Max OultonMax Oulton

National Centre for Environmental Information

NIWA Irrigation Sentinelyour 24/7 assistant irrigation manager

Put your Neon irrigation scheme on autopilotThe Irrigation Sentinel control application consists of several systems working together to monitor, control, maintain and distribute water within your irrigation scheme.

The benefits of SentinelIrrigation Sentinel is easy to add to an existing Neon irrigation monitoring and control system – together doing many of the routine demand-based water-scheduling tasks that you would otherwise have to do yourself. A Sentinel system:

• provides 24/7 unattended operation

• greatly reduces the risk of water misallocation

• schedules automatic water delivery

• delivers water on time, allowing for water travel times

• compensates for changes in demand.

Sentinel is flexible and lets you make changes if you need toEven on autopilot, there’s still a need for flexibility. When it’s needed, Irrigation Sentinel makes it easy for you to:

• connect from anywhere you have web access

• enter customer orders (e.g., flow rates, start/stop times)

• edit the generated flow schedules

• view historical schedules

• view scheme operation at macro or micro level

• create new tasks on-the-fly (e.g., get current values)

• make allocation changes at ‘race level’ or ‘share-holder level’.

In a Neon-based irrigation control system, Irrigation Sentinel provides the missing link in the irrigation automation chain. Sentinel also enables important interaction, which is sometimes missing on a server-based system. You can edit and view scheduling in real time, as it progresses, giving you confidence that what you intended to happen is actually happening.

NIWA’s Irrigation Sentinel computer application relieves you of many routine water scheduling and supervisory tasks. Sentinel monitors and provides access to the operation of your entire irrigation scheme.

Sentinel generates the schedules that ensure the right amount of water is delivered automatically to the right place at the right time, while ensuring the total water taken stays within your consent limits.

How does Irrigation Sentinel work?The Irrigation Sentinel control application consists of several sub-systems working together in order to monitor, control and maintain water flow within the irrigation scheme. This diagram explains each of the functional components:

National Centre for Environmental Information

National Centre for Environmental Information

Scheduling component (spreadsheet)• Control at race or shareholder level.

• Enter the requested flow rates.

• Can set shareholder start and stop times.

• Schedule allows for water travel time.

• Generates flow targets for each station.

• Integrated into the Sentinel application.

Irrigation Sentinel client application• Main point-of-access to the scheme.

• Allows you to view scheme operation.

• Generates and edits flow schedules.

• Uploads schedule to the set-point server.

The image on the right shows the scheme intake working to a schedule that will ensure the inlet control station admits the right amount of water to the scheme to satisfy all downstream demand. Updates are made every 15 minutes.

Set-point server application• Runs on a server located at NIWA.

• Sends flow targets to control stations.

• Maintains pond levels by trimming gates.

• Allows you to view previous data.

The light blue line in the graph represents the flow set-points for the main intake gate. This gate needs to start admitting water to the scheme early enough to allow time for the water to get to where it’s required.

Neon server• Allows you to access data via the web.

• Allows you to view a site or whole scheme.

• Allows you to view status and data records.

• Gets data from the Neon loggers.

• Sends commands to the Neon loggers.

• Sends alarms to managers and users.

• Generates and delivers data reports.

The picture on the right gives an overview of the whole scheme. It shows latest flow and other data at each station. To see more data, simply click on the item to look at the trends in tabular or graphical form.

Neon loggers • Measure the flow rate.

• Maintain the target flow rate.

• Control gates to regulate flow rate.

• Store and send flow data to the Neon server.

enhancing the benefits of New Zealand’s natural resources

Sentinel in actionNIWA has installed Irrigation Sentinel at two major irrigation schemes in Canterbury: Acton Irrigation and Waimakariri Irrigation.

The Acton Irrigation Scheme, south of Rakaia township, takes water from the Rakaia River at consented flow rates of up to three cubic metres per second (cumecs).The Waimakariri Irrigation Scheme, north of Christchurch, takes water from the Waimakariri River at consented flow rates of up to 10.5 cumecs.

Both schemes have a complex network of water distribution races. Irrigation Sentinel effortlessly directs water from the irrigation intake, through the network, to multiple destinations.

Sentroid – Sentinel for SmartphonesSentroid, NIWA’s app for Android Smartphones, is a simplified version of Irrigation Sentinel for desktop.

Sentroid presents the information in a format suitable for the Smartphone’s smaller display and lower processing capacity. It enables you to keep tabs on the operational status of all nodes of your irrigation scheme when you are out and about. You simply open the app and connect to the scheme.

Sentroid enables you to view data channels in real time, view historical data any time and schedule and cancel tasks from anywhere that Internet access is available.

Where to next?The next generation, Sentinel 2G, will become even smarter– using new types of information to make irrigation even more effective and efficient.

Sentinel 2G will ingest local weather forecasts from NIWA’s EcoConnect service and make smart decisions at the local level about whether there’s a need to irrigate. Sentinel 2G will provide the answer and then take action – scheduling and carrying out the appropriate irrigation tasks.

Find out moreRod Mckay

NIWA Christchurch Email: Rodney.Mckay@niwa.co.nz

Tel: 03 343 8055

Demand-scheduled irrigation water leaves the Acton Irrigation Scheme intake to fulfil its customers’ orders. Sentinel tells the intake how much water to admit to the main irrigation race to meet these demands.

In the top image: the grey area represents the intake scheduled set-points, the green represents the flow target on the intake logger and the red represents the actual flow rate. The lower image shows the target flows and timing for the individual gates.

Graham Elley

Email: Graham.Elley@niwa.co.nz NIWA Christchurch Tel: 03 343 7850