Patent ID: 11953872
Assignee: MANNA IRRIGATION LTD.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  G  B  Y | IPC B  G

Claim 8:
9. A method for generating a forecast Kc (FKc) for use in managing agricultural irrigation of a crop in a field or a subplot thereof during a growing period, by performing the steps of:
within a computing environment comprising at least one computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein and data specifying a boundary of the field and/or at least one subplot thereof and a reference crop coefficient curve (RCCC) for the growing period, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to generate the FKc by performing the steps of:
obtaining near real time Kc (KcNRT) at a time t (KcNRT(t));
setting a time tf for which FKc is required; and
when t and tf are within the start of the initial growth period (IGP) to the start of the middle growing period (MGP) on the time axis of the RCCC:
obtaining a maximum Kc value from the RCCC at the MGP (KcMID);
 computing the number of days from t to tf to obtain ΔT1;
 computing the number of days from t to the start of the MGP (tMGPs) to obtain ΔT2; and
 computing FKc to equal KcNRT(t)+([KcMID−KcNRT(t)]/ΔT2)*ΔT1;

when t is before or within a period from the start of the MGP to the end of the MGP on the time axis of the RCCC and tf is within the period;
obtaining a threshold minimal Kc value from the RCCC for said period (ThrKcMID);
obtaining KcNRT at a time tL (KcNRTtL) which is before the time t; and
 when KCMID>KcNRT(t)>KCNRT−ThrKcMID, setting FKc to equal KcNRT(t);
 when KCMID<KcNRT (t), setting FKc to equal KCMID;
 when KcNRT (t)<KcNRTtL−ThrKcMID, setting FKc to equal KcNRT (tL);

when t and tf are within a period from the start of the late growing period (LGP, LGPs) to the end of the LGP (LGPe) on the time axis of the RCCC:
obtaining the most recent KcNRT value from the MGP (MGPKcNRT(r));

obtaining a minimum Kc value from the RCCC at LGPe (KcLGPe);
computing the number of days from the start of the LGP (tLGPs) to tf obtaining ΔT3,
computing the number of days from the start of the LGP (tLGPs) to the end of the LGP (tLGPe) to obtain ΔT4; and
when KcNRT(t)>KcLGPe, computing FKc to equal MGPKcNRT(r)−([MGPKcNRT(r)−KcLGPe]/ΔT4)*ΔT3;
when KcNRT(t)<KcNRT(t)<KcLGPe, setting FKc to equal KcLGPe;

computing an actual evapotranspiration (ETa) value;
setting an irrigation recommendation;
generating, as output data, the HRKcNRT, CKcNRT(t−tnx), FKc, ETa, irrigation recommendation or a combination thereof; and
delivering the output HRKcNRT, the ETa value or the irrigation recommendation to at least one of (i) a remote device of at least one user and (ii) at least one irrigation controller.