Download PDF
Revamping Irrigation System at Verona Walk: A Case Study
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - 5G
- Sensors - Utility Meters
Applicable Industries
- Agriculture
- Buildings
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Intelligent Urban Water Supply Management
- Smart Irrigation
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Stahlman-England, a company with a rich history in the irrigation and construction industries, was tasked with the renovation of the existing irrigation control system at Verona Walk, a lakefront property in Naples, Florida. The property, home to a variety of families and individuals, is surrounded by lush landscapes and lake views. The existing irrigation system at Verona Walk was outdated and inefficient. The IDS two-wire controllers used had been discontinued in 2006 and had no central capacity for reporting, managing water, or remotely accessing the irrigation system. Over the years, much of the communication wire had been damaged. The challenge was to retrofit and upgrade the system to conserve water and manage it efficiently across the complex landscape, especially in the Florida heat where water is a crucial resource.
The Customer
VeronaWalk
About The Customer
The customer, Verona Walk, is a resort-style lakefront property located in Naples, Florida. It is home to a variety of families and individuals, both young and mature. The community is surrounded by lake views, walking and riding trails, and a lush landscape with many canopy oaks, shrubs, and blooms commonly found in southwestern Florida. The property is managed by a Homeowners Association (HOA) that sought irrigation consultants to modernize their irrigation framework and provide input on long-term best practices. The HOA was keen on conserving water and managing it efficiently across the complex landscape.
The Solution
Stahlman-England turned to Baseline technology to overhaul the irrigation system at Verona Walk. They planned for new communication wire, grounding, and surge protection and replaced the older Hunter IDS system with 18 Baseline 3200 controllers and central web-based software. Each residential and multi-family lot was given an individual control valve connected via Baseline Decoders. This transformed the irrigation system from a disconnected, aging series of individual stations to one online system, fully equipped for remote management. Landscape and irrigation managers can now remotely access the watering schedule, see watering reports, and get immediate high-flow alerts as soon as a potential issue occurs. The Verona Walk HOA was so satisfied with the results that they requested Stahlman-England to provide the ongoing maintenance as well.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Intelligent Farming with ThingWorx Analytics
Z Farms was facing three challenges: costly irrigation systems with water as a limited resource, narrow optimal ranges of soil moisture for growth with difficult maintenance and farm operators could not simply turn on irrigation systems like a faucet.
Case Study
Energy Saving & Power Monitoring System
Recently a university in Taiwan was experiencing dramatic power usage increases due to its growing number of campus buildings and students. Aiming to analyze their power consumption and increase their power efficiency across 52 buildings, the university wanted to build a power management system utilizing web-based hardware and software. With these goals in mind, they contacted Advantech to help them develop their system and provide them with the means to save energy in the years to come.
Case Study
Greenhouse Intelligent Monitoring and Control Solution
Farming Orchids is the most successful form of precision farming in Taiwan, and also the most exported flower. Orchids need a specific temperature and humidity conditions to grow and bloom, and its flowering time may not be in line with market demands, so the price collapses when there is overproduction. Therefore, some farmers began to import automated greenhouse control systems for breeding and forcing, which not only improves quality, but also effectively controls the production period and yield to ensure revenue. In 2012, an orchid farmer built a Forcing Greenhouse of about 200 pings (approximately 661 Square Meters) in Tainan, Taiwan. The system integrator adopted Advantech’s APAX-5000 series programmable automation controllers to build the control platform, coupled with Advantech WebAccess HMI/SCADA software, to achieve cloud monitoring. The staff of the orchid field can monitor important data anytime via smart phone, iPad, and other handheld devices, and control the growth and flowering conditions. System requirements: In the past, most environmental control systems of orchid greenhouses in Taiwan used PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller) with poorscalability and control, and could not be connected to the Internet formonitoring from the cloud. For advanced database analysis and networking capability, the PC platform must be adopted. Therefore, PAC Systems (Programmable Automation Controller) with both PLC programming capabilities andPC functions is a better choice.The environmental control of the Orchid greenhouse switches on and off devices like fan, shade net, cooling/heat pump, liquid flow control, water-cooling wall etc. It is controlled by a control panel of electric controllers, and is driven by a motor, to adjust the greenhouse temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions to the set parameters.
Case Study
Intelligent Building Automation System and Energy Saving Solution
One of the most difficult problems facing the world is conserving energy in buildings. However, it is not easy to have a cost-effective solution to reduce energy usage in a building. One solution for saving energy is to implement an intelligent building automation system (BAS) which can be controlled according to its schedule. In Indonesia a large university with a five floor building and 22 classrooms wanted to save the amount of energy being used.
