Model Predictive Control Structures for Periodic ON–OFF Irrigation

Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of the world’s freshwater consumption. Furthermore, traditional irrigation practices, which rely on empirical methods, result in excessive water usage. This, in turn, leads to increased working hours for irrigation pumps and higher electricity consumption. The main objective of this study is to develop and evaluate periodic model predictive control structures that explicitly account for on-off irrigation, a characteristic of drip irrigation systems where watering can be turned on and off, but flow cannot be regulated. While both proposed control structures incorporate an economic upper layer (Real Time Optimizer, RTO), they differ in the costs associated with the lower layer. The first structure, called Model Predictive Control for Tracking (MPCT), focuses on tracking effectiveness, while the second structure, called Economic Model Predictive Control for Tracking (EMPCT), incorporates the economic cost into the tracking term. These proposed structures are tested in a realistic case study, specifically in a strawberry greenhouse, and both show satisfactory performance. The choice of the best option will depend on specific conditions.