Patent ID: 8494763

Claim:
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 at the tower unit, the GPS receiver being configured to determine a location of the tower unit as the tower unit moves along a path as the rotatable arm pivots about the center of rotation; 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 a corresponding location 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 information regarding the location from the GPS receiver and compare the location of the tower unit to a location in 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 of the tower unit corresponds to a location for taking the action in one of the instructions stored on the storage.