Work

Smart Irrigation with Fuzzy Decision Support Systems in Trentino Vineyards

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Efficient water management is a critical challenge for modern agriculture, particularly in the context of increasing climate variability and limited freshwater resources. This study presents a comparative field-based evaluation of two fuzzy-logic-based irrigation decision support systems for vineyard management: a Mamdani-type controller with expert-defined rules and a Takagi-Sugeno system designed to enable automated learning from ultra-local historical field data. Both systems integrate soil moisture sensing, short-term forecasting, and weather predictions to provide optimized irrigation recommendations. The evaluation combines counterfactual simulations with a bootstrap-based statistical analysis to assess water use efficiency, soil moisture control, and robustness to environmental variability. The comparison highlights distinct strengths of the two approaches, revealing trade-offs between water conservation and crop stress mitigation, and offering practical insights for the design and deployment of intelligent irrigation management solutions.

Source: Sensors

DOI: 10.3390/s25237188

Authors: Romeo Silvestri, Massimo Vecchio, Miguel Pincheira, Fabio Antonelli

Institution: Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Language: English

Topic: Irrigation Practices and Water Management

Subfield: Soil Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Zero hunger, Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137