Irrigation control system

• US 20040039489A1
• Filed: 04/21/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Irrisoft
• Original Assignee: Irrisoft
• Inventors: Moore, Steven Edward, Barney, Travis L., Ashurst, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 7,403,840 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion

Abstract

An irrigation control system and method for controlling irrigation based on weather data. Weather data such as wind, temperature, solar radiation, humidity, and rainfall, may be collected at one or more weather stations for a region. The weather data may be compiled on a computer and transmitted to a paging broadcast service. The weather data may then be transmitted by the paging broadcast service to controller interfaces associated with irrigation systems throughout the region. The controller interfaces may adjust irrigation controllers associated with the irrigation systems based on the weather data such that the proper amount of water is applied. This allows the water to be used more efficiently and the health of the landscape to be improved.

Claims

19. A method of broadcasting region specific weather data to two or more controller interfaces residing in distinct weather regions;

each controller interface in communication with a receiver, each of the receivers tuned to receive the same broadcasts as all of the other receivers, said method comprising the steps of;

assigning a weather region identifier for each distinct weather region;

configuring each controller interface to only process broadcasts for the weather region in which it resides;

collecting weather data for one of the distinct weather regions;

transmitting to a commercial paging service the weather data and the weather region identifier for the weather region for which the data pertains;

broadcasting the weather data and weather region identifier to the two or more receivers;

processing the weather data if the controller interface resides in the weather region to which the weather data pertains; and

outputting a control signal from the controller interface to an irrigation controller to improve irrigation.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of configuring each of the controller interfaces comprises the step of connecting each of the controller interfaces to a computer, said computer running software operative to assist in the configuring of the controller interface.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of collecting the weather data comprises the step of downloading the weather data from a weather station to a computer.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of encoding the weather data and weather region identifier prior to transmitting to the commercial paging service.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of processing the weather data comprises the step of calculating the evapotranspiration from the weather data.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of adjusting the evapotranspiration based upon a crop coefficient.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the controller interface also receives one or more weather measurements gathered from one or more local weather sensors directly connected to said controller interface, said one or more weather measurements used in conjunction with the weather data to calculate the evapotranspiration.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting the data from a satellite.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting via approximately the 900 MHz paging band.

30. A method of broadcasting data over the airwaves to improve irrigation output, said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a communication path to a broadcasting means;

transmitting the data through the communication path to the broadcasting means;

broadcasting the data to a receiver over the airwaves;

calculating a watering indicator from said data; and

sending a control signal to an irrigation controller based upon said watering indicator to improve the irrigation output.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the data comprises weather data.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising the step of downloading the weather data from a weather station.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the weather data further comprises a weather region identifier that identifies a weather region to which the weather data pertains.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein the watering indicator is evapotranspiration.

35. The method of claim 30 wherein the broadcasting means is a commercial paging service.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the communication path to the commercial paging service is chosen from the group consisting of an Internet connection, a phone line, and a wireless connection.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the data is transmitted to the commercial paging service over the communication path using the Wireless Communication Transfer Protocol.

38. A system for controlling an irrigation output, said system comprising:

weather data collection means for collecting weather data from a weather station;

broadcasting means for broadcasting said weather data;

receiving means for receiving said weather data from said broadcasting means and producing a signal corresponding to said weather data;

irrigation controller means for receiving said signal and improving said irrigation output; and

an irrigation means for providing said irrigation output, wherein said irrigation output may be adjusted corresponding to said weather data.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the weather data collection means collects the weather data via a modem from a weather station.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the broadcasting means broadcasts the weather data over the airwaves.

41. The system of claim 38 further comprising a transmission means for transmitting the weather data from the weather data collection means to the broadcasting means.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the transmission means encodes the weather data prior to transmission to the broadcasting means.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the transmission means additionally transmits a weather region identifier along with the weather data.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the receiving means further comprises means for matching said weather region identifier with a weather region reference.

45. A system to broadcast data to improve an irrigation output, said system comprising the steps of:

data collection means for collecting data;

transmission means for transmitting the data to a broadcasting means to broadcast the data to a receiver;

processing means for calculating a watering indicator; and

interface means for sending a control signal to the irrigation controller from the controller interface.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the data comprises weather data measured by a weather station.

47. The system of claim 45 wherein the transmission means is selected from the group consisting of an Internet connection and a phone connection.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein the broadcasting means comprises a commercial paging service.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the data is utilized to calculate the evapotranspiration.

