Smart irrigation controlling system for green roofs based on predicted evapotranspiration

Abstract

A green roof is a roof of a building that is covered from a vegetation. Green roofs are beneficial in number of ways for buildings. Crops in green roofs are exposed to direct solar radiation and strong winds. Furthermore, the substrate is shallow and it can hold limited amount of water. Therefore, artificial irrigation methods are required especially for green roofs in tropical countries. This paper proposes a novel irrigation controlling method for green roof based on predicted evapotranspiration. The system is capable of predicting the evapotranspiration and deciding the amount of water to be irrigated based on that. The rationale behind the proposed method is also explained. Particulars on designing and developing a prototype irrigation controller and a laboratory test bed for experimenting with green roofs are presented. Experiments have been carried out and the experimental results are discussed in order to analyze the performance of the proposed system. The experimental results validate the applicability of the proposed system.