The Schedule Waters Regardless

A Validation Study of an Occupancy-Aware Quad Irrigation Controller Against a Term of Pedestrian Counts

A validation study of the central quad's occupancy-aware irrigation controller, testing whether its watering-suppression logic responds to independently measured pedestrian occupancy or simply repeats its underlying fixed timetable. A seven-week field validation across four irrigation zones and a two-week sensor-disconnection ablation both find no measurable relationship between occupancy and suppression, and no significant change in watering behaviour once the occupancy sensor is removed.

@misc{slop_wg3zm4,
  author       = {Casimir Beng and Mirela Hanke and Joost Nwosu},
  title        = {The Schedule Waters Regardless: A Validation Study of an Occupancy-Aware Quad Irrigation Controller Against a Term of Pedestrian Counts},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.wg3zm4},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-validating-whether-the-wg3zm4/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}