Researchers from La Trobe University have developed a new Internet of Things (IoT)-based water irrigation system, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor sunlight, temperature and humidity and automate water pump management.
Designed for far-north Queensland ag-tech company Aglantis, the system promises to improve land management and reduce fertiliser run-off from farms, a direct threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
The new technology is also promising to make smart irrigation more affordable, with potential advantages in water use, energy conservation, soil assessment and crop selection.
AI-driven environmental monitoring
“It essentially takes the guesswork out of farming,” Aglantis managing director Luke Malan said.
“With growing pressures on profitability, it’s more imperative to know what you’re doing and how you can do it better. This flips conventional thinking on its head and opens the doorway to new possibilities.”
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) research chair and director of La Trobe’s Cisco Centre for AI and IoT Professor Wei Xiang said the system demonstrated that industry could drive research to tangible and groundbreaking results.
IoT researchers Kamyar Karimi and Aravindan Madasamy, who developed the system for La Trobe under the supervision of Professor Xiang, said it would reduce labour costs, increase water efficiency and allow more precision in farm decision-making.
"This technology represents a major shift towards data-driven, sustainable agriculture where AI and IoT optimise every drop of water for maximum farming efficiency," Karimi said.
Ultimately, the system design could include intelligent sequencing to determine the perfect order of irrigation across different farm sections, predictive maintenance and continuous learning from historical data, seasonal patterns and crop responses.
"By automating labour-intensive processes and putting control in the hands of advanced technology, farmers can save time, conserve resources and focus on other priorities without the stress of manual management,” Madasamy said.