An Irrigation Control System Based on an FPGA

Automation of irrigation is an effective way to increase production. However, as an agricultural country, China is still in the initial stage of agriculture modernization. So it is significant to combine information technology with the agricultural irrigation and to develop an intelligent irrigation system which is suitable for the development situation of the agriculture. In the paper, an irrigation control system based on an FPGA is presented. Using RS-232 interface to communicate with a host computer, the system receives irrigation commands from the decision making system and controls automatically the irrigation of 16 greenhouses or pieces of field. A control panel is designed in the system to make it easier for users to manage and intervene the irrigating. There are 16 LEDs indicating the status of water shortage. A small keyboard is used for users to input commands and 12 Seven-segment displays are used for displaying the date and time or user inputs. With many I/O pins, flexibility, easy debugging and all the control logic supported, the control system based on an FPGA represents a new trend in hardware application design.