Final Report Summary - ENORASIS (ENvironmental Optimization of IRrigAtion Management with the Combined uSe and Integration of High PrecisIon Satellite Data, Advanced Modeling, Process Control and Business Innovation)
Executive Summary:
In the light of the real need to practically improve the environmental performance of irrigation systems and prevent the misuse of water, ENORASIS project developed an intelligent irrigation Decision Support System (ENORASIS Service Platform and Components) for environmentally optimized and thus, sustainable irrigation management for farmers and water management organizations. ENORASIS is a server-based system that gathers data from satellite observations and field equipment (wireless sensor networks), uses the next-generation weather prediction model WRF to provide high spatial accuracy estimations for precipitation and combines all this information with specific crop characteristics (using FAO56 model) to produce daily optimal irrigation advice that is communicated to farmers via web or mobile. Accordingly, farmers may use this real-time information to schedule irrigation activities also in interaction with other cultivation tasks and monitor water consumption both in terms of quantity and cost. Water Management Authorities may use water consumption monitoring data to estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs, set water prices as drivers for sustainable irrigation and apply pricing schemes that incorporate the real costs of water (in accordance with WFD).
The main scientific and technical result of ENORASIS was the development of ENORASIS platform and components (Meteo Analysis Tool, WSN, DSS algorithm) interfaces with charging/ billing systems, and the relative subsystems and functionalities. Web and mobile ENORASIS users interfaces and GIS application of ENORASIS were prepared, with a friendly, easy to use and targeted to end-users needs layout. ENORASIS system has been tested for 2 cultivation periods in 5 pilot implementations covering 9 different crops, 4 different climatic conditions and 2 operational approaches. The performance of pilots was validated and assessed against specific Key Performance Indicators. Four policy workshops, three scientific ones and a final conference have been organized with around 500 participants in total, accomplishing proper dissemination of the project and its results and contributing to policy dialogue about sustainable irrigation management in Europe. ENORASIS has also been presented in various events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Significant work beyond the state-of-the-art in various scientific fields was achieved with 6 scientific papers already published or submitted in peer reviewed journals and 11 publications in proceedings of scientific events. Also, an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published as a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs).
Project Context and Objectives:
In the light of the real need to practically improve the environmental performance of irrigation systems and prevent the misuse of water, ENORASIS developed a revolutionary, smart irrigation system for farmers and water providers. It helps to monitor water use and irrigate only where and when is needed and only for as long as needed. In a field that uses the ENORASIS system, wireless sensor and water valves are distributed over the cultivated area. The sensors compile raw data for various parameters that influence the evapotranspiration of the total input of water, such as soil moisture, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and rain gauge. The ENORASIS system server collects both the sensors measurements and the water valve activity. The advanced ENORASIS Meteorological Analysis Tool that uses WRF prediction model produces a personalized weather forecast with a resolution of about 2km. Daily forecasts for rain probability, soil humidity and other atmospheric parameters that affect irrigation management, are generated specifically for each field. Information from the sensors, the water valves and the weather forecasts is combined once a day by the system, in order to generate an individual daily irrigation plan, based on an algorithm produced according to FAO56. This irrigation plan is tailored to each field and its soil characteristics to ensure maximum yield for the crop. Farmers can receive irrigation recommendations directly on their smartphone, tablet or computer. Furthermore, water management authorities are provided with real time information about water demand. This information helps them set water prices and estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs. A long term, detailed collection of valuable statistics concerning irrigation water consumption is also available for them. ENORASIS system presents all information and data on a GIS and Android interface in a user friendly way.
Work in ENORASIS project focused mainly on the development, integration, testing and validation of ENORASIS platform and components (Meteo Analysis Tool, Wireless Sensors Network, Decision Support System Algorithm, interfaces with charging/billing systems) based upon advanced, state-of-the-art technologies, methodologies & models from various scientific fields. Web and mobile ENORASIS users interfaces and GIS application of ENORASIS were prepared, with a friendly, easy to use and targeted to end-users needs layout. The ENORASIS system value proposition was demonstrated and tested for 2 cultivation periods (2013 and 2014) in 5 pilot implementations (IUNG-PIB Grabow ES research farm and JAAK Inc. production farm in Poland, Delta Agrar production farm in Serbia, Adnan Menderez University research farm in Turkey and The Cyprus Fassouri Plantations Co in Cyprus) covering 9 different crops (potato, maize, corn, cotton, early and late raspberry, sweet cherry, apple, red ruby grapefruit), 4 different climatic conditions (North Central Europe, South Central Europe, Continental Mediterranean, Island Mediterranean) and 2 operational approaches (research farm, production farm). The performance of pilots was validated and assessed against specific Key Performance Indicators, such as such as water irrigation cost per unit yield, water consumption per unit yield, economic efficiency of irrigation, yield quality indicator etc.,. Feedback was collected by possible end-users (farmers, water management authorities, agricultural authorities) regarding the pilot implementation and their general expectations from ENORASIS system with the use of a questionnaire. In the countries of the pilots, policy workshops were conducted (combined with open pilot days) to present ENORASIS system and pilots in potential end-users and to contribute to policy debate on the appropriate means and actions that if utilized could maximize the adoption of sustainable irrigation management practices in agriculture. At the end of the project, a final conference was organized in Patras, Greece entitled “The future of sustainable irrigation management in Europe”, as a special workshop of IRLA2014 International Symposium. ENORASIS final outcomes were presented and the debate towards specific policy recommendations for sustainable irrigation management that could be applied in European level was concluded. Three scientific workshops were also organized aiming to present ENORASIS results to the scientific and academic community. The scientific workshops of ENORASIS took place in Novi Sad, Serbia (in event Novi Sad GEO Workshop and the EU JRC special event on DRDSI), in Heraklion, Greece (as a separate session of 12th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics) and in Radom, Poland (as a satellite event of a conference organized by Centre of Agricultural Advisory of Poland). ENORASIS events attracted in total around 500 participants. ENORASIS has also been presented in more than 35 events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Several promotional tools have been used for disseminating the project objectives and work, such as project web portal (www.enorasis.eu) social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), semester basis newsletter. These promotional tools were regularly updated with project news and other useful to interested stakeholders information and material. Friendly-to-the-user promotional material with attractive design and simple language has been developed (project leaflet and posters, four info fact-sheets two of which were translated in four languages, four promotional videos uploaded in youtube channel). ENORASIS also cooperated with similar EU initiatives in the field of sustainable irrigation such as Waterbee, Stream and IRMA project. Finally, significant work beyond the state-of-the-art in various scientific fields was achieved with 6 scientific papers already published or submitted in peer reviewed journals and 11 publications in proceedings of scientific events. Also, an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published as a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs).
