CHED-PCARI-WiSEIr is a research project of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) in collaboration with the University of California-Berkeley. It is the first big collaborative research project on smart irrigation and Internet of Things (IoT) between UPLB and UC Berkeley. Its objective is to design, develop and test a novel irrigation water management scheme and information system for lowland and upland crops based on wireless sensor network (WSN) technology. The project will attempt to generate modern water management technologies to address contemporary issues in the agriculture sector such as inefficient irrigation under upland and lowland crop production systems, lack of modern and efficient water management technologies, El Niño occurrences, climate change, drought occurrences, water scarcity, food security/sufficiency, aging Filipino farmers, among other issues. This project consists of the following components:

• Development of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology for irrigation water management
• Development of web-based water information system
• Pilot-testing of the WSN technology in drip-irrigated upland crop production systems
• Pilot-testing of the WSN technology in lowland rice production systems with alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology
• Development of low-cost sensors
• Development of water balance hydrologic models and optimum irrigation operation schemes
• Development of schemes for possible commercialization and upscaling

This project was conceptualized by Dr. Victor B. Ella of UPLB and Dr. Steven D. Glaser of UC Berkeley in 2016, was consequently approved for funding by CHED-PCARI and was started in 2017. This project intends to contribute not only to the advancement of science and technology development but also in capacity building in the form of training and mentoring for faculty, researchers and thesis students in the University at the graduate and undergraduate levels, aside from providing employment opportunities.