There is much discussion in the irrigation sector about the benefits of Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) and how it is a cornerstone of achieving GMP and “actively managed irrigation” status.
Fundamentally, VRI allows you to change the irrigation application depth based on factors such as soil type, crop requirements or geographic features such as topography or rocky areas. The key benefit of VRI systems is it gives farmers and growers the ability to irrigate only as much as is required, where and when it is required.
Variable Rate Irrigation is usually associated with sprinkler systems on centre pivot machines, but the Water-Insight IMS is a VRI system for solid set & Fixed grid irrigation.
In the Water-Insight system, each solid set sprinkler is individually controlled by a solar powered IPC module. These modules communicate to a central point using mesh radio and are programmed with an irrigation schedule. This schedule defines the irrigation application time for each sprinkler.
Using a technique called “grouping”, the irrigation management zones are defined and set up as desired. The irrigation schedule can then be programmed for each group or zone at a resolution of one minute, giving the potential for fine calibration to the crop requirements.
For example, a group could be called “boggy area” and may contain 4 sprinklers – these would be scheduled to irrigate for only 3 minutes per day. The flexibility of IMS scheduling is discussed in more detail in this previous post.
Water-Insight IMS is the variable rate irrigation solution for your solid set, fixed grid and G-Set irrigation.
Please take a look at our short training videos which show you in detail both irrigation scheduling and setting up groups.
Water-Insight IMS is the variable rate irrigation solution for your solid set, fixed grid and G-Set irrigation.
VRI for solid set irrigation, VRI for solid set irrigation