Smart orchard irrigation system

The present work addresses the development of a smart orchard irrigation system (SOIS) that performs the estimation of orchard evapotranspiration and the estimation of the soil salinization risk. Measurements of heat transfer are made to compute tree transpiration rate and soil water evaporation. The soil electrical conductivity is measured to compute the soil salinization risk. An inferential fuzzy algorithm is used to process data. This paper describes the physical principles underlining these estimations, the architecture of the data acquisition interface, and the construction and characterization of the probes used to perform the temperature measurements. The preliminary results shown here address the experimental evaluation of the performance of the probes inserted in the trees. Relative measurements with a precision of 0.2°C were obtained which are in agreement with the minimum required for these applications.