Project Results:
Introduction
ENORASIS project’s main scientific and technical outcome was ENORASIS Service Platform and Components (ENORASIS system), an intelligent irrigation Decision Support System who helps farmers to monitor water use and irrigate only where and when is needed and only for as long as needed. Additionally, ENORASIS System provides (irrigation) water management organizations with intelligent tools and services to support the effective forecast and management of irrigation water resources, cover irrigation demand and charge customers (farmers) on the basis of an intelligent system of motives.
ENORASIS offers farmers the opportunity to use real-time information to schedule irrigation activities in interaction with other cultivation tasks that might be affected by irrigation. Water management authorities have the opportunity to use water consumption monitoring data to estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs, set water prices as drivers for sustainable irrigation and apply pricing schemes that incorporate the real costs of water, in accordance with WFD.
How does it work
ENORASIS is a server-based system that gathers data from satellite observations and remote sensing field equipment and exploits meteorological forecasting models to provide high spatial accuracy estimations for irrigation water needs, by taking into account information on specific crops and other factors affecting the irrigation process. These estimations are transformed into optimal irrigation rules (using the FAO56 model) that are communicated to ENORASIS end users via the web or mobile. Technically, the ENORASIS Service Platform and Components consists of numerous independent technical as well as logical and management modules which are all linked through network capabilities and exchange information with each other. The major five basic modules/ subsystems of the ENORASIS Service Platform and Components are:
- The Land Management Subsystem (Farmer/Land data and Irrigation Knowledge Base).
- The Remote Data Subsystem.
- The Decision Support Subsystem.
- The Administration Subsystem.
- The GIS Dashboard Subsystem.
Identification information about each irrigation block that takes part in the irrigation management system is saved in the land management subsystem. In the fields, sensors and water valves are distributed over the cultivated area. The sensors compile raw data about various parameters affecting the evapotranspiration of the total input of water and thus irrigation management (e.g. soil moisture, air temperature and humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, rain gauge) and send their measurements to the ENORASIS application server via the ENORASIS web services. Each sensor provides measures corresponding to one or more irrigation blocks. The water valves also send the valve activity for each irrigation block to the ENORASIS application server. Data from valves and sensors can reach the system as often as it is needed. Meteorological forecast data that derive from running meteorological forecasting models over satellite images are forwarded to the ENORASIS application server through the ENORASIS web services. Those data come daily and include a forecast for the next 72 hours. The Decision Support Subsystem receives information on the sensors and the meteorological forecasts as well as the Irrigation Knowledge Base parameters from the database and combines it with information for each irrigation block in the system, in order to create the individual irrigation plan for each case. The Decision Support Subsystem runs once per day and creates a plan for every irrigation block in the database. Users can access the ENORASIS via either a web browser or a mobile service, both of which communicate directly with the ENORASIS application server.
The Land Management Subsystem (Farmer and Land data and the Irrigation Knowledge Base)
The purpose of the Land Management Subsystem is the administering of all field data. With the terms “field” and “land”, the wider geographical area where the crops are located is depicted. But as a particular field is characterized with a diverse soil cover and topography as well as with different crops in many cases, the basic land unit that ENORASIS uses is an “irrigation block”, meaning an area within a land with a uniform crop type, soil type and irrigation infrastructure. Within the field management subsystem also resides the irrigation knowledge base which is a set of properties defined for each crop and soil type along with evaporation factors specific to temperature and time, which influence the decisions that the ENORASIS decision support subsystem takes for each irrigation block.
The Remote Data Subsystem
All raw data collected via the sensors (covering actual existing meteorological and ground conditions of each land/ irrigation block), the water valves (covering water consumption of each land/ irrigation block) as well as data deriving from meteorological analysis tools are inserted to the Remote Data Subsystem and stored on the system database.
ENORASIS uses the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model combined with satellite images for weather prediction in the covered areas. This allows for greater cost effectiveness and wider geographical coverage, compared to existing smart irrigation systems, where information on weather is delivered by weather stations and predictions are based on historical data and the installation of an adequate number of weather stations in the field to produce reliable data is required. Despite relying on historical data only, ENORASIS Meteo Tool produces a personalized daily weather forecast of resolution as high as 2km with high accuracy prediction nof rainfalls, minimum and maximum temperature, mean relative humidity, average wind speed and solar radiation. The results are collected and post-processed daily to provide the necessary information for the subsequent forecasting. The following variables are uploaded to the DSS every day, for each covered area:
• Total Daily Precipitation (probability & amount).
• Daily minimum temperature.
• Daily maximum temperature.
• Daily mean relative humidity.
• Daily average Wind Speed.
• Daily average Solar Radiation.
