Expert Profile of Li Ming
Expert Profile of Li Ming
Li Ming is a Senior Engineer who graduated in July 1984 from the College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering at China Agricultural University, majoring in Agricultural Water Conservancy. This solid academic foundation laid the groundwork for his subsequent deep engagement in the field of irrigation.
With decades of hands-on experience in the industry, Mr. Li has long focused on the core aspects of intelligent irrigation systems—development, design, and construction—accumulating profound expertise through both technological innovation and engineering practice. Throughout his career, he has held key roles such as Chief Technology Officer and IoT Application Architect at leading Chinese irrigation enterprises including Shanghai Huawei Water-Saving Irrigation Group and Kingland Technology Co., Ltd. In these positions, he led or played a central role in numerous core R&D and business expansion projects, significantly contributing to corporate technological upgrades and enhanced industry competitiveness. He also served as a Strategic Advisor to Wuhan Heda Technology Co., Ltd. (Tian Xiao Er), consistently empowering industry development through his professional insights.
In research and technological innovation, Mr. Li has achieved substantial results. He has systematically explored the evolution of digital irrigation, with a strong focus on breakthroughs in key technologies. His primary research centers on crop digital twin models—a core direction in intelligent irrigation technology. In this area, he has made critical advances in model development and its application in smart water-fertilizer management, deeply investigating the underlying principles and innovative implementation pathways. His work provides robust technical support for precise water-fertilizer regulation and efficient water resource utilization. Furthermore, he has successfully integrated digital modeling with real-world smart irrigation practices, creating practical, scalable application cases that accelerate the industrial adoption of digital technologies and drive the sector toward intelligent, precision-based transformation.
His scholarly contributions are well recognized, with multiple core research papers indexed by Baidu Scholar, covering pivotal areas such as sprinkler irrigation, micro-irrigation, and high-efficiency water-saving irrigation:
1988 – “Adaptive Simulation Method for Sprinkler Irrigation Systems”
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Addressing the unique characteristics of sprinkler systems, this paper establishes a mathematical model for tree-like sprinkler pipe networks and constructs a standard reference adaptive simulation system using modern control theory. It reformulates system observability and controllability as problems of state variable invertibility and solvability of nonlinear algebraic equations. Building on Kalman recursive filtering, the study innovatively proposes practical filtering formulas (23) and (28), along with a single-step filtering method, effectively overcoming computational limitations of microcomputers in hydraulic simulations of tree-like networks. This significantly enhances the accuracy of hydraulic analysis in sprinkler systems. Key terms include sprinkler irrigation system, adaptive control, and mathematical modeling, offering valuable theoretical and practical references for the field.2015 (co-authored with Qin Tong) – “Preliminary Study on Flow Rate Calculation Principles for High-Efficiency Water-Saving Irrigation Pipes”
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Challenging the conventional assumption that the most unfavorable hydraulic condition governs network optimization, this paper introduces a novel principle: determining pipe flow rate based on the irrigated area controlled by the pipeline. It establishes the core criterion—“all emitters under a pipeline complete one irrigation cycle within a day”—and provides corresponding calculation formulas. This approach simplifies flow rate determination, a critical parameter in system design, thereby improving engineering efficiency. Keywords: high-efficiency water-saving irrigation, pipeline flow rate, calculation principle.2019 (co-authored with Zhang Zhonghua, Zhu Dengping, et al.) – “A Practical Method for Pipeline Flow Calculation in Micro-Irrigation Design”
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Moving beyond traditional methods that rely on counting total emitters, this paper reinterprets formulas from the national standard GB/T 50485-2009 (Technical Specification for Micro-Irrigation Engineering) by introducing the concepts of “controlled irrigation area” and “emitter-controlled area.” It proposes a direct method to compute total flow based on these areas, achieving the required precision (emitter flow variation ≤10%) while greatly simplifying calculations. Keywords include irrigation pipelines, flow calculation, and controlled area, offering an efficient and user-friendly approach for micro-irrigation design.
Beyond research, Mr. Li actively contributes to knowledge dissemination and ecosystem building in the irrigation sector. He co-founded www.irripro.com.cn, a professional platform dedicated to technical exchange and resource sharing. As the chief columnist for a WeChat-based irrigation knowledge community, he regularly publishes practical and cutting-edge insights to support practitioner development. He has also delivered keynote presentations at industry events, sharing his research findings, digital irrigation technologies, and real-world case studies—thereby fostering technology transfer and peer learning, and earning widespread professional recognition.
