A flexible system for optimising green spaces irrigation

Abstract

Nowadays, the optimisation of irrigation systems and better management of green spaces is essential, particularly, in urban contexts. Water, a vital resource, is often wasted unnecessarily and the soil ends up not containing enough nutrients, which may lead to the death of vegetation. This article tackles this problem at two complementary levels, by (i) developing a web application to manage and control green spaces irrigation; and (ii) presenting a simulation prototype of a smart irrigation system, which allows to devise adaptive sensing solutions for measuring relevant atmosphere and soil parameters. This prototype is developed using CupCarbon, which integrates OSM (OpenStreetMaps) API and Google Maps, enabling the deployment of solutions reflecting real world scenarios. To design the irrigation system both the sensing zones of interest and adequate sensors were identified. Sensors send data to a local gateway which, in turn, switches the irrigation system or reconfigures the sensing frequency to enlarge the system operational lifetime. The data gathered is also sent to a main gateway to be stored for subsequent use. The web application handles sensing data in intuitive monitoring graphs, allowing for a versatile analysis and management of green spaces, and for customising the irrigation system per area/zone in a smart way.