A complete set of WRF validated data for Europe was produced during ENORASIS project lifetime, as a result of the thorough validation conducted of the modelled meteorological parameters with the ground stations “raw” measurements at the pilot sites. One-year simulations made possible the decomposition of the forecast error to different patterns (e.g. synoptic conditions, seasonality, events, etc). Having a sufficient number of simulations (a) that cover the whole input uncertainty and (b) within each different cluster, validation results can be trusted since they are robust and have statistical significance (mathematical point of view).Additionally, besides the sensors at the pilots (point validation), comparisons against other databases (point and/or gridded validation) were performed as well as comparison of the ensemble mean against individual members to assess the optimal scheme.
The Wireless Sensors Network Infrastructure of ENORASIS is based upon ZigBee WSN technologies that are most suitable for agricultural application. The networks consists of sensing nodes which measure and report various weather and soil parameters, actuating nodes which control irrigation gates and a coordinating node which collects and processes the reported soil moisture readings and sends open/close commands to the actuating nodes.
The Decision Support System
The Decision Support Subsystem calculates current and expected plant water deficit (water stress) for particular plant phonological stage for each irrigation block (uniform crop-soil conditions) based on all existing information in the system (data from meteorological forecasts, sensors measurements, water consumption and specific irrigation block characteristics). The deficit is the physical information about the soil-plant-water conditions.
The Decision Support System runs once a day and calculates the irrigation plan for each irrigation block. When new plans are available, users are informed via web or mobile. The Decision Support Subsystem is based on a certain algorithm, that was developed for the project needs and combines a set of properties such as plant development stage, depth of roots, soil type etc. along with various physical atmospheric observations of the field that influence evaporation. These calculations are based on FAO56 model (a methodology for computing crop water requirements published by FAO of the UN) and are specific for each crop, field, soil type, temperature and time. FAO-56 provides a comprehensive description of the widely accepted Penman-Monteith method for estimating reference evapotranspiration from data on air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. Crop evapotranspiration is subsequently computed by multiplying reference evapotranspiration with a crop coefficient which depends on the crop and its development stage. Standard crop coefficients for all agricultural crops are provided in FAO-56. Irrigation water requirements are computed from a soil water balance. Most existing irrigation scheduling services before ENORASIS do not include soil moisture sensors to check and tune the computations neither weather forecasting services, to allow farmers to save on irrigation water and efforts, if rainfall is expected. ENORASIS further empowered the irrigation optimization abilities of FAO-56 state of the art model by combining model results with data from: the farmers themselves, field sensors and weather forecasts to provide individualized services.
The Administration Subsystem
This subsystem provides the ability to administer users and roles in the system. Furthermore, it provides the ability to retrieve reports on usage and irrigation actions and set the irrigation knowledge base parameters that influence the way the DSS decides on specific crop and soil types.
The GIS Dashboard Subsystem
The GIS Dashboard Subsystem of ENORASIS platform presents geographical thematic maps (lands/ landzones, crops, meteorological data, surface data (actual data received from field sensors), satellite data, water use and water demand trends) and provides the user with search functionality for spatial and relation data. ENORASIS GIS Dashboard Subsystem constitutes a geospatial infrastructure for irrigation modeling and water use and demand monitoring that can be also exploited in other occasions in the future (i.e. for water management authorities)
ENORASIS architecture
The ENORASIS physical architecture is composed of four parts:
- Application and Web Server: The web server serves the application’s web interface that allows users access the system from any web browser. It also provides access to the system’s API with which the web and mobile applications are able to read, write and modify data or execute system functions.
- ArcGIS Server: Hosts the ArcGIS server and serves its API. ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps; compiling geographic data; analyzing mapped information; sharing and discovering geographic information; using maps and geographic information in a range of applications; and managing geographic information in a database.
- Database Server: Holds the databases for both the Application and ArcGIS Servers.
- Wireless Sensor Network: Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of a number of autonomous devices, deployed in the studied field, communicating with each other without any physical infrastructure, and monitoring a wide range of phenomena such as temperature, ambient light, humidity, etc. Each of the nodes in the network contains a low power microcontroller, a transceiver, memory storage and one or more sensors.
ENORASIS roles
For the ENORASIS design, development and operational purposes, four main roles are foreseen:
- Farmers: Could be individual land owners or groups of single land of various sizes owners. This role requires basic knowledge of navigating the web and completing simple online forms and, basic experience of using smart phones (for using the mobile application system interfaces). Apart from the farmer, some or his entire lands may be edited or simply viewed by any other actor that he has granted them the right. For example the farmer can define several agricultural organizations that can update data on his land/lands and watering authorities that can only view (read only) some of his lands. In that way the agricultural organizations can take up the task to maintain the online land records, for farmers who cannot (or do not want to) access the online system and provide them with the irrigation plan information for their lands.
- Agricultural organizations: In this system role, government agricultural research organizations, agricultural support services, farmers associations or even agro-consultants may fit. This system role enjoys the same privileges and requirements as farmers. Moreover, users of this role can possibly administer the lands of more than one farmer.
- Water supply authority: This role matches irrigation water providers which may be of public or private interest.
- System administrator: Necessary for system operation reasons.
Web and mobile application system interfaces
ENORASIS has four application user interfaces:
- farmer web application;
- farmer mobile application (for smart phones);
- water authority web application;
- system administrator web application.
The ANDROID ENORASIS mobile application has been developed with the goal of getting the management of the ENORASIS platform closer to the field, where the farmer can make use of network positioning and device embedded GPS to define the boundaries of fields and plots, as well as deploy sensors and valves in their right position. The user can easily access anywhere and anytime to the most important information of the system. With the ability of activating remotely the proposed irrigation plan, reading system reports and receiving, either by email or SMS, alarms like: extreme weather conditions, sensors out of limits, irrigation emergencies, etc.; the ENORASIS mobile application becomes a complete ubiquitous tool for consulting and managing the status of the desired fields and the whole irrigation system.
