Operations Automation Solution

Building on the Operations Management solution, and by automating the scheduling and delivery of irrigation water delivery requests, farmers’ requests for delivery can be confirmed immediately upon request – even at short notice – and farmers reliably receive their water without manual labor.

Overview

Instead of just logging a farmer’s request for water delivery for later planning by staff, the Operations Automation solution uses sophisticated demand smoothing techniques and full knowledge of the network of canals, to determine the capacity to deliver the request at the time requested.

The software has a record of all current water orders, of the capacity of every canal pool back to the storage, and of the rate of change at which flow can increase or decrease in each pool. With this knowledge, the new order can be placed in a way that reduces flow changes and canal level fluctuation. This smooths peaks and troughs in demand, to make maximum use of the canal’s delivery capacity and thereby more farmers can have their deliveries fulfilled over a given period. When control gates along the length of the canal are still manually operated, the software also reduces the number of control changes required.

After this automatic calculation, the farmer receives an immediate response rather than waiting for human planners to complete their planning cycle. If the request cannot be fulfilled at exactly the time requested, a range of adjacent alternatives are offered to the farmer from which to choose. With this immediate confirmation, farmers feel empowered and in control of their irrigations.

When famers’ turnouts are automated with a SlipMeter or FlumeGate, the planned delivery is sent directly to the device so that it will open automatically at the desired time and deliver exactly the requested volume of water. The farmer can be confident that the water will be delivered without the need to manually open, close or monitor.

Features and Benefits

Better Service

With immediate response to a water delivery request, farmers are back in control, able to get the water they need, when they need it.

Higher productivity

When water is available when the crop needs it, productivity improves. And with a better service, farmers can be more confident that higher investments in crops will be rewarded.

Less effort

Automated turnouts with pre-programmed delivery, means farmers don’t have to get up at night to open gates or wait around to close them.

Smart

With planning automated, your most experienced staff are freed to add more value to the organization.

More water

Turnouts automatically close when the exact amount of water has been delivered, eliminating overwatering and runoff.

Better environmental outcomes

By eliminating runoff, denutrification, polluted drain water and salinification are all reduced reducing costs and helping the environment.

Components

The Operations Automation solution is made up of modular TCC^® technology:

Customer Connect

The dedicated web portal provides the ability to communicate directly with farmers, even 24 hours a day. Farmers can manage their water delivery requests, manage water usage and receive messages or information bulletins by text, fax or email according to their preference.

Network Visualisation

The Network Visualization software function pack provides a visual, schematic representation of the irrigation network and a dynamic summary analysis of the operating behavior. It contains a complete definition of all canal sections, all control gates and meters, their capacities and the connections between them.

SlipMeter™

Rubicon’s SlipMeters are combination undershot flow measurement and control gates designed for use at farm turnouts or smaller lateral headings. SlipMeters use Sonaray® measurement technology, which was developed by Rubicon specifically for measuring flows in open canals with acoustic transducers. SlipMeters receive instructions from SCADAConnect to open and close automatically at pre-determined times.

Orders, Rotations & Scheduling

This software function pack collects water delivery requests, logs them and provides tools to help you schedule them and create running sheets. Alternatively it helps manage rotations if used in your district.

Rights & Compliance

This function pack checks water delivery requests are within farmers, rights and checks compliance with any government or other stakeholder requirements.

Tariffs, Rates & Invoicing

Whatever your tariff structure, this function pack can reflect it, whether made up of water usage or farm size, combinations of fixed or variable costs, or one-time or regular charges. Then have it sent to your current accounting package.

Automatic Delivery

The Automatic Delivery function pack automates the scheduling of water deliveries, and then sends a message (via SCADAConnect) to pre-program SlipMeters to automatically open and close the gate at the planned time.

SCADAConnect®

SCADAConnect is Rubicon’s SCADA software designed specifically for irrigation. It provides the ability to communicate with the farmer turnouts, sending the pre-programmed water delivery instructions or reading the meter.

Radio Network

Rubicon’s engineers will design and install a dedicated and reliable data radio network across which SCADAConnect and Automatic Delivery software communicate with the farm turnouts.