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Project Topic
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The project will provide the smallholder farmers a more efficient management of its available water by deploying of an open, low-cost and autonomous irrigation control system based on IoT and smart technologies. Intel-IrriS contributes in not only saving water but also in increasing the water usage efficiency, while taking into account the specificities of socio-economic contexts of smallholder farmers as well as current irrigation practices. Existing solutions are generally very expensive and provide raw data which are not easy to be used directly by small farmers. Therefore, Intel-IrriS will seek to reduce the cost of smart technologies and to increase adoption of smart technology by smallholders. The following objectives characterizes the Intel-IrriS proposal and approach. Objective 1: Propose low cost but highly efficient water control systems for irrigation optimization. When adopting a low-cost design approach, one main issue is the reliability and accuracy of the collected data which is always low and can dramatically limit the efficiency of the deployed system. Intel-IrriS will propose a low-cost water control system but will improve its efficiency. For instance, Intel-IrriS will use advanced calibration and water-soil-plants-climate interaction models to increase accuracy of collected measures and predictive analytic techniques. Objective 2: Use cutting-edge technologies to propose highly innovative systems yet simple to deploy and adapted to smallholders. Intel-IrriS will implement the “Intelligent Irrigation in-the-box” concept by proposing a sensor/control/actuator-based system using recent advances in enabling technologies such as Internet-of-Things (IoT), computer-based Decision Support System (DSS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Objective 2 will ensure that the complexity seen by the final user (i.e. the smallholder) will be minimum. It will do so by designing a flexible, intelligent, autonomous, “plug-&-sense” in-the-box irrigation control system that can be implemented and deployed in an incremental manner. Objective 3: Seamless integration into existing irrigation system and/or local customs and practices. Seamless integration is a required property to appear as a lean technology, key to large-scale adoption by smallholders. For instance, while the efficiency of an irrigation system can be achieved by changing the irrigation technique itself (e.g. surface, furrows, sprinklers, drip-watering, ...) it is also desirable, when adoption by smallholders is targeted, to be able to add the smart irrigation control system on top of an existing irrigation method. Objective 4: Improve farmer's knowledge on water-related issues, foster local adaptation of technologies, increase local innovation capacity and facilitate technology appropriation. This objective is realized through a participatory approach with a “Smallholder Piloting Program” of the innovative solutions in the small-scale farming system to take into account region-dependent technical, agricultural, social, climatic and environmental aspects. This will ensure that the proposed irrigation systems are well tailored for the specificities of the regional context. Intel-IrriS will also develop an open source, generic framework that can be improved and maintained by local actors, stimulating the local ICT ecosystem. Objective 5: Large-scale adoption of low cost smart irrigation system by smallholders, stimulating synergies between various local actors. As main propertis of the system are intelligence and flexibility, the irrigation control system can be pre-configured differently according to local contexts to increase water usage efficiency thus adoption of our technology. However, large-scale adoption will not be possible without the help of a large number of local actors. Intel-IrriS will organize dissemination events to raise awareness, showcase technologies, show opportunities and stimulating synergies between various local actors.
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