Other results
During the project, a set of advanced web services (web interfaces) was developed and utilized in order for ENORASIS system to be able to operate independently as well as interface with third party systems and applications and exchange data according to authorization rules configured. This business logic and know-how that was gained during this development of system interoperability may be exploited in future similar occasions, for the connection/cooperation of DSS systems with charging-billing systems, ERP systems in agricultural and water management applications.
As a result of project tasks, research and scientific outcomes were generated that go a number of steps beyond the current state of the art of previously mentioned research areas. Those results were and will be analyzed in scientific articles/ papers/ books and other publications or presentations and presented in academic journals and in various scientific, research and policy events. Until the end of the project, three publications have been made in peer-reviewed journals, another three were submitted for publication and 11 scientific papers were published in proceedings of conferences and workshops. Also, a very important success of ENORASIS, was the publication of an a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs), being an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published.
Potential Impact:
As water quantity and scarcity concerns arise globally, sustainable irrigation water management is deemed necessary to maintain present agricultural production levels and this is addressed in EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its latest reform 2014-2020 as well as in the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Under the WFD, member states are required to achieve full cost recovery of water services via water pricing, taking into account also environmental and resource water cost. Additionally, one of the main CAP instruments promoting sustainable water management is the Cross-Compliance Scheme (CCS), penalizing with subsidy cuts farmers that do not meet environmental requirements regarding water use. The combined application of WFD with CCS of the EU CAP introduces the price of water as an instrument for reducing its consumption and pollution, making the rationalization of water consumption a prerequisite for economic viable agriculture.
In this light of stricter legislation and regulation on water management and enhanced policy support on sustainable agriculture, ENORASIS solution constitutes an improved irrigation decision support system that prevents the misuse of water, while ensuring mutual benefits for both water management organizations and farmers. The benefits that farmers gain from ENORASIS use could be summarized as follows: a) direct and individually tailored to the specific crop needs irrigation recommendations, that enable the optimization of water consumption without risk for the crop, b) access to accurate and personalized weather forecast, c) convenient and user-friendly control and monitoring through computer or smartphone, d) real-time alerts, e) irrigation tracking by water usage reports and statistics available from ENORASIS system. On the other hand, water management authorities are provided with real time information
Regarding ENORASIS environmental impact, rational use of irrigation water is expected to bring substantial benefits in terms of reduction on water consumption and consequently in improvements in water and soil quality, while reverse negative externalities associated with irrigation in general. To this extent, ENORASIS system will help water management organizations and farmers better plan water consumption. At the same time, ENORASIS is expected to reduce the environmental impact from agro-activities that are influenced by irrigation in terms of improving the use of agro-chemicals where and when this can be positively affected by optimized irrigation. Environmental benefits are also expected from the utilization of remote sensing and automation in irrigation, as well as the application of renewable energy technologies (e.g. solar and wind) to partly meet the energy demand of irrigation, where feasible, and thus reduce the environmental ‘footprint’ of agricultural activities. As for the social impact, the implementation of ENORASIS is expected to strengthen the qualitative dimension of growth at European level by contributing to the development of new knowledge and support human resource development in terms of know-how, skills and competences among all stakeholders. Overall, through the development and use of an intelligent irrigation management system that applies eco-efficient concepts and practices in agricultural activities, the adoption of ENORASIS solution will contribute to sustain and/or increase agricultural income and, thus, to preserving rural communities and economies. ENORASIS offers to SMEs operating both as technology/service providers and users in the agricultural and water management sectors a framework to develop a value chain of new eco-innovative products and services, by the deployment of cost-effective and value-adding solutions in response to stringent regulatory and legislative requirements in water management. The integration or combination of new technological innovations in ENORASIS framework is expected to result to business innovation in existing irrigation management processes both at the level of water management organisations and the level of farming. Last but not least, ENORASIS is expected to have scientific and technological Impact beyond the state-of-the-art in the fields of: •Prediction/ Planning intelligence in irrigation water management. •Development of new Techno-economic model for irrigation water demand management. •Improved Irrigation Scheduling Performance. •Integration of various technologies / scientific approaches to achieve Eco Innovation in practice. It is indicative that until the end of the project, already three publications have been made in peer-reviewed journals, another three were submitted for publication and 11 scientific papers were published in proceedings of conferences and workshops. Also, a very important success of ENORASIS, was the publication of an a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs), being an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report.
In the countries of the pilots, policy workshops were conducted (combined with open pilot days) to present ENORASIS system and pilots in potential end-users and to contribute to policy debate on the appropriate means and actions that if utilized could maximize the adoption of sustainable irrigation management practices in agriculture. At the end of the project, a final conference was organized in Patras, Greece entitled “The future of sustainable irrigation management in Europe”, as a special workshop of IRLA2014 International Symposium. ENORASIS final outcomes were presented and the debate towards specific policy recommendations for sustainable irrigation management that could be applied in European level was concluded. Three scientific workshops were also organized aiming to present ENORASIS results to the scientific and academic community. The scientific workshops of ENORASIS took place in Novi Sad, Serbia (in event Novi Sad GEO Workshop and the EU JRC special event on DRDSI), in Heraklion, Greece (as a separate session of 12th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics) and in Radom, Poland (as a satellite event of a conference organized by Centre of Agricultural Advisory of Poland). ENORASIS events attracted in total around 500 participants. ENORASIS has also been presented in more than 35 events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Several promotional tools have been used for disseminating the project objectives and work, such as project web portal (www.enorasis.eu) social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), semester basis newsletter. These promotional tools were regularly updated with project news and other useful to interested stakeholders information and material. Friendly-to-the-user promotional material with attractive design and simple language has been developed (project leaflet and posters, four info fact-sheets two of which were translated in four languages, four promotional videos uploaded in ENORASIS_FP7 youtube channel).