50. The system of claim 45 further comprising a data feedback means to monitor the broadcasted data.

51. A system for interfacing with an irrigation controller to improve an irrigation output, said irrigation controller capable of receiving a control signal in at least one mode chosen from the group comprising ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer, said system comprising:

a first interface means for selecting at least one control signal output mode, said at least one control signal output mode being selected to correspond to the at least one mode in which the irrigation controller is designed to receive the control signal;

a second interface means for transmitting the control signal in the at least one control signal output mode to the irrigation controller; and

said irrigation controller improving said irrigation output based upon said control signal.

52. The system of claim 51 further comprising an antenna, said antenna receiving data broadcast over the airwaves and said control signal being derived from said data.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein the data comprises weather data collected at a site remote of the irrigation controller, and the system further comprising a processing means for calculating evapotranspiration from at least partially said weather data;

said evapotranspiration being used to derive the control signal.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein the system further comprises one or more local weather sensors to receive local weather data;

said local weather data being used to calculate in conjunction with at least a part of the broadcasted weather data to calculate the evapotranspiration.

55. The system of claim 51 wherein the first interface means comprises a connector adapted to receive a transmission cable connected to a computer or an integrated keypad.

56. The system of claim 51 wherein the second interface means comprises at least one field wire connection adapted to receive a transmission cable connected to the irrigation controller.

57. The system of claim 51 wherein the ET pulse mode provides a momentary switch closure for a preselected amount of evapotranspiration through the second interface means to the irrigation controller.

58. The system of claim 51 wherein the ET enable mode interrupts a common output of the irrigation controller until a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached, said common output connected to the second interface means.

59. The system of claim 51 wherein the ET trigger mode signals the irrigation controller through the second interface means that irrigation is needed when a predetermined threshold value of evapotranspiration is reached.

60. The system of claim 51 wherein the rain pulse mode produces a momentary switch closure through the second interface means for a preselected amount of rain.

61. The system of claim 51 wherein the weather interrupt mode interrupts a common output of the irrigation controller routed through the second interface means to prevent irrigation pursuant to predetermined conditions.

62. The system of claim 51 wherein the direct data transfer mode allows the irrigation controller to request weather data or evapotranspiration values through the second interface means.

63. An apparatus for interfacing with an irrigation controller to improve irrigation output, said apparatus having an antenna coupled thereto, said antenna receiving data over the airwaves, the apparatus comprising:

a power supply;

a first interface means for receiving user input; and

a second interface means for relaying a control signal to the irrigation controller, said control signal derived at least partially from said data, said second interface means capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least two of the following modes;

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer.

1. A method of improving irrigation output, said method comprising the steps of:

collecting weather data for a geographic region;

broadcasting over airwaves said weather data to a receiver in communication with a controller interface, said controller interface calculating evapotranspiration from at least partially said weather data; and

transmitting a control signal based upon the evapotranspiration from said controller interface to an irrigation controller to improve said irrigation output.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of collecting weather data comprises the step of downloading the weather data from a weather station to a computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the weather data comprises at least one data parameter chosen from the group consisting of wind speed data, temperature data, solar radiation data, humidity data, and rainfall data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises the step of transmitting the weather data to a commercial paging service;

said commercial paging service broadcasting the weather data over its network to the receiver.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the weather data is electronically encoded prior to transmitting to the commercial paging service.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the weather data is transmitted to the commercial paging service using Wireless Communication Transfer Protocol.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a weather region identifier is also broadcast with the weather data to the receiver;

said weather region identifier being used by the controller interface to ascertain whether the weather data pertains to the geographic region in which the irrigation controller resides.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using a computer to arrange said weather data prior to broadcasting said weather data to said receiver.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of validating the weather data prior to broadcasting the weather data by comparing the weather data to acceptable values stored in said computer.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of monitoring the broadcasting of the weather data over the airwaves with a feedback receiver connected to said computer.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of re-broadcasting the weather data in the event that the feedback receiver logs an error with a previous attempted broadcast of the same weather data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting the data from a satellite.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting via approximately the 900 MHZ paging band.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting over a radio network.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the evapotranspiration is modified after calculation by a crop coefficient preprogrammed into the controller interface.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the evapotranspiration is modified after calculation by a crop coefficient broadcast along with the weather data.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the evapotranspiration is calculated by the controller interface using at least partially the weather data received by the receiver and weather measurements gathered by local sensors in direct communication with the controller interface.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the weather measurements comprise wind speed and rainfall.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting via a radio network.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of broadcasting the weather data comprises broadcasting via a cellular phone.

64. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least three of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer.

65. The apparatus of claim 64 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least four of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer.

66. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least six of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer.

67. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the second interface means is capable of receiving a signal from a rain gauge, said signal passed directly to the irrigation controller or monitored to interrupt irrigation when a threshold is surpassed.

68. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the first interface means comprises a connector adapted to receive a transmission cable connected to a input device, the input device selected from the group consisting of a computer and an integrated keypad.

69. The apparatus of claim 63 further having a third interface means for receiving local weather data from weather sensors coupled via a cable.

70. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the data is weather data.

71. The apparatus of claim 70 further comprising a processing means to calculate evapotranspiration, said control signal derived from said evapotranspiration.

72. The apparatus of claim 71 wherein processing means modifies the evapotranspiration by a crop coefficient.

73. The apparatus of claim 63 wherein the data is a precalculated evapotranspiration value.

65-1. The apparatus of claim 64 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least five of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer.

74. An apparatus for interfacing with an irrigation controller to improve irrigation output, said apparatus having an antenna coupled thereto, said antenna receiving data over the airwaves, the apparatus comprising:

a power supply;

a first interface means for receiving user input; and

a second interface means for relaying a control signal to the irrigation controller, said control signal derived at least partially from said data, said second interface means capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least two of the following modes;

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, and direct data transfer.

75. The apparatus of claim 74 wherein the second interface means is capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least three of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, and direct data transfer.

76. The apparatus of claim 74 wherein the second interface means is capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in any of the following modes:

ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, and direct data transfer.

77. An apparatus for interfacing with an irrigation controller to improve irrigation output, said apparatus having an antenna coupled thereto, said antenna receiving data over the airwaves, the apparatus comprising:

a power supply;

a first interface means for receiving user input; and

a second interface means for relaying a control signal to the irrigation controller, said control signal derived at least partially from said data, said second interface means capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least two of the following modes;

(a) generating a momentary switch closure on a wire coupled to the irrigation controller for each predetermined amount of evapotranspiration, said irrigation controller basing a decision to irrigate on said momentary switch closure,

(b) interrupting a common wire thereby preventing irrigation by the irrigation controller until a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached,

(c) tripping a relay to signal the irrigation controller through a wire that irrigation is needed when a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached, and

(d) allowing the irrigation controller to directly access the data or an evapotranspiration value calculated from said data thereby allowing the irrigation controller to determine when to irrigate.

78. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in at least three of the following modes:

(a) generating a momentary switch closure on a wire coupled to the irrigation controller for each predetermined amount of evapotranspiration, said irrigation controller basing a decision to irrigate on said momentary switch closure,

(b) interrupting a common wire thereby preventing irrigation by the irrigation controller until a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached,

(c) tripping a relay to signal the irrigation controller through a wire that irrigation is needed when a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached, and

(d) allowing the irrigation controller to directly access the data or an evapotranspiration value calculated from said data thereby allowing the irrigation controller to determine when to irrigate.

79. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the second interface means being capable of relaying the control signal to the irrigation controller in all of the following modes:

(a) generating a momentary switch closure on a wire coupled to the irrigation controller for each predetermined amount of evapotranspiration, said irrigation controller basing a decision to irrigate on said momentary switch closure,

(b) interrupting a common wire thereby preventing irrigation by the irrigation controller until a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached,

(c) tripping a relay to signal the irrigation controller through a wire that irrigation is needed when a predetermined evapotranspiration threshold is reached, and

(d) allowing the irrigation controller to directly access the data or an evapotranspiration value calculated from said data thereby allowing the irrigation controller to determine when to irrigate.

80. A method for interfacing with an irrigation controller to improve an irrigation output, said irrigation controller designed to receive a control signal in at least one mode chosen from the group comprising ET pulsed, ET enable, ET trigger, rain pulse, weather interrupt and direct data transfer, said method comprising the steps of:

selecting at least one control signal output mode, said at least one control signal output mode being selected to correspond to the at least one mode in which the irrigation controller is designed to receive the control signal;

transmitting the control signal in the control signal output mode to the irrigation controller;

improving said irrigation output based upon said control signal.