Disclosed embodiments of the invention include methods and systems for upgrading an existing irrigation system to increase its sensing and control capability without requiring extensive rewiring. A controller module is installed between an irrigation controller and a zone valve and physically proximate to the irrigation controller without disturbing most of the existing wiring between the irrigation controller and the zone valve. A field module is installed between the controller module and the zone valve without disturbing most of the existing wiring between the irrigation controller and the zone valve. The controller module and field module are the communicatively coupled primarily using the existing wiring. The controller module may encode commands transmitted to the field module and/or decode encoded data transmitted from the field module. The field module may encode data transmitted to the controller module and/or decode encoded commands transmitted from the controller module.

A system and method for dynamic irrigation management. The method includes continuously obtaining thermal signals captured in a farm area, the farm area including at least one crop; analyzing the obtained thermal signals, wherein the analysis includes comparing the obtained thermal signals to a plurality of combinations of predetermined thermal signals, wherein each combination is associated with a known watering state, each combination including at least one type of thermal signal, wherein the thermal signals are captured by at least one thermal sensor deployed in the farm area; determining, based on the analysis, a current watering state of the at least one crop; and generating, in real-time, an irrigation pattern for the farm area based on the determined current watering state.

Embodiments of the present invention provide for ground moisture content adaptive irrigation control. A method for ground moisture content adaptive irrigation control includes specifying a geographic region in memory of a computer and retrieving with respect to the geographic region from over a computer communications network, weather data that includes precipitation and temperature information. The method also includes computing by a processor of the computer moisture content of the ground within the geographic region utilizing the weather data. Finally, the method includes transmitting a command to an irrigation control system configured to control irrigation of the ground, the command modifying either a reduction in an irrigation schedule in the irrigation control system responsive to a determination that the ground is of a high moisture content, or an increase in the irrigation schedule responsive to a determination that the ground is of a low moisture content.

The embodiments of the present application provide a method for making continuous micro-irrigation tubing, the continuous micro-irrigation tubing so made, a method for performing irrigation using the said continuous micro-irrigation tubing, and the application of the said continuous micro-irrigation tubing in agricultural irrigation, wherein the method for making continuous micro-irrigation tubing comprises: preconditioning a filler; blending the preconditioned filler with high-pressure polyethylene resin at a predefined weight ratio and making said filler and resin into filler pellet; making preformed tubing from the filler pellet; and threading the preformed tubing into a high-temperature extractor in which continuous extraction is performed to make continuous micro-irrigation tubing. The method enables the making of continuous micro-irrigation tubing containing micro-pores on the tubing wall. After the continuous micro-irrigation tubing is filled with water, water exudes through the micro-pores.

Water is a precious resource in the world, and hence it is imperative to find solutions for an effective use of water, including an efficient irrigation system. A method and apparatus is disclosed that effectively processes the images of the vegetation, determines the optimum weather conditions and the soil moisture conditions, controls irrigation schedules of vegetation to efficiently conserve water while maintaining vegetation health, and predicts the nutrition stress in plants for optimum application of fertilizer when necessary.

A work machine having an autonomous travel function may include: a cutting section that cuts a work target of the work machine; an image-capturing section that captures an image of the work target cut by the cutting section; and a judging section that judges a state of the cutting section based on the image captured by the image-capturing section. The judging section may judge whether maintenance of or a check on the cutting section is necessary or not based on a result of judgment about the state of the cutting section.

The present invention provides a system and method which includes a machine learning module which analyzes data collected from one or more sources such as UAVs, satellites, span mounted crop sensors, direct soil sensors and climate sensors. According to a further preferred embodiment, the machine learning module preferably creates sets of field objects from within a given field and uses the received data to create a predictive model for each defined field object based on detected characteristics from each field object within the field.

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to providing power and data to an irrigation device. In some embodiments, a decoder unit for an irrigation system that receives power and data from an irrigation control unit over a multi-wire path comprises an input interface configured to couple to the multi-wire path of a decoder-based irrigation control system and to receive an output AC signal modulated with data and transmitted by an encoder of the irrigation control unit over the multi-wire path; a switch coupled to the input interface; a decoder circuit connected to the input interface. In some embodiment, the decoder circuit comprises a control circuit configured to decode the data from the received output AC signal; determine that the irrigation device is to be activated; and output a control signal to the switch.

The present invention provides a system and method for using a small, wireless gyroscopic sensor to monitor end gun operations. Further, the present invention provides a system and method for using an accelerometer to detect vibrations at the end gun. According to further preferred embodiments, the present invention includes a diagnostic application which receives gyroscopic sensor data and accelerometer data. The diagnostic applications of the present invention preferably include logic and threshold limits which are applied to the received data. The present system preferably provides notifications and warnings based on detected changes in rotational motion, orientation changes and vibration levels in and around the end gun.

Systems and methods for providing irrigation water to a soil depth of a crop rootzone in a plurality of crop fields using a sensor network and soil moisture modeling are provided. In various embodiments methods include receiving data from a sensor network in a first crop field and determining a soil moisture model using data from the sensor network in the first field. Various embodiments further include determining a first field irrigation time using the soil moisture model, the first field irrigation time providing irrigation water to a soil depth of the crop rootzone above a Wilting Point (WP) and below a Field Capacity (FC) of soil in the first field, and applying the soil moisture model to a second field.