Real-time energy optimization of irrigation scheduling by parallel multi-objective genetic algorithms

[EN] The present work is motivated by the need to reduce the energy costs arising from the pressure demands of drip and sprinkling irrigation, compounded by the increase in the energy price in recent years. Researchers have demonstrated that proper operation of the irrigation network reduces associated pumping costs. The main challenge was to obtain the optimal operation parameters on near real-time due to the fact that the high complexity of the optimization problem requires a great computational effort. The classic approach to the problem imposes a strict fulfilment of minimum pressures as a restriction. This study, however, presents a new methodology for the reordering of irrigation scheduling, incorporating the constraint of daily volume requests for each hydrant. The methodology is capable of minimizing the cost of energy while maximizing pressures at the critical hydrants. Cost reductions of about 6¿7% were reached for scenarios without pressure deficit for the case study. Greater computational efficiency was achieved by posing the problem from a multi-objective approach, on the one hand, and by establishing the parallel evaluation of the objective function, on the other. The speed-up obtained by combining a reduction in the number of function evaluations thanks to the faster convergence of the multi-objective approach and the reduction of the computational time due to the parallelization of the algorithm achieved results about 10 times faster. This improvement allowed the tool to be implemented for the daily optimization of irrigation requests.This work has been supported by the VALi+D R&D Program of the Generalitat Valenciana (Spain).Alonso-Campos, J.; Jiménez Bello, MA.; Martínez Alzamora, F. (2020). Real-time energy optimization of irrigation scheduling by parallel multi-objective genetic algorithms. Agricultural Water Management. 227:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105857S1822

Methodology for flushing pressurised irrigation networks for fertigation and operation maintenance purposes

[EN] Pressurised irrigation networks with a certain degree of automation allow centralized fertigation and maintenance operations such as cleaning subunits and preventing the proliferation of invasive species such as zebra mussels. Until now, there is no methodology that guarantees the total cleaning of the network of a substance in the shortest possible time. In the same way, it does not exist to guarantee reaching all consumption points with a certain concentration of a substance, injecting the minimum possible amount. For that purpose, a general novel methodology has been developed that makes use of the network¿s hydraulic model and parallel multi-objective genetic algorithms to flush the network of a certain substance or to get it to all consumption points in the shortest possible time and supplying a minimum volume. This method assumes that the available pressure at the source is always over a minimum value. The arrival times to the consumption points are minimized and the injected volume is reduced to the minimum of replacement, that is, the volume of the network pipes. The methodology applied to the study case allowed the entire network to be flushed in a minimum time of 2.46 h. On a normal irrigation day, without making any changes to the irrigation schedule the time to completely flush the network is 11.76 h. Furthermore, the injected volume differs greatly from the total volume of the pipes.This study has been partially supported by the ADAPTAMED project (RTI2018-101483-B-I00), funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain and with EU FEDER funds.Jiménez Bello, MA.; Alonso Campos, JC.; Manzano Juarez, J.; Martínez Alzamora, F. (2021). Methodology for flushing pressurised irrigation networks for fertigation and operation maintenance purposes. Irrigation Science. 39(3):375-384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-021-00724-437538439

Evaluation of an operational real-time irrigation scheduling scheme for drip irrigated citrus fields in Picassent, Spain

