Agriculture not only suffers the impacts of climate change, it is also responsible for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Hit by the worst drought in 60 year this year, the Horn of Africa is suffering from famine and hunger. Figures compiled by the Department for International Development (DfID) suggest that between 50,000 and 100,000 people, more than half of them children under five, died in the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis that affected Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Waspmote can be used to monitor different environmental parameters related to agriculture such as temperature, humidity, soil temperature/humidity, weather station, leaf wetness and many other parameters. The monitoring of these parameters allows to minimize time and money as well as maximize agriculture results.

Researchers from Grupo Austen, a Spanish company, have developed a system called ‘Siega System‘ that allows to monitor in real-time a bunch of variables in order to create a whole Smart Agriculture system.

Agriculture began 10.000 years ago in the areas of present day Turkey and the Middle East. It changed very little from early times until about 1700, when an agricultural revolution took place, increasing the production of crops. In the 1850`s, the industrial revolution spilled over to the farm with new mechanized methods. Agriculture is facing today to two major problems: soil compaction and water scarcity.

Farming has a big influence on Europe's landscapes and the quality of its environment. Soil compaction is one of he worst problems that is affecting Europe's mainland. The use of heavy machinery in agriculture can induce ‘soil compaction', which reduces its capacity to store and conduct water, makes it less permeable for plant roots and increases the risk of soil loss by water erosion. Some authors estimate 36 % of European subsoils as having high or very high susceptibility to compaction.

Water scarcity is becoming one of the biggest problems humankind is facing to. Hit by the worst drought in 60 year this year, the Horn of Africa is suffering from famine and hunger. Figures compiled by the Department for International Development (DfID) suggest that between 50,000 and 100,000 people, more than half of them children under five, died in the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis that affected Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Across the European Union, agriculture uses about a quarter of water diverted from the natural environment, though this can be up to 80% in southern Europe. Some estimates calculate that approximately a quarter of water abstracted for irrigation in Europe could be saved, just by changing the type of pipe or channel used.

Fig. 1.- European water use by sector

Over the past five decades, the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) - accounting for around half of the EU budget - has encouraged the sector to become rapidly modernized. This modernization includes methods for improving irrigation systems, minimizing emission of pollutants and impact in the environment.

Fig. 2.- European budget for 2013

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can be used to monitor different environmental parameters related to agriculture such as temperature, humidity, soil temperature/humidity, weather station, leaf wetness and many other parameters. The monitoring of these parameters allows to minimize time and money as well as maximize agriculture results.

Siega System

Siega System has been developed by Grupo Austen, a Spanish company specialized in naval installations and now in wireless sensor networks. This system has been firstly deployed in a vineyard in Pontevedra, a city in the North of Spain. Siega System is able to monitor environmental parameters such as ambient temperature and humidity and other parameters related to agriculture such as precipitation, wind or leaf wetness.

Fig. 3.- Project location

Researchers from Grupo Austen have created several statistical models to predict the appearance of plagues within the vineyard. At this point, 3 different plagues can be predicted: mildium, oidium and botritis though statistical model is expandable to integrate more plagues in the future.

On the one hand, the system allows to monitor vineyard conditions in real-time, being able to predict the appearance of a plague in the next hours/days. This feature allows vineyard technicians to take the measures to minimize the impact of the plague in the vineyard, minimizing time and money lost due to this plague.

On the other hand, the system also allows to monitor and control the grape from its beginning to the end user, also called as traceability of the grape. In this way, grape can be monitored in real-time from its plantation to wine manufacturing in the wine cellar. RFID technology allows to accomplish this goal, improving viticulture to a level not known ever before.

The solution

This project can be better explained with the following diagram:

Fig. 4.- Solution diagram

• Ambient temperature/humidity
• Atmospheric pressure
• Pluviometer
• Anemometer
• Ultraviolet radiation
• Solar radiation
• Soil temperature
• Soil moisture
• Leaf wetness

These sensors are connected to Waspmote through the Agriculture Sensor Board, which contains the electronics needed to implement an easy hardware integration of these sensors. Thanks to these great variety of measured parameters, statistical prediction models can be implemented in Siega System.

5.- a) Waspmote Agriculture Sensor Board b) Waspmote Proto Sensor Board c) Waspmote RFID module

Siega System also uses the Proto Sensor Board to control irrigation systems in the vineyard and air conditioning in the wine cellar, turning them on/off depending on real-time weather conditions. Waspmote RFID module is used for the traceability of the grape, adding a new feature to this great Smart Agriculture system.

The main characteristics of these nodes are:

• Some of these nodes get data from the environmental sensors to be able to create the statistical prediction models.
• Other nodes control the irrigation system and air conditioning system in the wine cellar.
• Traceability of the grape is controlled by other nodes using RFID technology.
• Powered by a lithium battery that is recharged by a solar panel, making the nodes autonomous.

