Taklimakan Desert, located in the Tarim Basin in the northwest of China, is known as the "Sea of Death". It is the world's tenth largest desert and the world's second largest mobile desert, with an area of 330000 square kilometers. The combination of various adverse factors, such as drought and water shortage all the year round, strong wind and great temperature difference between day and night, makes this desert inaccessible. But deep in the desert lies an extremely rich treasure trove of oil and natural gas, so the country has planned the world's only circular railway network around the desert to cross the Taklamakan Desert, gradually turning the "Sea of Death" into the "Sea of Hope".
The initial construction of the Hetian Ruoqiang Railway started on December 20, 2018, with a total length of 56 kilometers.
But how to ensure the normal operation of the railway in the perennial desertification environment after the railway is repaired is a common concern among people, because：
1、The average annual precipitation in the Taklamakan Desert does not exceed 100 millimeters, with a minimum of only four to five millimeters. The natural conditions are extremely harsh, and water use for engineering projects, windbreak and sand fixation, and vegetation greening is a huge problem.
2、Ensuring the smooth survival of green vegetation built to prevent desert erosion of railways is the key to future rail operations.
3、The artificial maintenance cost of windproof and sand fixing belt and green vegetation belt is extremely high.
The major technical issue has not been resolved. China Railway Corporation has invited experienced and qualified companies such as Beijing Tianzheng High tech Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. to visit the desert project site, conduct on-site inspections, compare on-site testing equipment, and finally select an intelligent valve control system with Lora remote communication function to ensure the growth of green vegetation in the desert area in the future. The system has been in operation since 2020 and has been running successfully for a year, providing a good model for the application of wireless intelligent irrigation technology in desert areas.
Intelligent Irrigation System Description
Based on the current status of the project, a set of intelligent unmanned irrigation systems based on "deep thinking brain" has been launched using high-tech such as IoT technology, embedded programs, node low power consumption, Cloud cloud platform, and Lora wireless communication. Through this system, administrators can achieve comprehensive status monitoring of the head pump room and control of irrigation valves on both sides of the railway through mobile devices such as phones, computers, LCD screens/LED screens without leaving their homes. At the same time, it can also monitor and perceive the damage of water pipe official websites.
The entire system of this project consists of a head command center, a wireless control system head, an intelligent water well (optional), an intelligent pump room (including wireless control of water pumps, flow and pressure monitoring), wireless valve automation control, and a water pipe pressure monitoring system.
command centre
Hardware Product Introduction
Wireless Control System Head - Intelligent Gateway
The intelligent gateway is a patented product independently developed by Tianzheng High tech. Its main function is to perform control operations or analyze data, enabling remote and localized computation and control. It is equipped with 2-4 independent acquisition and transmission channels, each with 32 communication frequency bands for users to freely allocate and adjust, ensuring the stability of wireless communication. The wireless communication distance with underlying sensors and valves can be stable between 2000M-5000M, and an intelligent gateway can wirelessly control up to 64 underlying devices, such as wireless sensors and valves. It has the following features: GPS positioning, local data caching, OTA remote upgrade, support for touch screen off network control, etc. For this project, four sets of intelligent gateways are equipped, all powered by solar energy.
Intelligent pump room
The intelligent pump room is equipped with wireless water pump control modules, wireless pipeline flow, wireless pipeline pressure and other wireless sensing devices to monitor the pressure, flow and other information inside the pump room in real time online. At the same time, the system is equipped with a comprehensive warning system, which can obtain abnormal information in the pump room in a timely manner and inform management personnel in the form of SMS notifications, page warning message reminders, etc., to ensure the normal and safe operation of management personnel.
Wireless solenoid valve controller
The wireless solenoid valve control system is powered by solar energy and wirelessly transmitted through the Lora wireless communication protocol with the intelligent gateway. At the same time, based on the deep thinking brain system's collection, analysis, and decision-making of soil moisture and meteorological data, the wireless electric butterfly valve in the field can automatically perform on/off irrigation control after receiving wireless control instructions from the intelligent gateway, saving manpower while achieving water-saving and precise irrigation.
Tianzheng High tech independently develops patented products, mainly for controlling DC pulse solenoid valves, which are compatible with all solenoid valves on the market. At the same time, based on the deep thinking brain system's collection, analysis, and decision-making of soil moisture and meteorological data, the wireless electric butterfly valve in the field can automatically perform on/off irrigation control after receiving wireless control instructions from the intelligent gateway, saving manpower while achieving water-saving and precise irrigation.
Project site
Award Ceremony
System advantages
1、Low installation cost: This system adopts the latest Lora wireless networking method, and a star shaped network is used between the intelligent gateway and nodes (wireless valves, wireless soil moisture sensors), with a stable wireless communication distance of up to 2000M-5000M (all tested). If wired control is adopted, it will inevitably require a large amount of trenching, casing, and pipe laying work, which will increase the difficulty of construction and also increase the cost and duration. Using Lora wireless communication, there is no need for any trenching, pipe laying, or casing work. Only wireless valve controllers need to be equipped in each irrigation area to achieve remote wireless irrigation；
2、Easy maintenance and low cost: Compared to wired control, Lora wireless control is extremely convenient for troubleshooting and replacing equipment in the later stage. Users can accurately locate the location of terminal devices through their mobile phones or computers. At the same time, each valve can be equipped with flow and pressure sensors, making it easy for users to make preliminary judgments on faults. The built-in control module of Tianzheng High tech Wireless Lora Electric Butterfly Valve can monitor the real-time power information of solar cells or lithium-ion batteries, and is equipped with a comprehensive warning system to send warning information to users before the power supply system fails, allowing users to solve problems in advance without affecting irrigation work during critical periods；
3、Strong system stability: The wireless Lora intelligent gateway has independent transmission and acquisition channels (2 to 4 Lora 1278 channels), which can effectively avoid collisions during signal transmission and reception. At the same time, it has 32 different frequency bands that can be allocated, supporting online modification of device frequency points on mobile app terminals, greatly improving the system's anti-interference ability. In addition, the wireless Lora intelligent gateway is equipped with a Xinjiang specific IoT GPRS module, which is compatible with 4G, 3G, and 2G networks, making data transmission and control command issuance more stable；
4、Remote valve control can also be achieved through local configuration and touch screen without 4G network, greatly solving the problem of poor signal in desert areas.
5、Provincial people. After one year of implementation and operation, the construction site that originally required 50 people to water only needs to retain 5-10 people, greatly alleviating the problem of scarce labor and high costs in remote desert areas.
6、Save water. By using precise drip irrigation technology and intelligent control technology, precious desert water resources are applied to the extreme. Beijing Tianzheng High tech Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. has been focusing on wireless intelligent irrigation of the Internet of Things for many years, with rich industry experience. All products are self-developed and have patented technology, currently leading the domestic market. And we are providing technical and experiential support for the construction of future Sahara Desert highway green belts through cooperation with relevant national institutions.