[EN] Irrigated agriculture is very important for securing food production for an increasing population over the next decades. Given scarcity of water resources, optimal irrigation management is needed to reduce water while realizing maximal crop productivity. The new method of integrating soil water content measurements and the Community Land Model (CLM) using sequential data assimilation (DA) is promising to improve the prediction of soil water status and efficiently design irrigation strategies. Soil water content measured by FDR (Frequency Domain Reflectometry) was assimilated into CLM by LETKF (Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter) to improve model predictions. Atmospheric input data from GFS (Global Forecast System) were used to force CLM in order to predict short-term soil water contents. The irrigation amount was then calculated on the basis of the difference between predicted and targeted soil water content over the root zone. During the real-time irrigation campaigns in Picassent (Spain) in 2015 and 2016, there were 6 fields irrigated according the data assimilation-optimization approach (CLM-DA), 2 further fields according the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) water balance method and also 2 fields traditionally according the farmers preference. The required amount of irrigation water for each citrus field was applied by SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition system). Compared with the traditionally irrigated fields by farmers, 24% less irrigation water was needed for the CLM-DA scheduled fields averaged over both years from July to September, while the FAO fields were irrigated with 22% less water. Stem water potential data and soil moisture recordings of the CLM-DA scheduled fields did not indicate significant water stress during the irrigation period. The CLM-DA scheduled fields received less irrigation water than traditionally irrigated fields, but the orange production was not significantly suppressed. Overall, our results show that the CLM-DA method is attractive given its water saving potential and automated approach, ease of incorporation of on-line measurements and ensemble based predictions of soil moisture evolution.The first author of this paper was funded by a stipend from the Government of China (CSC scholarship). The support of the super computing facilities of Forschungszentrum Juelich (JURECA) is gratefully acknowledged. We are also thankful to our colleagues in IVIA and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for the installation of soil moisture sensors and conducting stem water potential measurements.Li, D.; Hendricks, H.; Han, X.; Jiménez Bello, MA.; Martínez Alzamora, F.; Vereeken, H. (2018). Evaluation of an operational real-time irrigation scheduling scheme for drip irrigated citrus fields in Picassent, Spain. Agricultural Water Management. 208:465-477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.06.022S46547720

Optimization of an isolated photovoltaic water pumping system with technical-economic criteria in a water users association

