ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the idea of using an expert system to implement the concept of adaptive control or machine self-learning can be realized by methods. It summarizes the development of the method and the results from a study that used sensors and a water use model together. Soil water sensors have been around for years, but farmers are reluctant to use them for a variety of reasons. The chapter describes an expert system to interpret soil water sensor readings was developed from previous knowledge about soil water sensor responses to wetting and drying. Irrigation trigger level is based on a user-entered soil water tension value that is converted from water content using a programmed soil water characteristic curve. The amount of water to apply is based on the difference between the water content corresponding to the projected tension on the date and the soil water content at field capacity in the zone of water regulation.
