A novel camera based irrigation control system

Irrigation using sprinklers is widely used in agriculture. When a rotating sprinkler malfunctions due to jamming, clogging or being worn out, the water continues to flow through the irrigation line at the same rate. In such cases, a small portion of the covered area is over irrigated, and most of its covered area dries, both resulted in a permanent damage to the crops. Previously known solutions require replacement of all sprinklers and expensive installation. In this work we have developed a camera based irrigation control system, for use in agricultural applications. The proposed system monitors the sprinklers using standard security cameras and has standard interface to irrigation controllers. It is the first of its kind to use existing sprinklers, irrigation lines and irrigation controller. The system shows robust performance during day and night. It is sensitive, requiring a minimum of a few pixels per sprinkler, thus effectively covering large areas and multiple sprinklers per camera. The system has been field tested for two consecutive years with proven results.