[EN] With proper management, the modernization of irrigation systems makes it possible to improve the efficiency of application and use of water at the cost of an increase in pumping needs and, therefore, an increment of the energy consumed. The recent drastic price increase for energy put the viability of many farms at risk. In this context, using photovoltaic solar energy to power pumping stations has become an increasingly attractive alternative and a cheap and reliable option. The dimensioning of pumping systems powered by photovoltaic solar energy must be done considering the variability of solar radiation to take advantage of the available photovoltaic energy, especially during periods of less irradiation. By investigating a particular case, this paper studies the effect of increasing the number of pumps in parallel while maintaining the total power, as well as the relationship between the installed photovoltaic capacity and the power of the pumping system, to meet pumping requirements throughout the year. The pumped volume increased as the number of pumps installed in parallel increased for the same photovoltaic power generator. Although this increment has a limit, beyond which no greater significant rise in volume is achieved, installation costs increase. In addition, for the same pumping power installed, the required photovoltaic generator power decreases as the number of pumps in parallel increases. In the case studied, a 27% increase in the annual pumped volume was achieved by incrementing the number of pumps in parallel from one to five, thus leading to a 44.1% reduction in the size of the photovoltaic generator and a 13.3% reduction in the cost of installation compared with a system with only one pump. The procedure used to determine the most appropriate number of pumps to install in parallel when pumping water between two tanks, which minimizes the photovoltaic generator's size while guaranteeing pumping requirements, is easily generalizable for sizing isolated photovoltaic water pumping systems.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This study has received funding for the WATER¿ 4CAST project (PROMETEO/2021/074), funded by the Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital of the Comu¿ nitat Valenciana.Carricondo-Antón, JM.; Jiménez Bello, MA.; Manzano Juarez, J.; Royuela, A.; González-Altozano, P. (2023). Optimization of an isolated photovoltaic water pumping system with technical-economic criteria in a water users association. Irrigation Science. 41(6):817-834. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-023-00859-6817834416Abadia R, Rocamora C, Ruiz A, Puerto H (2008) Energy efficiency in irrigation distribution networks I: theory. Biosyst Eng 101:21–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.05.013Ahmed EEE, Demirci A (2022) Multi-stage and multi-objective optimization for optimal sizing of stand-alone photovoltaic water pumping systems. Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.124048Bakelli Y, Hadj Arab A, Azoui B (2011) Optimal sizing of photovoltaic pumping system with water tank storage using LPSP concept. Sol Energy 85:288–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2010.11.023Bhattacharjee A, Mandal DK, Saha H (2016) Design of an optimized battery energy storage enabled Solar PV Pump for rural irrigation. 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Renew Sustain Energy Rev 76:163–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.019Córcoles JI, Tarjuelo JM, Carrión PA, Moreno MÁ (2015) Methodology to minimize energy costs in an on-demand irrigation network based on arranged opening of hydrants. Water Resour Manag 29:3697–3710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1024-9Errouha M, Combe Q, Motahhir S et al (2022) Design and processor in the loop implementation of an improved control for IM driven solar PV fed water pumping system. Sci Rep. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08252-7García-Tejero IF, Durán Zuazo V (2018) Water Scarcity and Sustainable Agriculture in Semiarid Environment. Tools, Strategies and Challenges for Woody CropsGasque M, González-Altozano P, Gutiérrez-Colomer RP, García-Marí E (2020) Optimisation of the distribution of power from a photovoltaic generator between two pumps working in parallel. Sol Energy 198:324–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.01.013Gasque M, González-Altozano P, Gutiérrez-Colomer RP, García-Marí E (2021) Comparative evaluation of two photovoltaic multi-pump parallel system configurations for optimal distribution of the generated power. Sustain Energy Technol Assessments. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2021.101634Gasque M, González-Altozano P, Gimeno-Sales FJ, Orts-Grau S, Balbastre-Peralta I, Martinez-Navarro G (2022) Segui-Chilet S (2022) Energy Efficiency Optimization in Battery-Based Photovoltaic Pumping Schemes. IEEE Access 10:54064–54078. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3175586Gevorkov L, Domínguez-García JL, Romero LT (2023) Review on Solar Photovoltaic-Powered Pumping Systems. Energies (Basel) 16Hajjaji M, Mezghani D, Cristofari C, Mami A (2022) Technical, Economic, and Intelligent Optimization for the Optimal Sizing of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System with a Multi Storage System on Remote Island in Tunisia. Electronics (Switzerland) https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11203261Hamidat A, Benyoucef B (2009) Systematic procedures for sizing photovoltaic pumping system, using water tank storage. Energy Policy 37:1489–1501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.12.014Hamidat A, Benyoucef B, Hartani T (2003) Small-scale irrigation with photovoltaic water pumping system in Sahara regions. Renew Energy 28:1081–1096. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(02)00058-7Hilali A, Mardoude Y, Essahlaoui A et al (2022) Migration to solar water pump system: Environmental and economic benefits and their optimization using genetic algorithm Based MPPT. Energy Rep 8:10144–10153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.08.017Jiménez-Bello MA, Martínez Alzamora F, Bou Soler V, Ayala HJB (2010) Methodology for grouping intakes of pressurised irrigation networks into sectors to minimise energy consumption. Biosyst Eng 105:429–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2009.12.014Jiménez Bello M, Alzamora FM, Castel JR, Intrigliolo DS (2011) Validation of a methodology for grouping intakes of pressurized irrigation networks into sectors to minimize energy consumption. Agric Water Manag 102:46–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2011.10.005Jiménez-Bello MA, Martínez Alzamora F, Martínez Gimeno MA, Intrigliolo DS (2015) Comunidad De Regantes Mediante Balance De Energia Con Imágenes Landsat 8. XXXIII Congr Nac RiegosKarmouni H, Chouiekh M, Motahhir S et al (2022) Optimization and implementation of a photovoltaic pumping system using the sine–cosine algorithm. Eng Appl Artif Intell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2022.105104Li G, Jin Y, Akram MW, Chen X (2017) Research and current status of the solar photovoltaic water pumping system – A review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 79:440–458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.055López-Luque R, Reca J, Martínez J (2015) Optimal design of a standalone direct pumping photovoltaic system for deficit irrigation of olive orchards. Appl Energy 149:13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.03.107Markvart T, Castaner L (2003) Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics: Fundamentals and Applications. Elsevier Science & Technology, KidlingtonMérida García A, Fernández García I, Camacho Poyato E et al (2018) Coupling irrigation scheduling with solar energy production in a smart irrigation management system. J Clean Prod 175:670–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.093Mérida García A, Gallagher J, McNabola A et al (2019) Comparing the environmental and economic impacts of on- or off-grid solar photovoltaics with traditional energy sources for rural irrigation systems. Renew Energy 140:895–904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.03.122Mérida García A, González Perea R, Camacho Poyato E et al (2020) Comprehensive sizing methodology of smart photovoltaic irrigation systems. Agric Water Manag 229:105888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105888Monís JI, López-Luque R, Reca J, Martínez J (2020) Multistage bounded evolutionary algorithm to optimize the design of sustainable photovoltaic (PV) pumping irrigation systems with storage. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031026Mosetlhe T, Babatunde O, Yusuff A et al (2023) A MCDM approach for selection of microgrid configuration for rural water pumping system. Energy Rep 9:922–929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.11.040Okakwu IK, Alayande AS, Akinyele DO et al (2022) Effects of total system head and solar radiation on the techno-economics of PV groundwater pumping irrigation system for sustainable agricultural production. Sci Afr. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01118Orts-Grau S, González-Altozano P, Gimeno-Sales FJ, Balbastre-Peralta I, Martínez Márquez CI, Gasque M (2021) Photovoltaic water pumping: comparison between direct and lithium battery solutions. IEEE Access 9:101147–101163. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3097246Paredes-Sánchez JP, Villicaña-Ortíz E, Xiberta-Bernat J (2015) Solar water pumping system for water mining environmental control in a slate mine of Spain. J Clean Prod 87:501–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.047Picazo MÁP, Juárez JM, García-Márquez D (2018) Energy consumption optimization in irrigation networks supplied by a standalone direct pumping photovoltaic system. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114203Reges J, Braga E, Mazza L, Alexandria A (2016) Inserting photovoltaic solar energy to an automated irrigation system. Int J Comput Appl 134:1–7. https://doi.org/10.5120/ijca2016907751Rossman LA (2000) EPANET 2. User manual. U S Environ Prot Agency (EPA), U S ASánchez-Escobar F, Coq-Huelva D, Sanz-Cañada J (2018) Measurement of sustainable intensification by the integrated analysis of energy and economic flows: Case study of the olive-oil agricultural system of Estepa, Spain. J Clean Prod 201:463–470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.294Santra P (2020) Performance evaluation of solar PV pumping system for providing irrigation through micro-irrigation techniques using surface water resources in hot arid region of India. Agric Water Manag. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106554Senthil Kumar S, Bibin C, Akash K et al (2020) Solar powered water pumping systems for irrigation: A comprehensive review on developments and prospects towards a green energy approach. Mater Today Proc 33:303–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.092Syngros G, Balaras CA, Koubogiannis DG (2017) Embodied CO2 emissions in building construction materials of hellenic dwellings. 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Dynamic procedure for daily PM56 ETo mapping conducive to site-specific irrigation recommendations in areas covered by agricultural weather networks.

