Open channel networks are mainly used for drainage and delivery of water in the entire world. In addition to these two purposes, it performs other functions as well like transportation and recreation, etc. To perform all these functions, the channel water needs to be managed properly. The control structures like pumps, gates, weirs, and other structures need to be controlled in such a way that a certain fixed amount of water is kept in the channels. Particularly in Pakistan, nearly 90% of water is used in irrigation, and around 40% of water gets wasted during transmission. The water through the channel is delivered to crop fields, where farmers use heuristic rules to decide the amount of water required for that particular field which does not represent the actual demand. For this purpose, the crop field and irrigation network need to be investigated as one.

This thesis presents a centralized Model Predictive controller (MPC) design for the automated open channel network with a connected field. The process which influences crop field and controlled open channel is described in detail with their appropriate mathematical models. A centralized MPC is designed with weather and structural constraints, like rainfall and evapotranspiration which influences the channel network operation by directly influencing the demand at the crop field level. In Pakistan canal connected outlet is called Mogha, which has a passive structure and being operated by the farmer by given schedule, to operate Mogha MPC with an ON-OFF controller is proposed. The purpose of this controller is to control the entire channel network with MPC while Mogha with the ON-OFF controller. This thesis work presents a sample and a Real scenario-based system simulation with a centralized MPC with an ON-OFF controller. The designed controller is optimized and tuned for each system due to their different geometry and presence of controlling structure. The results show that the channel network and crop field model used to design a controller with considered disturbances and structural constraints are suitable and satisfactory.