E. Weyer,

University of Melbourne –

Abstract:

Water is an increasingly scarce resource in many parts of the world, and it is important to manage the water resources well. This is of particular importance in networks of irrigation channels where the operational losses are large. In irrigation channels the flows and water levels can be controlled by manipulating the positions of mechanical gates located along the channel, and the water losses can be significantly reduced by automating the operation of the channel networks using closed loop control. In this talk we will briefly present system identification techniques for obtaining models of irrigation channels useful for control design. The control objectives usually involve a trade-off between minimum wastage of water and quality of the water delivery to the farmers. Different control configurations (centralized, decentralized and distributed) for achieving the objectives will be presented, together with control design methods, with emphasis on frequency domain techniques. Experimental results from operational irrigation channels will be presented.

 

Date: 2011-May-25     Time: 15:30:00     Room: IST – Torre Norte, Level 5, room 5.9

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