Smart water-sharing methods for farms in semi-arid regions

Abstract

We present smart water-sharing methods that aim to optimize the water distribution among farms in semiarid regions, where the availability of water is limited. Each farm uses wireless sensors (e.g., temperature, moisture) to locally determine the irrigation needs in the different parts/sectors of the farm and send this information to a community controller, which regulate the overall water distribution. The proposed water-sharing algorithms take as input the available water level/flow of the source and the irrigation need of the different farms; and determine the irrigation time and the amount of water that should be used by the different farms. Similarly, excess water information (e.g., non irrigation based water) is communicated between the farms and community controllers.