and meteorological data to determine the timing and amount of irrigation to start; When formulating irrigation strategies, the control center calculates the water requirement of the crop during its growth period in 10-day cycles, and then averages it over the irrigation cycles within that growth period to obtain the timing of irrigation initiation and the amount of irrigation used. The control center automatically divides the irrigation according to the crop water requirement cycle and determines the irrigation start time. When the time is reached, the irrigation task is automatically started, and multiple irrigation units are divided into multiple irrigation groups, and irrigation is carried out on multiple irrigation groups in sequence. In automatic mode, the irrigation group selects the shortest irrigation unit's irrigation time as the group's irrigation time and uses the pressure and flow sensor data on the wireless solenoid valves of each irrigation unit for compensation. The difference between the flow data uploaded when the irrigation group is closed and the preset irrigation amount is converted into different irrigation times for irrigation compensation. The multiple rotational irrigation units are divided into multiple rotational irrigation groups, specifically including: The rotation irrigation units are combined according to actual production needs to form multiple rotation irrigation groups; The control center abstracts the rotation irrigation units into independent rotation irrigation resources by using the different device addresses of each rotation irrigation solenoid valve; Each independent irrigation resource is assigned a serial number, and the irrigation groups are divided in real time on demand on the human-computer interaction screen. Each irrigation group can cover a maximum of 8 irrigation units; the maximum number of irrigation groups is 30.

2. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The head system also includes a fertilizer applicator, which is communicatively connected to the control center and is used to apply fertilizer to the field according to the control of the control center; The IoT sensing device also includes a fertilizer applicator status sensor, which is communicatively connected to the fertilizer applicator and the control center. The fertilizer applicator status sensor is used to collect the status data of the fertilizer applicator and send the status data of the fertilizer applicator to the control center.

3. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The control center is connected to the fertilizer applicator, weather sensor, water pump, and wireless solenoid valve gateway via RS485 serial communication. The control center is connected to the human-machine interface screen via RS232 serial communication. The wireless solenoid valve gateway is connected to multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and pressure / flow sensors via a network communication protocol called LoRa.

4. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The control center is a software system based on a microcontroller, and the microcontroller is a multi-interface embedded system based on ARM. The control center is communicatively connected to a human-machine interface screen, which is communicatively connected to the cloud and an app; the control center includes: The first control module is used to control the water pump and fertilizer machine and to collect data on the equipment status; The meteorological monitoring module is used to acquire data from meteorological sensors, which have seven parameters, including temperature, humidity, light intensity, wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and rainfall. The communication module is used for communication between the control center and the wireless solenoid valve gateway, as well as for issuing opening and closing commands for each wireless solenoid valve and reporting water pressure and flow data. The rotation irrigation group configuration module is used to divide the rotation irrigation groups, set data in manual mode, and set water requirement models for different growth stages of different crops in automatic mode. The irrigation compensation module is used to adjust the irrigation amount under the automatic model by using meteorological monitoring data and pressure and flow data, through model calculation and data verification. The management and control module is responsible for communicating with the human-computer interaction screen. It supports the operation of the interface on the human-computer interaction screen by calling the functions of other modules, which facilitates operation and management.

5. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The aforementioned head unit, meteorological sensors, and human-machine interface screen constitute the peripheral equipment: The water pump is equipped with a frequency converter, which is used to monitor and control the operating status of the water pump. The water pump power supply line is connected to the relay of the digital input channel of the control center through a contactor. The control center controls the switching of the water pump. The water pump frequency converter is connected to the control center through an RS485 serial bus to collect the water pump's operating status and modify relevant parameters to control the operation of the water pump. The fertilizer applicator includes a mixer, a fertilizer tank, a channel solenoid valve, and a fertilizer injection pump. When applying fertilizer, the fertilizer applicator mixes the fertilizer in the fertilizer tank evenly, and after opening the channel solenoid valve, it is injected into the irrigation network through the fertilizer injection pump. The mixer and fertilizer injection pump in the fertilizer applicator are connected to the control center, and the channel solenoid valve is directly connected to the digital input channel of the control center to control the opening and closing of the fertilizer injection channel. The meteorological sensor is connected to the control center via an RS485 serial bus. The meteorological sensor is a multi-parameter integrated sensor that can acquire multiple meteorological index data at the same time. The control center collects data periodically. The human-machine interface screen visually displays the irrigation status and allows for the setting of irrigation strategies through a user interface. The human-machine interface screen and the control center are connected via an RS232 serial bus and contain an internal 4G communication module, ensuring remote control operation and big data analysis insights from cloud software and APP to the control center.

6. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Multiple sets of wireless solenoid valves and multiple pressure and flow sensors are all communicatively connected to a wireless solenoid valve gateway. The wireless solenoid valve gateway includes multiple wireless solenoid valve gateways and multiple wireless solenoid valve switches. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the control center are wirelessly connected via the LoRa communication protocol. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switches are wirelessly connected via LoRa. The wireless solenoid valve switches are installed at the capillary inlet of each irrigation unit. The control center converts the control signals into LORA signals through a LORA and RS485 converter to communicate with the wireless solenoid valve gateway. The LORA signal frequency is 470MHz. The wireless solenoid valve gateway and the wireless solenoid valve switch communicate via a 433MHz LoRa signal. The wireless solenoid valve switch is connected to the pressure and flow sensor via an RS485 serial bus. During one closing operation cycle of the wireless solenoid valve switch, two data acquisition commands are sent, and the acquired pressure and flow data are then uploaded to the control center.

7. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The control center also includes a rotation irrigation management module, which is used for user permissions, header management, alarm handling and crop management. The user permissions for the rotation irrigation management module are divided into two levels: administrator and operator. Administrators are responsible for processing rotation irrigation settings, head system settings, and crop data, and for performing irrigation operations. The first management unit monitors and controls the pump and frequency converter, sets the pump's operating status, including PID settings and feedback; Alarm processing involves reporting and handling data anomalies, including rainfall information from meteorology, pipe pressure in the pipeline network, and indicator data of pumps and frequency converters. Crop management involves calibrating crops in the field across different irrigation units.

8. The intelligent rotation irrigation method for field irrigation based on an intelligent rotation irrigation system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a manual mode, which includes: The entire irrigation process can be manually controlled through the control center, and irrigation operations can be performed at any time. The irrigation time and start time of each irrigation group can be set, and the irrigation time can be changed before each manual irrigation. The manual mode operation procedure is as follows: Confirm that the water source is normal, turn on the water pump to inject water into the main pipeline, turn on the irrigation group to be irrigated one by one, and the irrigation group will automatically turn off after completing the irrigation task according to the preset time, or be manually turned off during irrigation; turn on the next irrigation group to irrigate until all irrigation tasks are completed; turn off the water pump and fertilizer applicator. The manual mode calls upon a specific irrigation strategy from the automatic mode, enabling one-click irrigation at any time and allowing manual selection of the irrigation strategy; when fertilizer needs to be injected, the fertilizer applicator is operated during the irrigation of the rotating irrigation group.

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