Web-based irrigation management for open canals using Wireless Sensor Networks

The paper demonstrates a Wireless Sensor Network configuration that is used for managing crop irrigation from open canals using water pumps. The system comprises water level sensors attached to main irrigation canals, as well as flow sensors attached to water pumps. Each sensor is connected to a solar-powered wireless Zigbee module to form a sensor node. All sensor nodes are connected to a Zigbee gateway that collects sensor data periodically and sends it to web server using GPRS connection. The back-end of the system consists of a web server linked to a database to keep track of irrigation water level at all main and auxiliary canals. The amount of water used for each area of land is also monitored and compared to the optimum amount according to crop type. A prototype of the proposed system has been implemented, deployed and tested at a typical village in delta of Egypt, where a severe problem of fair distribution of irrigation water is encountered.