Cost optimization of a localized irrigation system using genetic algorithms

Abstract

The high cost of localized irrigation system inhibits the expansion of its application, even though it is the most efficient type of irrigation on water usage. Water is a natural, finite and chargeable resource. The population growth and the rising of population's income require the increase of food and biomass production. The guarantee of agricultural production through irrigation with the rational use of water is a necessity and the research and development of methods to optimize the cost of the localized irrigation project can ensure the expansion of its use. This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA-LCLI) to search a less costly localized irrigation project. The results are compared with those presented by a previous work: there is an improvement in the execution runtime and in the cost of the irrigation systems. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.