[EN] Modern agriculture is underpinned by actual meteorological data registered using automated meteorological stations forming networks specifically created for advising purposes. In many cases, those data used to be accessible online by means of APIs (Application Programming Interface). One of the most common cases is the irrigation-advice weather network implemented with the aim of obtaining ETo values to be used in irrigation recommendations. However, those punctual values of ETo scattered throughout the territory do not allow to produce specific irrigation recommendations for each farm. The only way of disposing site-specific values of ETo is by compiling maps that describe its spatial variation. With this objective, a new dynamic procedure based on an existing regression-based technique of interpolation was proposed. Using the meteorological data registered at the end of each day, maximum and minimum temperature, maximum and minimum relative humidity, wind velocity, and radiation maps were interpolated and then, an ETo map was derived. The proposed procedure demonstrated a special adaptation capacity to the synoptic pattern of each day using some geographical features or others, as appropriate to explain the spatial variability of the interpolated meteorological variable. In those months where radiation plays a key role in the ETo value (growing season), ETo maps obtained were especially fine-grained in areas with significant relief. This procedure improved other contrasted methodologies they were compared with. The impact of using the nearest-weather-station ETo vs interpolated value on a daily water needs was investigated and near 10% average value of error was encountered in the case study.This study has received funding from the eGROUNDWATER project (GA n. 1921) , part of the PRIMA program supported by the European Union 's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, and the WATER4CAST project (PROMETEO/2021/074) , which is funded by the Conselleria de Innovacion, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital de la Comunitat Valenciana.Meteorological data were provided by SIAR: " Sistema de Informacion Agroclimatica para el Regadio. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion" . Special thanks to Carlos Garrido Garrido and Ivan Cilleros Fuentetaja for providing us an API-SIAR access. Thanks to Luis Bonet for giving us permission to use the picture of the IVIA-SIAR automated station.Garcia-Prats, A.; Carricondo-Antón, JM.; Jiménez Bello, MA.; Manzano Juarez, J.; López Pérez, E.; Pulido-Velazquez, M. (2023). Dynamic procedure for daily PM56 ETo mapping conducive to site-specific irrigation recommendations in areas covered by agricultural weather networks. Agricultural Water Management. 287:1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.10841511828