List of Websites:
www.enorasis.eu
Contact person: Dr. Machi Simeonidou, msimeonidou@draxis.gr
In the light of the real need to practically improve the environmental performance of irrigation systems and prevent the misuse of water, ENORASIS project developed an intelligent irrigation Decision Support System (ENORASIS Service Platform and Components) for environmentally optimized and thus, sustainable irrigation management for farmers and water management organizations. ENORASIS is a server-based system that gathers data from satellite observations and field equipment (wireless sensor networks), uses the next-generation weather prediction model WRF to provide high spatial accuracy estimations for precipitation and combines all this information with specific crop characteristics (using FAO56 model) to produce daily optimal irrigation advice that is communicated to farmers via web or mobile. Accordingly, farmers may use this real-time information to schedule irrigation activities also in interaction with other cultivation tasks and monitor water consumption both in terms of quantity and cost. Water Management Authorities may use water consumption monitoring data to estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs, set water prices as drivers for sustainable irrigation and apply pricing schemes that incorporate the real costs of water (in accordance with WFD).
The main scientific and technical result of ENORASIS was the development of ENORASIS platform and components (Meteo Analysis Tool, WSN, DSS algorithm) interfaces with charging/ billing systems, and the relative subsystems and functionalities. Web and mobile ENORASIS users interfaces and GIS application of ENORASIS were prepared, with a friendly, easy to use and targeted to end-users needs layout. ENORASIS system has been tested for 2 cultivation periods in 5 pilot implementations covering 9 different crops, 4 different climatic conditions and 2 operational approaches. The performance of pilots was validated and assessed against specific Key Performance Indicators. Four policy workshops, three scientific ones and a final conference have been organized with around 500 participants in total, accomplishing proper dissemination of the project and its results and contributing to policy dialogue about sustainable irrigation management in Europe. ENORASIS has also been presented in various events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Significant work beyond the state-of-the-art in various scientific fields was achieved with 6 scientific papers already published or submitted in peer reviewed journals and 11 publications in proceedings of scientific events. Also, an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published as a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs).
Project Context and Objectives:
In the light of the real need to practically improve the environmental performance of irrigation systems and prevent the misuse of water, ENORASIS developed a revolutionary, smart irrigation system for farmers and water providers. It helps to monitor water use and irrigate only where and when is needed and only for as long as needed. In a field that uses the ENORASIS system, wireless sensor and water valves are distributed over the cultivated area. The sensors compile raw data for various parameters that influence the evapotranspiration of the total input of water, such as soil moisture, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and rain gauge. The ENORASIS system server collects both the sensors measurements and the water valve activity. The advanced ENORASIS Meteorological Analysis Tool that uses WRF prediction model produces a personalized weather forecast with a resolution of about 2km. Daily forecasts for rain probability, soil humidity and other atmospheric parameters that affect irrigation management, are generated specifically for each field. Information from the sensors, the water valves and the weather forecasts is combined once a day by the system, in order to generate an individual daily irrigation plan, based on an algorithm produced according to FAO56. This irrigation plan is tailored to each field and its soil characteristics to ensure maximum yield for the crop. Farmers can receive irrigation recommendations directly on their smartphone, tablet or computer. Furthermore, water management authorities are provided with real time information about water demand. This information helps them set water prices and estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs. A long term, detailed collection of valuable statistics concerning irrigation water consumption is also available for them. ENORASIS system presents all information and data on a GIS and Android interface in a user friendly way.
Work in ENORASIS project focused mainly on the development, integration, testing and validation of ENORASIS platform and components (Meteo Analysis Tool, Wireless Sensors Network, Decision Support System Algorithm, interfaces with charging/billing systems) based upon advanced, state-of-the-art technologies, methodologies & models from various scientific fields. Web and mobile ENORASIS users interfaces and GIS application of ENORASIS were prepared, with a friendly, easy to use and targeted to end-users needs layout. The ENORASIS system value proposition was demonstrated and tested for 2 cultivation periods (2013 and 2014) in 5 pilot implementations (IUNG-PIB Grabow ES research farm and JAAK Inc. production farm in Poland, Delta Agrar production farm in Serbia, Adnan Menderez University research farm in Turkey and The Cyprus Fassouri Plantations Co in Cyprus) covering 9 different crops (potato, maize, corn, cotton, early and late raspberry, sweet cherry, apple, red ruby grapefruit), 4 different climatic conditions (North Central Europe, South Central Europe, Continental Mediterranean, Island Mediterranean) and 2 operational approaches (research farm, production farm). The performance of pilots was validated and assessed against specific Key Performance Indicators, such as such as water irrigation cost per unit yield, water consumption per unit yield, economic efficiency of irrigation, yield quality indicator etc.,. Feedback was collected by possible end-users (farmers, water management authorities, agricultural authorities) regarding the pilot implementation and their general expectations from ENORASIS system with the use of a questionnaire. In the countries of the pilots, policy workshops were conducted (combined with open pilot days) to present ENORASIS system and pilots in potential end-users and to contribute to policy debate on the appropriate means and actions that if utilized could maximize the adoption of sustainable irrigation management practices in agriculture. At the end of the project, a final conference was organized in Patras, Greece entitled “The future of sustainable irrigation management in Europe”, as a special workshop of IRLA2014 International Symposium. ENORASIS final outcomes were presented and the debate towards specific policy recommendations for sustainable irrigation management that could be applied in European level was concluded. Three scientific workshops were also organized aiming to present ENORASIS results to the scientific and academic community. The scientific workshops of ENORASIS took place in Novi Sad, Serbia (in event Novi Sad GEO Workshop and the EU JRC special event on DRDSI), in Heraklion, Greece (as a separate session of 12th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics) and in Radom, Poland (as a satellite event of a conference organized by Centre of Agricultural Advisory of Poland). ENORASIS events attracted in total around 500 participants. ENORASIS has also been presented in more than 35 events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Several promotional tools have been used for disseminating the project objectives and work, such as project web portal (www.enorasis.eu) social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), semester basis newsletter. These promotional tools were regularly updated with project news and other useful to interested stakeholders information and material. Friendly-to-the-user promotional material with attractive design and simple language has been developed (project leaflet and posters, four info fact-sheets two of which were translated in four languages, four promotional videos uploaded in youtube channel). ENORASIS also cooperated with similar EU initiatives in the field of sustainable irrigation such as Waterbee, Stream and IRMA project. Finally, significant work beyond the state-of-the-art in various scientific fields was achieved with 6 scientific papers already published or submitted in peer reviewed journals and 11 publications in proceedings of scientific events. Also, an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published as a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs).
