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A New Era for Water Efficiency in Global Agriculture

Over the next few decades, humanity faces a major challenge: feeding a growing population amid climate change, soil degradation, freshwater scarcity, and increasing pressure on ecosystems. Agriculture, which consumes around 70% of global freshwater (FAO), lies at the heart of this challenge.

While modern irrigation systems have advanced significantly, one key bottleneck remains: accurate, scalable, and cost-effective soil moisture monitoring. Existing tools, including buried point sensors, evapotranspiration models, and satellite-based tools, each face structural limitations such as high costs, technical complexity, limited accuracy, or insufficient spatial coverage.

To overcome these limitations, CHAAC emerges as a next-generation irrigation and soil moisture management platform, combining cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) with artificial intelligence. It offers a non-invasive, precise, scalable, and easy-to-use solution that marks a paradigm shift in agricultural water management.

CHAAC – Smart Irrigation Through Cosmic Insight

What is CHAAC?

Named after the Mayan god of rain, CHAAC is a breakthrough irrigation management system that fuses cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS), AI-trained software, and evapotranspiration models to deliver real-time, field-level irrigation insights.

Unlike traditional sensors, CHAAC does not need to be buried in the ground. Instead, it captures cosmic-ray neutrons interacting with hydrogen atoms in soil water. Because hydrogen is a key marker of water presence, CHAAC can accurately measure soil moisture up to 70 cm deep and over a 60-hectare area per sensor, non-invasively and continuously.

Key Features:

  • Real-time, high-resolution data on soil moisture and irrigation needs.

  • AI-based adaptation to local soils, crops, and climate events.

  • Seamless integration with existing irrigation systems, including automated controllers.

  • Forecasts of energy demand related to irrigation, supporting infrastructure planning and grid management.

Advantages Over Traditional Solutions:

  • No underground installation—reduced setup and maintenance costs.

  • Wider spatial coverage—one sensor can represent entire fields.

  • Independence from satellite timing or weather stations—constant, on-site data.

  • Lower total cost of ownership—fewer devices needed for large areas.

  • Scalable from small farms to large-scale corporate and government programs.

  • Energy insight—predicts upcoming irrigation-related energy use for smarter planning.

Features Real-time, farm-scale of 2–60 hectares; Depth: 15–70 cm, and 7-day planning evapotranspiration model.

First sensor deployment in March 2025

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Sensor y panel solar en campo de girasoles.
First sensor deployment in March 2025

•Juan Jorge, MsC

•Business Structuring and Development

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•Alejo Silvarrey, PhD

•Project and Operations Management

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•Felipe Lucas, MsC

•Technical Management/Soil Water

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•Henno Havenga, PhD

•Technical Management/Climate and Project Management

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•Katlego Moloto, PhD

•Technical Management/Neutron Meter Design

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•Du Toit Strauss, PhD

•Technical Management/Neutron Meter Design

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•Roelof Burger, PhD

•Technical Management/Climate

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