A fuzzy irrigation control system

Abstract

Given the need to reduce water consumption in irrigation to face the challenge of guaranteeing the supply of this resource to the population in the coming decades, this work presents a fuzzy inference system based irrigation control system to determine water irrigation volume for a sweet pepper (capsicum annuum) crop. The system is composed of a Mamdani fuzzy control algorithm which receives data from soil moisture, air humidity and air temperature sensors from the crop field. Also, the rain forecast is gathered from a personal weather station located near to the crop field. Data gathered are used by the control algorithm to ensure that the soil moisture at the root zone is readily available to the plant. After 126 days from seeding, the results indicated that the system was able to reduced irrigation by 18% through controlling soil moisture levels at the plant root zone, saving water content on the irrigation process.