Project Results:
Introduction
ENORASIS project’s main scientific and technical outcome was ENORASIS Service Platform and Components (ENORASIS system), an intelligent irrigation Decision Support System who helps farmers to monitor water use and irrigate only where and when is needed and only for as long as needed. Additionally, ENORASIS System provides (irrigation) water management organizations with intelligent tools and services to support the effective forecast and management of irrigation water resources, cover irrigation demand and charge customers (farmers) on the basis of an intelligent system of motives.
ENORASIS offers farmers the opportunity to use real-time information to schedule irrigation activities in interaction with other cultivation tasks that might be affected by irrigation. Water management authorities have the opportunity to use water consumption monitoring data to estimate short and long term pressures on water reservoirs, set water prices as drivers for sustainable irrigation and apply pricing schemes that incorporate the real costs of water, in accordance with WFD.
How does it work
ENORASIS is a server-based system that gathers data from satellite observations and remote sensing field equipment and exploits meteorological forecasting models to provide high spatial accuracy estimations for irrigation water needs, by taking into account information on specific crops and other factors affecting the irrigation process. These estimations are transformed into optimal irrigation rules (using the FAO56 model) that are communicated to ENORASIS end users via the web or mobile. Technically, the ENORASIS Service Platform and Components consists of numerous independent technical as well as logical and management modules which are all linked through network capabilities and exchange information with each other. The major five basic modules/ subsystems of the ENORASIS Service Platform and Components are:
- The Land Management Subsystem (Farmer/Land data and Irrigation Knowledge Base).
- The Remote Data Subsystem.
- The Decision Support Subsystem.
- The Administration Subsystem.
- The GIS Dashboard Subsystem.
Identification information about each irrigation block that takes part in the irrigation management system is saved in the land management subsystem. In the fields, sensors and water valves are distributed over the cultivated area. The sensors compile raw data about various parameters affecting the evapotranspiration of the total input of water and thus irrigation management (e.g. soil moisture, air temperature and humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, rain gauge) and send their measurements to the ENORASIS application server via the ENORASIS web services. Each sensor provides measures corresponding to one or more irrigation blocks. The water valves also send the valve activity for each irrigation block to the ENORASIS application server. Data from valves and sensors can reach the system as often as it is needed. Meteorological forecast data that derive from running meteorological forecasting models over satellite images are forwarded to the ENORASIS application server through the ENORASIS web services. Those data come daily and include a forecast for the next 72 hours. The Decision Support Subsystem receives information on the sensors and the meteorological forecasts as well as the Irrigation Knowledge Base parameters from the database and combines it with information for each irrigation block in the system, in order to create the individual irrigation plan for each case. The Decision Support Subsystem runs once per day and creates a plan for every irrigation block in the database. Users can access the ENORASIS via either a web browser or a mobile service, both of which communicate directly with the ENORASIS application server.
The Land Management Subsystem (Farmer and Land data and the Irrigation Knowledge Base)
The purpose of the Land Management Subsystem is the administering of all field data. With the terms “field” and “land”, the wider geographical area where the crops are located is depicted. But as a particular field is characterized with a diverse soil cover and topography as well as with different crops in many cases, the basic land unit that ENORASIS uses is an “irrigation block”, meaning an area within a land with a uniform crop type, soil type and irrigation infrastructure. Within the field management subsystem also resides the irrigation knowledge base which is a set of properties defined for each crop and soil type along with evaporation factors specific to temperature and time, which influence the decisions that the ENORASIS decision support subsystem takes for each irrigation block.
The Remote Data Subsystem
All raw data collected via the sensors (covering actual existing meteorological and ground conditions of each land/ irrigation block), the water valves (covering water consumption of each land/ irrigation block) as well as data deriving from meteorological analysis tools are inserted to the Remote Data Subsystem and stored on the system database.
ENORASIS uses the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model combined with satellite images for weather prediction in the covered areas. This allows for greater cost effectiveness and wider geographical coverage, compared to existing smart irrigation systems, where information on weather is delivered by weather stations and predictions are based on historical data and the installation of an adequate number of weather stations in the field to produce reliable data is required. Despite relying on historical data only, ENORASIS Meteo Tool produces a personalized daily weather forecast of resolution as high as 2km with high accuracy prediction nof rainfalls, minimum and maximum temperature, mean relative humidity, average wind speed and solar radiation. The results are collected and post-processed daily to provide the necessary information for the subsequent forecasting. The following variables are uploaded to the DSS every day, for each covered area:
• Total Daily Precipitation (probability & amount).
• Daily minimum temperature.
• Daily maximum temperature.
• Daily mean relative humidity.
• Daily average Wind Speed.
• Daily average Solar Radiation.
A complete set of WRF validated data for Europe was produced during ENORASIS project lifetime, as a result of the thorough validation conducted of the modelled meteorological parameters with the ground stations “raw” measurements at the pilot sites. One-year simulations made possible the decomposition of the forecast error to different patterns (e.g. synoptic conditions, seasonality, events, etc). Having a sufficient number of simulations (a) that cover the whole input uncertainty and (b) within each different cluster, validation results can be trusted since they are robust and have statistical significance (mathematical point of view).Additionally, besides the sensors at the pilots (point validation), comparisons against other databases (point and/or gridded validation) were performed as well as comparison of the ensemble mean against individual members to assess the optimal scheme.
