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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #186836
Title: THE USE OF LOW-COST, DIFFERENTIALLY-CORRECTED GPS FOR REPORTING FIELD POSITION OF SELF-PROPELLED IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

Author
item Peters, Robert
item Heermann, Dale
item Stahl, Kristine

Submitted to: Irrigation Association Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/28/2005
Publication Date: 11/6/2005
Citation: Peters, R.T., Heermann, D.F., Stahl, K.M. 2005. The use of low-cost, differentially-corrected GPS for reporting field position of self-propelled irrigation systems. In: Irrigation Association Conference Proceedings, November 6-8, 2005, Phoenix, Arizona. 2005 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The circular fields created by center pivot irrigation are common and easily identified from the window of an airplane. New innovations in center pivot irrigation allow water applications to be tailored to specific areas of the field depending that area’s particular water needs due to changing soil types or conditions. This type of precision requires accurate knowledge of the pivot’s field position. Conventional methods of reporting field position are not accurate enough. Low-cost, differentially corrected GPS receivers have been shown to provide much more accurate estimates of field position. However, there are infrequent, but very large errors in the GPS reported position. These errors are inherent in the way that the GPS receiver operates. This paper shows how averaging can minimize these large outlying errors. Different methods are given for averaging, along with a simple algorithm for combining these averages with speed and direction information to give position estimates for a moving pivot. These methods were tested. The tests show that these methods can be effective in enhancing the reliability and accuracy of the position estimate. Averaging times of five to ten minutes appeared to adequately give a good estimation of the pivot’s travel speed.