MOS Meets NEMS: The Born of Hybrid Devices

Nowadays, the semiconductor industry is reaching an impasse due to the scaling-down process according to Moore’s Law, initiated back in 1960s, for the Metal-Oxide-Technology in use. To overcome such issue, the semiconductor industry started to foresee novel materials that allow the development of nanodevices with a broad variety of characteristics such as high switching speed, low power consumption, robust, among others; that can overcome the inherent issues for Silicon. A few “exotic materials” appear such as Graphene, MoS2, BN-h, among others. However, the time for the novel technology to be mature is a few decades in the future. To allow the “exotic materials” to mature, the semiconductor industry requires of novel nano-structures that can overcome a few of the issues that Silicon-based technology is facing today. A key alternative is based on hybrid structures. Hybrid structures encompass two dissimilar technologies nano-electromechanical systems with the well known Metal-Oxide-Technology. The hybrid nano-structure provides a broad variety of options to be used in such as transistors, memories and sensors. These hybrid devices can give enough time for the technology based on “exotic materials” to be reliable as Silicon based is

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Automatización del procesado de imágenes térmicas para la evaluación del estado hídrico de los cultivos

[ES] La temperatura de la cubierta de las plantas está relacionada con su tasa de evapotranspiración y por ello se puede utilizar para mejorar la programación del riego. Una forma de estimar la temperatura es mediante la termografía infrarroja por la que se obtiene una imagen. Para hacer viable el uso práctico de esta técnica, se requiere la automatización del procesado de las imágenes. En este trabajo, se ha desarrollado una metodología donde la temperatura se calcula con la ayuda de una imagen en color. Dicha metodología ha sido implementada utilizando ArcGIS 9.x (ESRI), un software comercial. En el trabajo se muestran las pruebas para la validación de esta metodología y se presentan y se discuten brevemente los resultados obtenidos en diferentes ensayos de riego deficitario controlado (RDC).Estas investigaciones han sido financiadas por fondos del Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones agrarias y la Denominación de origen Caqui Ribera del Xúquer , de los proyectos Rideco-Consolider CSD2006-0067 y Interreg IV Sudoe Telerieg. Gracias a J. Castel, E. Badal, I. Buesa y D. Guerra por su apoyo en el trabajo de campo y al Servicio de Tecnología del Riego por suministrar la información metereológica.Jiménez Bello, MA.; Ballester Lurbe, C.; Castel, J.; Intrigliolo, D. (2010). Automatización del procesado de imágenes térmicas para la evaluación del estado hídrico de los cultivos. Riegos y Drenajes XXI. 176:18-24. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/150309182417

Design, Fabrication, and Characterisation of a Label-Free Nanosensor for Bioapplications

In this paper, we present a hybrid semiconductor structure for biosensing applications that features the co-integration of nanoelectromechanical systems with the well-known metal oxide semiconductor technology. The proposed structure features an MOSFET as a readout element, and a doubly clamped beam that is isolated from the substrate by a thin air gap, as well as by a tunnel oxide layer. The beam structure is functionalised by a thin layer of biotargets, and the main aim is to detect a particular set of biomolecules, such as enzymes, bacteria, viruses, and DNA/RNA chains, among others. In here, a three-dimensional finite element analysis is performed in order to study the behaviour of the functionalised, doubly clamped beam. Preliminary results for the fabrication and characterisation processes show good agreement between the simulated and measured characteristics