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Evapotranspiration remote irrigation control system

  • US 5,870,302 A
  • Filed: 02/02/1996
  • Issued: 02/09/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/17/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for efficiently controlling irrigation, including the steps of:

  • (a) electronically computing a watering factor by a host computer, wherein the watering factor represents the amount of change between a reference watering schedule and a new watering schedule, wherein;

    (1) the new watering schedule is based on computed evapotranspiration (ET) data that includes at least one of forecast precipitation data or forecast meteorological data, the forecast precipitation data and forecast meteorological data comprising a current prediction of future events based upon present meteorological conditions; and

    (2) the reference watering schedule corresponds to a site control device located at an irrigation site remote from the host computer and is based upon selected characteristics of the irrigation site;

    (b) sending the watering factor from the host computer to a site control device;

    (c) adjusting the reference watering schedule by the watering factor to obtain a modified watering schedule; and

    (d) controlling at least one irrigation valve coupled to a site control device in accordance with the modified watering schedule, wherein the modified watering schedule controls when and how much to irrigate through each irrigation valve.

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