Patent ID: 8185303
Filing Date: 2012-05-22
Classification: A01G

Abstract:
1. A system for operating a rotatable arm of a center pivot irrigation system, the system comprising: a tower unit positionable on the rotatable arm of the irrigation system at a position spaced from a center of rotation of the rotatable arm; a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver configured to determine location coordinates of the tower unit as the tower unit moves along a path as the rotatable arm pivots about the center of rotation using the GPS receiver on the tower unit; a receiver configured to receive, over a wireless communication network, a schedule for operating the irrigation system as the rotatable arm rotates, the schedule including at least two instructions for taking an action by the irrigation system, each instruction including an action to be taken by the irrigation system and corresponding location coordinates at which the action is to be taken; storage in communication with the receiver and configured to store the schedule of instructions received by the receiver; and a comparator configured to receive the location coordinates from the GPS receiver and compare the location coordinates of the tower unit to location coordinates of the instructions of the schedule stored on the storage; wherein the system is configured to interface with controls of the center pivot irrigation system to initiate an action by the irrigation system when the location coordinates of the tower unit correspond to location coordinates for the action in one of the instructions stored on the storage.