TRICKLE

Abstract: The Trickle algorithm allows wireless nodes to exchange information in a highly robust, energy efficient, simple, and scalable manner. Dynamically adjusting transmission windows allows Trickle to spread new information on the scale of link-layer transmission times while sending only a few messages per hour when information does not change. A simple suppression nechanism and transmission point selection allows Trickle's communication rate to scale logarithmically with density. This document describes Trickle and considerations in its use.

Abstract: The increased use of trickle or drip irrigation is seen as one way of helping to improve the sustainability of irrigation systems around the world. However, soil water and solute transport properties and soil profile characteristics are often not adequately incorporated in the design and management of trickle systems. In this paper, we describe results of a simulation study designed to highlight the impacts of soil properties on water and solute transport from buried trickle emitters. The analysis addresses the influence of soil hydraulic properties, soil layering, trickle discharge rate, irrigation frequency, and timing of nutrient application on wetting patterns and solute distribution. We show that (1) trickle irrigation can improve plant water availability in medium and low permeability fine-textured soils, providing that design and management are adapted to account for their soil hydraulic properties, (2) in highly permeable coarse-textured soils, water and nutrients move quickly downwards from the emitter, making it difficult to wet the near surface zone if emitters are buried too deep, and (3) changing the fertigation strategy for highly permeable coarse-textured soils to apply nutrients at the beginning of an irrigation cycle can maintain larger amounts of nutrient near to and above the emitter, thereby making them less susceptible to leaching losses. The results demonstrate the need to account for differences in soil hydraulic properties and solute transport when designing irrigation and fertigation management strategies. Failure to do this will result in inefficient systems and lost opportunities for reducing the negative environmental impacts of irrigation.

Abstract: Designing trickle irrigation systems involves the selection of a proper combination of trickle discharge rate, spacing between emitters, diameter and length of the lateral system for any given set of soil, crop and climatic conditions. Trickle irrigation is treated as transient and steady axisymmetric infiltration processes. An existing numerical solution to nonsteady state infiltration is used to quantify the effect of soil hydraulic properties and trickle discharge rates on emitter spacing (Fig. 2). The results of the analysis suggest the possibility of controlling the wetted volume of a soil by regulating the emitter discharge according to soil properties (Figs. 3 and 4). The surface distribution of a transformed soil water content (or pressure) function (Fig. 5) is derived from a linearized solution to steady infiltration. The analysis of steady and non-steady infiltration is employed to estimate the spacing between emitters as a function of discharge and water pressure conditions between emitters using hydraulic soil data (Fig. 6). Hydraulic conductivity parameters are given for 17 different soils (Table 1) to be used for design purposes. Theoretical analysis of soil water is combined with hydraulic principles to derive lateral diameter and length for engineering design requirements.

Abstract: Under trickle irrigation only a portion of the soil volume around each plant is usually wetted. Typically this is an eliptically shaped volume directly below the emitter. Crop root growth is essentially restricted to this volume of soil and nutrient reserves within that volume can become depleted by crop uptake and/or leaching below the root zone.