Progress 12/01/16 to 11/30/17
Outputs Target Audience:A major center pivot irrigation system manufacturer was our main target audience as we work with them through a CRADA to commercialize the Irrigation Scheduling Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (ISSCADA) system as an add-on package to provide a decision support system to their variable rate irrigation system offering. Other target audiences include producers and extension personnel who were reached through presentations at water district, irrigation association, trade show and other public meetings, and the scientific and engineering community who were reached through technical/scientific meetings. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project personnel, including a research associate and a student, attended several professional and technical meetings that provided training and professional development: 28th Annual Central Plains Irrigation Conf., Burlington, Colorado, February 2017. ASABE International Meeting, Spokane, Washington, July 2017 2017 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual International Meetings, Tampa, Florida, October 2017 2017 Irrigation Association Trade Show and Technical Conference, Orlando, Florida, November 2017. Texas Agricultural Irrigation Association meeting, Amarillo, Texas, November 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The previous response to a similar question is relevant here. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue beta testing at the four locations previously used (Texas, South Carolina, Missouri and Mississippi), and to do beta testing in a fifth location in semi-arid Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Additionally, targeted studies of advanced algorithms linking plant canopy temperature to soil water status and to evapotranspiration using crop water uptake and energy balance models will be undertaken to improve and add to algorithms in the ISSCADA system. Our agency (ARS) is pursuing licensing of the ISSCADA patent to a major center pivot irrigation system manufacturer. We plan to improve wireless communications to soil water sensors using the LoRa radio transmission protocol. And we plan to publish more reports on our work as it matures into a commerical system. Presentations are planned for several venues, including ILSI 2018 Meeting, Bermuda; Central Plains Irrigation Conference, Kansas; ASABE International Meeting, Detroit; and ASA-CSSA-SSSA Meetings, Baltimore.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
A second year of beta-test field trials was accomplished using variable rate center pivot irrigation systems at four locations: Bushland, Texas Florence, South Carolina Portageville, Missouri Stoneville, Mississippi The ISSCADA client server software was improved to include soil water sensor data, and advanced time domain reflectometry (TDR) based soil water sensors were installed at each location and linked wirelessly to the ISSCADA software. The soil water sensors are available commericially and are being rapidly adopted by the research community and end users, including producers and ecosystem and agroecosystem research networks. Several improvements to the user interface and utility of the client server software were introduced and used in field tests (Andrade et al., 2017a,b). The wireless infrared thermometer entered its second year of commerical production and was used at all beta test locations, revealing needed improvements in weather tightness that have been pursued by the manufacturer. A canopy temperature based evapotranspiration (ET) simulation system was proven in the field and results published (Colaizzi et al., 2017). The ISSCADA irrigation management approach was again shown to provide yield and water use efficiency results as good as or better than those achieveable using time consuming manual weekly neutron probe measurements (O'Shauhgnessy et al., 2017).
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Evett, S.R., S.A. O'Shaughnessy and M.A. Andrade. 2017. Precision Agriculture and Irrigation Current U.S. perspectives. In Proc. 2017 Irrigation Association Technical Conf., Nov. 6-10, 2017, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida. Irrigation Association, Fairfax, Virginia.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Andrade, M.A., S.A. O'Shaughnessy and S.R. Evett. 2017. Site specific irrigation management of a center pivot irrigation system using a sensor based decision support system. In Proc. 2017 Irrigation Association Technical Conf., Nov. 6-10, 2017, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida. Irrigation Association, Fairfax, Virginia.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Andrade, M.A., S.A. O'Shaughnessy and S.R. Evett. 2017. ARSPIVOT, A sensor based decision support tool for the integrated irrigation management of VRI irrigation systems. Pp. 5-14 In Proc. 28th Annual Central Plains Irrigation Conf., Burlington, CO, February 21-22, 2017.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
O'Shaughnessy, S.A., M.A. Andrade and S.R. Evett. 2017. Using an integrated crop water stress index for irrigation scheduling of two corn hybrids in a semi-arid region. Irrig. Sci. 35(5):451-467. https://DOI.org/10.1007/s00271-017-0552-x.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Colaizzi, P.D., S.A. O'Shaughnessy, S.R. Evett and R.B. Mounce. 2017. Crop evapotranspiration calculation using infrared thermometers aboard center pivots. Agric. Water Manage. 187:173-189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.03.016.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Evett, S.R. 2017. Soil Moisture Sensing: Comparing the Technologies. Pp. 14-15 In Irrigation Today, Vol 1, Issue 3, January 2017, Irrigation Association, 8280 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Fairfax, VA 22031-4511 USA
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Progress 12/01/15 to 11/30/16