The Wireless Sensors Network Infrastructure of ENORASIS is based upon ZigBee WSN technologies that are most suitable for agricultural application. The networks consists of sensing nodes which measure and report various weather and soil parameters, actuating nodes which control irrigation gates and a coordinating node which collects and processes the reported soil moisture readings and sends open/close commands to the actuating nodes.
The Decision Support System
The Decision Support Subsystem calculates current and expected plant water deficit (water stress) for particular plant phonological stage for each irrigation block (uniform crop-soil conditions) based on all existing information in the system (data from meteorological forecasts, sensors measurements, water consumption and specific irrigation block characteristics). The deficit is the physical information about the soil-plant-water conditions.
The Decision Support System runs once a day and calculates the irrigation plan for each irrigation block. When new plans are available, users are informed via web or mobile. The Decision Support Subsystem is based on a certain algorithm, that was developed for the project needs and combines a set of properties such as plant development stage, depth of roots, soil type etc. along with various physical atmospheric observations of the field that influence evaporation. These calculations are based on FAO56 model (a methodology for computing crop water requirements published by FAO of the UN) and are specific for each crop, field, soil type, temperature and time. FAO-56 provides a comprehensive description of the widely accepted Penman-Monteith method for estimating reference evapotranspiration from data on air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. Crop evapotranspiration is subsequently computed by multiplying reference evapotranspiration with a crop coefficient which depends on the crop and its development stage. Standard crop coefficients for all agricultural crops are provided in FAO-56. Irrigation water requirements are computed from a soil water balance. Most existing irrigation scheduling services before ENORASIS do not include soil moisture sensors to check and tune the computations neither weather forecasting services, to allow farmers to save on irrigation water and efforts, if rainfall is expected. ENORASIS further empowered the irrigation optimization abilities of FAO-56 state of the art model by combining model results with data from: the farmers themselves, field sensors and weather forecasts to provide individualized services.
The Administration Subsystem
This subsystem provides the ability to administer users and roles in the system. Furthermore, it provides the ability to retrieve reports on usage and irrigation actions and set the irrigation knowledge base parameters that influence the way the DSS decides on specific crop and soil types.
The GIS Dashboard Subsystem
The GIS Dashboard Subsystem of ENORASIS platform presents geographical thematic maps (lands/ landzones, crops, meteorological data, surface data (actual data received from field sensors), satellite data, water use and water demand trends) and provides the user with search functionality for spatial and relation data. ENORASIS GIS Dashboard Subsystem constitutes a geospatial infrastructure for irrigation modeling and water use and demand monitoring that can be also exploited in other occasions in the future (i.e. for water management authorities)
ENORASIS architecture
The ENORASIS physical architecture is composed of four parts:
- Application and Web Server: The web server serves the application’s web interface that allows users access the system from any web browser. It also provides access to the system’s API with which the web and mobile applications are able to read, write and modify data or execute system functions.
- ArcGIS Server: Hosts the ArcGIS server and serves its API. ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps; compiling geographic data; analyzing mapped information; sharing and discovering geographic information; using maps and geographic information in a range of applications; and managing geographic information in a database.
- Database Server: Holds the databases for both the Application and ArcGIS Servers.
- Wireless Sensor Network: Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of a number of autonomous devices, deployed in the studied field, communicating with each other without any physical infrastructure, and monitoring a wide range of phenomena such as temperature, ambient light, humidity, etc. Each of the nodes in the network contains a low power microcontroller, a transceiver, memory storage and one or more sensors.
ENORASIS roles
For the ENORASIS design, development and operational purposes, four main roles are foreseen:
- Farmers: Could be individual land owners or groups of single land of various sizes owners. This role requires basic knowledge of navigating the web and completing simple online forms and, basic experience of using smart phones (for using the mobile application system interfaces). Apart from the farmer, some or his entire lands may be edited or simply viewed by any other actor that he has granted them the right. For example the farmer can define several agricultural organizations that can update data on his land/lands and watering authorities that can only view (read only) some of his lands. In that way the agricultural organizations can take up the task to maintain the online land records, for farmers who cannot (or do not want to) access the online system and provide them with the irrigation plan information for their lands.
- Agricultural organizations: In this system role, government agricultural research organizations, agricultural support services, farmers associations or even agro-consultants may fit. This system role enjoys the same privileges and requirements as farmers. Moreover, users of this role can possibly administer the lands of more than one farmer.
- Water supply authority: This role matches irrigation water providers which may be of public or private interest.
- System administrator: Necessary for system operation reasons.
Web and mobile application system interfaces
ENORASIS has four application user interfaces:
- farmer web application;
- farmer mobile application (for smart phones);
- water authority web application;
- system administrator web application.
The ANDROID ENORASIS mobile application has been developed with the goal of getting the management of the ENORASIS platform closer to the field, where the farmer can make use of network positioning and device embedded GPS to define the boundaries of fields and plots, as well as deploy sensors and valves in their right position. The user can easily access anywhere and anytime to the most important information of the system. With the ability of activating remotely the proposed irrigation plan, reading system reports and receiving, either by email or SMS, alarms like: extreme weather conditions, sensors out of limits, irrigation emergencies, etc.; the ENORASIS mobile application becomes a complete ubiquitous tool for consulting and managing the status of the desired fields and the whole irrigation system.
Other results
During the project, a set of advanced web services (web interfaces) was developed and utilized in order for ENORASIS system to be able to operate independently as well as interface with third party systems and applications and exchange data according to authorization rules configured. This business logic and know-how that was gained during this development of system interoperability may be exploited in future similar occasions, for the connection/cooperation of DSS systems with charging-billing systems, ERP systems in agricultural and water management applications.
