Irrigation Monitoring

Irrigation systems range from simple flood gates to the most complex arrays of pumps, filters, and injectors, and a vast variety of application systems, such as pivots, sprinklers, rain guns or drip lines. To get the irrigation right and apply just as much water as needed it is vital to know if all the components are functioning properly.

To apply water uniformly to an irrigation sector or block it is of utmost importance to keep a close eye on a number of parameters:

• How much water is in the tank, reservoir, canal or aquifer,
• Pump pressure, temperature and runtime,
• Valve status,
• Condition of filters,
• Distribution uniformity,
• Speed and angle of pivots,
• Flow in pipes and drip lines,
• and several others.

But it is not sufficient to know how all the devices are performing. The irrigation manager also needs to know wind speed to avoid excessive loss through drift and evaporation of water before it even touches the plant or the soil, and he needs to see the infiltration of irrigation water into the soil in order to know when to turn equipment off again.

With the proper sensors and the right RTU from ADCON all of these parameters can be monitored and transmitted in almost real time to take timely acti

Customers can select from a wide range of sensors and RTUs the ones that best suit the monitoring job.

• Level sensors, be that pressure or radar sensors, tell you the exact amount of water in your tanks, canals, reservoirs and aquifers,
• Digital inputs let you hook up your pumps and valves to check their status (ON/OFF, runtime, error),
• Manometers let you assess the pressure in your distribution system/Irrigation gauges check the distribution uniformity;
• Soil moisture, temperature and conductivity sensors help you assess the infiltration of water, fertilizer and other nutrients,
• Compass and accelerometer sensors tell you about the speed and angle of your pivots,
• Wind speed and direction sensors tell you if it’s too windy for your sprinklers, rain guns or pivots to keep irrigating,

All the data of these sensors can be transmitted in near real-time to your office PC. With the proper setup of your software extensions in addVANTAGE Pro you will receive alarms and relevant information if anything goes wrong, or if any of your pre-set thresholds are being met. Never be surprised again by a pump running dry or overheating, by a filter being clogged or a pivot getting stuck!

Whatever the parameter is that you need to monitor – there is an Adcon sensor that takes care of it!