Outputs Target Audience:The target audience consisted of a moving irrigation system manufacturer,two manufacturers of agricultural sensors, scientists and engineers involved in related research and development efforts, agricultural producers using irrigation, equipment dealers,and underground water conservation district managers and board members. Changes/Problems:Remote telemtry access to one of the five center pivot irrigation systems was not achieved due to local infrastructure and personnel lacunae. This delayed troubleshooting and required hands on operation, which prevented a full test of the decision support system on that center pivot. If this problem cannot be overcome we will move the equipment from this location to one of those we are looking at for additional beta test sites, likely the one in the Texas Panhandle. The 2016 growing season was characterized by plentiful rainfal at three of the four test sites, which resulted in only one irrigation required at one of those sites and only two irrigation required at the other two sites. This somewhat limited what could be learned from the beta tests, but the test were considered very successul, despite that happenstance, because the team learned a great deal about how to install and configure the equipment and software systems at remote sites, which is already helping with writing of user guides. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The post doctoral research associate attended the ASABE summer meeting and presented his work on the ARSmartPivot client-server software. Working conferences were held with beta test partners, including Valmont, bytelephone and in personat Valley Nebraska and San Diego, CA (Irrigation Association meeting). The Co-PIs presented at several scientific and engineering conferences and field days attended by producers and local and regional water conservation professionals. Presentations were made at the Central Plains Irrigation Conference in Colby, KS; at the 2016 Irrigated Crop Production Update Conference, 19-20 January 2016, Lethbridge, Alberta; at the Water Saving Technologies Flagship Project Technical Conference: Modern Irrigation based on Web+, August 20, 2016, Wuhan, China; and at irrigation workshops in Boise City, OK; Dalhart, TX; and Amarillo, TX. The undergraduate student in computer sciences completed his degree work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The co-PIs and beta test partners frequently speak at field days to the public and stakeholders, including irrigation industry representatives. One PI presented the research program and results to wide audiences, including urbanaudiences,during the ARS National Program 211 - Water Availability and Watershed Management retrospective review, and during two technology transfer workshops in the water sphere conducted in Washington, DC. One patent,six referreed journal articles andtwo proceeding articles were published for the engineering, science and irrigation industry communities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue beta tests on five center pivot irrigation systems at the four locations. We are investigating three additional beta test locations, including one on a farmer's field in the Texas Panhandle, one in Alberta, Canada, and one in Washington State. We will continue developement of the client server software system and its user interface with additional tools and easier access to often-used features, including better integration and display of soil water sensing data. We will continue development of evapotranspiration and canopy temperature simulation systems and development of a system for mapping soil water status based on a few soil water sensors and plentiful canopy temperature data. As they are developed, these will be integrated into the software system. We plan to hire the second post doctoral research associate in the coming year to help with development of the computer vision based thermometric and plant canopy sensing system. We will continue to work with our commercial partner in development of a low cost, long range wireless system for soil water sensors.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
The client-server software system that embodies the Irrigation Scheduling Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (ISSCADA) based decision support system was improved by addition of wireless soil water sensing, variogram/kriging based contour mapping of plant canopy temperature and water stress index, ability to read in and integrate a user-produced variable rate irrigation presciption file, and improvement of the user interface. A five-band (NDVI plus thermometric infrared) sensor design and algorithm for qualification of canopy temperature data was patented. Beta tests of the ISSCADA decision support system software and hardware systems were completed on five variable rate center pivot sprinkler irrigation systems, two at Bushland, Texas, and one each at Florence, SC; Portageville, MO; and Stoneville, MS. Wireless soil water sensing was achieved with four of the five center pivot systems. Wireless plant canopy temperature sensing was achieved on all five systems. Beta tests included comparison with irrigation management based on common practice at each location. Yield data are not yet available. Progress on simulation systems for evapotranspiration was made and reported in scientific publications.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
OShaughnessy, S.A., S.R. Evett, M.A. Hebel and P.D. Colaizzi. Multi-Band Photodiode Sensor. US Patent No. 9,451,745 B1. Issued Sept. 27, 2016.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Schwartz, R.C., S.R. Evett, S. Anderson and D. Anderson. Evaluation of a direct-coupled TDR for determination of soil water content and bulk electrical conductivity. Vadose Zone J. 15(1)2016. doi: 10.2136/vzj2015.08.0115. 2016
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Colaizzi, P.D., N. Agam, J.A. Tolk, S.R. Evett, T.A. Howell, Sr., S.A. OShaughnessy, P.H. Gowda, W.P. Kustas and M.C. Anderson. Advances in a two-source energy balance model: Partitioning of evaporation and transpiration for cotton. Trans. ASABE 59(1):181-197. DOI 10.13031/trans.59.11215. 2016.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
OShaughnessy, S.A., S.R. Evett, A. Andrade, F. Workneh and C.M. Rush. Site-specific variable rate irrigation as a means to enhance water use efficiency. Trans. ASABE 59(1):239-249. DOI 10.13031/trans.59.11165. 2016.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
OShaughnessy, S.A., S.R. Evett and P.D. Colaizzi. Review Article: Advances in Wireless Infrared Thermometry for Crop Water Management.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Colaizzi, P.D., S.R. Evett, D.K. Brauer, T.A. Howell, J.A. Tolk, K.S. Copeland. Allometric Method to Estimate Leaf Area Index for Row Crops. Submitted to Agron. J. on 31 August 2016.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Colaizzi, P.D., S.A. O'Shaughnessy, S.R. Evett and R.B. Mounce. Crop evapotranspiration calculation using infrared thermometers aboard center pivots. Submitted to Agric. Water Manage. September 19, 2016.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Evett, S.R., S.A. OShaughnessy, A. Andrade, D.K. Brauer, P.D. Colaizzi and R.C. Schwartz. Strategies to Improve Productivity in a Water-Stressed Future. Pp. 15-28 In Proceedings 2015 Western Alfalfa & Forage Symposium, Reno, Nevada, December 2-4, 2015. UC Cooperative Extension, Plant Sciences Department, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. 2015.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Andrade, M.A., S.A. O'Shaughnessy and S.R. Evett. A GIS-based Decision Support Tool for Center Pivot Irrigation Systems. Paper Number: 2461449, presented at the 2016 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Orlando, Florida, July 17-20, 2016.
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