Project title - SCADA based irrigation control and monitoring system for waste water irrigation scheme

Client - Byron Shire Council / Southern Cross University

Project aim - to install and showcase EIT irrigation management system (IMS) which has been designed to maximise efficiency of water use, enhance economic return and lessen environmental degradation.

The core component of the EIT Irrigation Management System (IMS) utilises EIT radio data telemetry devices , as well as EIT software for data acquisition, data display and supervisory control of irrigation.

The EIT - IMS system comprises: -

• EIT radio telemetry units ( Universal Data Transceiver )
• EIT data collection and data presentation software
• EIT supervisory control software

• uses EIT wireless technology to collect real time information on plant water requirements from remote sites
• schedules irrigation based on crop water demand
• controls pumps and valves using EIT wireless telemetry devices
• provides easy-to-read Human Machine Interface (HMI)

The technology is designed to manage irrigation based on plant water requirements. The benefit of this process is to maximise resource utilisation, and to contribute positively to economic and environmental sustainability.

Byron Shire Council (BSC) operates a number of decentralised wastewater treatment plants within its boundaries.  The EIT IMS system has been installed at Bangalow Waste Water Treatment plant in conjunction with Southern Cross University (Lismore) and Byron Shire Council (BSC, Mullumbimby, NSW).  Byron Shire Council aspires to maximise reuse options for treated wastewater in preference to the current practice of discharge to freshwater and estuarine environments. Southern Cross University provides Council with technical and research support in environmental, agronomic and geophysical sciences.

Byron Shire Council is actively seeking environmentally desirable solutions for management of treated wastewater from its wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Investigations by BSC for management of wastewater have been on- going for many years. BSC pioneered concepts for tertiary treatment of effluent using constructed wetlands in the 1980s. BSC continues this work with other major projects in progress for environmentally desirable management of effluent. These include expansion of constructed wetlands and effluent based irrigation projects.

Material and methods

EIT data telemetry

Field data collection and valve control is achieved using the EIT Intelligent Probe Controller IPC device. These solar powered units provide the interface between soil probes  (Sentek EnviroSMART ) and EIT supervisory control and display system.
 

The EIT telemetry units provide inputs for solar power supply, sensor instrumentation and outputs for valve switching and radio communication. The units are programmed using EIT propriety software. The telemetry units operate in a polled mode responding to requests from the central computer. Information is transmitted from each of six field sites using EIT solar powered radio data control units.

These transmitter units support various radio types including EIT 433 and 900 MHz licence free radios. In this project we have deployed spread spectrum radio units operating the Australian licence free bandwidth of 918 - 925 MHz.

The transmitters are capable of error free data transfer over 5 kms in open line of sight conditions. Distances of greater then 30 kms can be achieved using high power radios (GME Tx 3600 GME Australia).

Measurement of soil moisture throughout the soil profile is achieved using capacitance based soil moisture probes (Sentek EnviroSMART TM).

EIT Irrigation Management System (IMS)

Central to the IMS system is a computer (Dell) dedicated to the task of data processing, data display and control.

EIT has developed propriety software specifically for irrigation management using Citect (Ci Technologies, Sydney) supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platform.

The EIT IMS system provides:-

1. near real time information  on field soil moisture conditions via EIT telemetry
2. control of irrigation pumps and valves via EIT telemetry
3. scheduling of irrigation based on soil moisture levels
4. manual and automatic modes of operation
5. fault and system alarm features
 

1. The IMS provides a graphical module, which allows the visualization of soil moisture conditions throughout the soil profile. From these presentations an irrigation manager or consultant may interpret plant water demand. Plant water usage is a function of crop type, phenology, weather and soil hydraulic properties.

2. Control of irrigation from central PC. The HMI (Human Machine Interface) is designed to simplify interpretation of filed and computer data and provide an easy overview of the control system

The IMS allows the user to set the upper and lower soil watering set points for automated irrigation.

Discussion

The system will provide valuable information on plant water requirements for plant species evaluation currently being undertaken by SCUD and BSC,

Moreover the demonstration site provides EIT with the opportunity to gain considerable exposure in the immediate and long-term future. This exposure will showcase not only current EIT manufactured products but also highlight expertise in technical services, science and engineering.

It is anticipated that a series of field days to highlight the EIT technology will be held in October - November 2004 after planting of new season crop.

These field days will involve local government engineering staff, representatives from state government departments, local irrigation designers and contractors and Byron Shire community representatives appointed the BSC Waste Water Steering committee.

Positive feedback from operators is that the ' system exceeds expectations in terms of functionality, flexibility and ease of use'.