As a result of project tasks, research and scientific outcomes were generated that go a number of steps beyond the current state of the art of previously mentioned research areas. Those results were and will be analyzed in scientific articles/ papers/ books and other publications or presentations and presented in academic journals and in various scientific, research and policy events. Until the end of the project, three publications have been made in peer-reviewed journals, another three were submitted for publication and 11 scientific papers were published in proceedings of conferences and workshops. Also, a very important success of ENORASIS, was the publication of an a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs), being an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report was published.
Potential Impact:
As water quantity and scarcity concerns arise globally, sustainable irrigation water management is deemed necessary to maintain present agricultural production levels and this is addressed in EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its latest reform 2014-2020 as well as in the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Under the WFD, member states are required to achieve full cost recovery of water services via water pricing, taking into account also environmental and resource water cost. Additionally, one of the main CAP instruments promoting sustainable water management is the Cross-Compliance Scheme (CCS), penalizing with subsidy cuts farmers that do not meet environmental requirements regarding water use. The combined application of WFD with CCS of the EU CAP introduces the price of water as an instrument for reducing its consumption and pollution, making the rationalization of water consumption a prerequisite for economic viable agriculture.
In this light of stricter legislation and regulation on water management and enhanced policy support on sustainable agriculture, ENORASIS solution constitutes an improved irrigation decision support system that prevents the misuse of water, while ensuring mutual benefits for both water management organizations and farmers. The benefits that farmers gain from ENORASIS use could be summarized as follows: a) direct and individually tailored to the specific crop needs irrigation recommendations, that enable the optimization of water consumption without risk for the crop, b) access to accurate and personalized weather forecast, c) convenient and user-friendly control and monitoring through computer or smartphone, d) real-time alerts, e) irrigation tracking by water usage reports and statistics available from ENORASIS system. On the other hand, water management authorities are provided with real time information
Regarding ENORASIS environmental impact, rational use of irrigation water is expected to bring substantial benefits in terms of reduction on water consumption and consequently in improvements in water and soil quality, while reverse negative externalities associated with irrigation in general. To this extent, ENORASIS system will help water management organizations and farmers better plan water consumption. At the same time, ENORASIS is expected to reduce the environmental impact from agro-activities that are influenced by irrigation in terms of improving the use of agro-chemicals where and when this can be positively affected by optimized irrigation. Environmental benefits are also expected from the utilization of remote sensing and automation in irrigation, as well as the application of renewable energy technologies (e.g. solar and wind) to partly meet the energy demand of irrigation, where feasible, and thus reduce the environmental ‘footprint’ of agricultural activities. As for the social impact, the implementation of ENORASIS is expected to strengthen the qualitative dimension of growth at European level by contributing to the development of new knowledge and support human resource development in terms of know-how, skills and competences among all stakeholders. Overall, through the development and use of an intelligent irrigation management system that applies eco-efficient concepts and practices in agricultural activities, the adoption of ENORASIS solution will contribute to sustain and/or increase agricultural income and, thus, to preserving rural communities and economies. ENORASIS offers to SMEs operating both as technology/service providers and users in the agricultural and water management sectors a framework to develop a value chain of new eco-innovative products and services, by the deployment of cost-effective and value-adding solutions in response to stringent regulatory and legislative requirements in water management. The integration or combination of new technological innovations in ENORASIS framework is expected to result to business innovation in existing irrigation management processes both at the level of water management organisations and the level of farming. Last but not least, ENORASIS is expected to have scientific and technological Impact beyond the state-of-the-art in the fields of: •Prediction/ Planning intelligence in irrigation water management. •Development of new Techno-economic model for irrigation water demand management. •Improved Irrigation Scheduling Performance. •Integration of various technologies / scientific approaches to achieve Eco Innovation in practice. It is indicative that until the end of the project, already three publications have been made in peer-reviewed journals, another three were submitted for publication and 11 scientific papers were published in proceedings of conferences and workshops. Also, a very important success of ENORASIS, was the publication of an a book titled “Sensing Technologies for Precision Irrigation” by Springer (Briefs), being an extended and refined version of Deliverable D1.1 SOTA Report.
In the countries of the pilots, policy workshops were conducted (combined with open pilot days) to present ENORASIS system and pilots in potential end-users and to contribute to policy debate on the appropriate means and actions that if utilized could maximize the adoption of sustainable irrigation management practices in agriculture. At the end of the project, a final conference was organized in Patras, Greece entitled “The future of sustainable irrigation management in Europe”, as a special workshop of IRLA2014 International Symposium. ENORASIS final outcomes were presented and the debate towards specific policy recommendations for sustainable irrigation management that could be applied in European level was concluded. Three scientific workshops were also organized aiming to present ENORASIS results to the scientific and academic community. The scientific workshops of ENORASIS took place in Novi Sad, Serbia (in event Novi Sad GEO Workshop and the EU JRC special event on DRDSI), in Heraklion, Greece (as a separate session of 12th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics) and in Radom, Poland (as a satellite event of a conference organized by Centre of Agricultural Advisory of Poland). ENORASIS events attracted in total around 500 participants. ENORASIS has also been presented in more than 35 events, conferences and press references of regional, national European and international level. Among these, two major European agricultural fairs (AGROTICA 2014-Thessaloniki, Greece and Novi Sad Agricultural Fair 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia) were included, enabling the interaction with many interested stakeholders and potential end-users. Several promotional tools have been used for disseminating the project objectives and work, such as project web portal (www.enorasis.eu) social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), semester basis newsletter. These promotional tools were regularly updated with project news and other useful to interested stakeholders information and material. Friendly-to-the-user promotional material with attractive design and simple language has been developed (project leaflet and posters, four info fact-sheets two of which were translated in four languages, four promotional videos uploaded in ENORASIS_FP7 youtube channel).
List of Websites:
www.enorasis.eu
Contact person: Dr. Machi Simeonidou, msimeonidou@draxis.gr