Within the MAENA project, CIHEAM Bari is responsible for establishing a demonstration farm at its experimental agricultural fields in Valenzano (BA, Italy), where a sensor-based DSS irrigation management approach will be tested and demonstrated.
The DSS system to be supplied under this contract will be fully deployed at the CIHEAM Bari demonstration site in Valenzano (BA), including both the hardware sensor network (weather station, soil sensors, irrigation control units) and the DSS software platform. The system will serve as the project’s primary research and demonstration site.
The DSS shall support the following operational functions:
• Real-time monitoring of key microclimatic and soil variables;
• Soil water balance calculation and crop water requirement estimation based on internationally recognised standards (e.g. FAO);
• Daily irrigation scheduling support;
• Field operations recording and management.