Smart Irrigation

Dear Colleagues,

The adaptation of agriculture to global changes and water scarcity involves new technical and management solutions, particularly with respect to the irrigation in dryer areas. This issue is emergent due to the adverse impacts of global and climatic changes threatening to reduce the water available for agriculture and all the ecosystem-dependent services. The digitization of agriculture offers new solutions for confronting many of the new problems, including information technologies that enhance the collection of data by sensor systems and the automation of many processes optimizing the effectiveness of operations and the efficiency of the use of resources, resulting in greater sustainability and resilience of agricultural production. Thus, smart irrigation, resulting from information technologies applied to irrigation in the framework of precision agriculture, has had developments in several areas, such as the following: the water management of several irrigation systems, including hydroponic with the inherent irrigation scheduling, and fertigation; soil moisture monitoring, temperature, electrical conductivity and nutrients; weather monitoring, such as conventional meteorological parameters and carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gas emissions; and sensors network and communication technologies for irrigation systems.

This Special Issue will focus on recent developments in smart irrigation technology and practice, helping to clarify the potential, typologies, and limitations of information and digital technologies applied to the design and management of irrigation systems. These developments will contribute in clarifying some current questions and point out feasible solutions for specific real problems, particularly in water scarcity contexts.

Submissions on the following topics are encouraged: (1) Irrigation management, including scheduling optimization and systems operation control and automation aimed at water and energy savings; (2) crop management and fertigation, including crop local and remote sensing, controlled deficit irrigation, and yield optimization;  (3) control on the use of non-conventional water for irrigation, such as treated wastewater or drainage water reuse by applying intelligent systems to monitor water quality, soil salinization and health risks; (4) digitalization of irrigation scheme management aiming to optimize maintenance and operation of equipment and infrastructures, including web services for integrated and real-time management of information and infrastructure operation; (5) geographic information systems that assist in optimizing the logistics of the smart irrigation technology maintenance; and (6) unmanned aerial vehicles that assist in optimizing smart irrigation technology.

Dr. José Manuel Monteiro Gonçalves
Prof. Dr. José Torres Farinha
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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