• 9 mA, ON mode
• 62 μA, sleep mode
• 0,7 μA, hibernate mode

Waspmote is sleeping most of the time, in order to save battery. After some minutes (programmable by the user), Waspmote wakes up, reads from the sensors, implements the wireless communication and goes again to sleep mode. Each device can be powered with rechargeable batteries and a solar panel, making the system very autonomous.

Deployment process

The deployment of Siega System has taken place in a vineyard in Pontevedra, a city in the North of Spain. 10 Waspmotes and 1 Meshlium have been deployed in collaboration with a local wine cellar in order to test the system and improve its results.

Alex Casteleiro, one of the leaders of Siega System, says "The idea of Siega System is to take the Internet of Things to rural areas, helping to decrease costs and minimizing the impact of phytosanitaries, ensuring a better quality end product".

The deployment process can be divided in different tasks:

• Development of measuring module, communication module and statistical prediction model.
• Development of irrigation system interface and air conditioning system interface.
• Development of traceability of the grape based on a RFID system.
• Development of user interface (pc and smartphone)

First of all, measuring nodes were installed in the vineyard to get data from the environment, being able to create the statistical prediction model.

Fig. 6.- Siega System Sensor nodes

Secondly, Meshlium was installed to gather all the data coming from the sensor nodes and sending these data to the Cloud.

Fig. 7.- Meshlium gathering data in Siega System

Once the base system was deployed, both pc and smartphone applications were developed to help the user to manage irrigation system, air conditioning machines and to prevent possible plagues.

Fig. 8.- Siega PC Application

Sensor nodes are located using Google Maps and the user can access to real-time data from each sensor node, and even get a visual representation of the different parameters measured by that node. Smartphone application allows to control the system from anywhere connected to the Internet.

Fig. 9.- Siega Smartphone application

All these nodes are autonomous, taking advantage of Waspmote's saving energy features. Sensor nodes get sensor data every 15 minutes or every 5 minutes, depending on the sensors connected to the node.

Alex Casteleiro adds "Siega System uses Libelium's platform because it is modular, allowing to configure it and solve different kind of problems. Besides, API provided by Libelium fits all our requirements: high quality and open-source".

If you are interested in Waspmote, we will be glad to help you to design your system. You can request for a quotation of Waspmote here.

After creating the inspirational and market research document 50 Sensor Applications for a Smarter World, we have comprised that information in a beautiful infographic comprising Smart Cities, Internet of Things (IoT) and other sensing applications. Just with a glance you can see all the verticals that are changing with the Internet of Things and understand why it is the next technological revolution. Both the document and infographic can be found here.

Anne Field, award-winning journalist specialized in covering entrepreneurship and small business, wrote last 15th July an interesting article at Cisco's newsroom called: "Using The Internet of Everything to Make Your Garden Grow".

In this article, Anne talks about Libelium encapsulated line "Plug & Sense!" and its multiple applications including farming and agriculture.

Read the entire article here.

One year after the Plug & Sense!  platform release the Smart Agriculture model is one of the most popular among the 8 different models available. Our customers rely on the Smart Agriculture sensor nodes to monitor vineyards and crops in harsh environments, delivering real-time, accurate data, in a reliable and flexible way.

Ready to install and easy to deploy, Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture reduces installation time from days to hours.

The Libelium Smart Agriculture system can monitor up to 11 parameters. Some are related to environment observation, such as ambient temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, precipitation and wind speed and direction. The rest of the parameters are specific to agriculture: soil moisture and temperature, solar radiation, accurate stem diameter and leaf wetness. Monitoring these parameters minimizes time and cost and maximizes agriculture results. With data collected from the sensors, researchers can also predict the appearance of plagues  and reduce their impact on the crop’s growth.

One of the most popular sensor solutions is the Libelium Weather Station WS-3000, a kit that comprises 3 sensors: wind gauge, anemometer and wind vane. It is a reliable and accurate weather kit available for just a fraction of the price of other standard weather stations.

WS-3000 consists of wind gauge, wind vane and anemometer

We carried out some experiments to test the performance of the Libelium WS-3000 against one  of the Weather Stations from Davis and a pluviometer from Rain’o’Matic (both solutions are known for being accurate and reliable).

During several weeks we set up a single placement with both weather stations so they could be affected by the same atmospheric events regarding wind and rain.

Zaragoza is a windy city, and we registered strong wind changes during one week. The graphic below shows that both anemometers registered similar behaviour.

In our hometown of Zaragoza, the cold wind that comes from the northwest of Spain is called cierzo. This strong, dry wind is what shows in the following figure (0 and 16 is N, 4 is W, 8 is S and 12 is E) . Again, both sensors display equivalent results. The only difference is the initial offset of the readings and the depth of the Y axis, but they show same response to wind change.

The rain test was even closer, with  identical results for the two week period studied (part of the rain was simulated to speed the process).

We are very satisfied with this experiment, which shows that our Weather Station WS-3000 performs as well as other professional weather stations, at a fraction of the cost.
For more information about Waspmote Plug & Sense! Agriculture and the Libelium Weather Station contact our Commercial Team.

Libelium has launched a new line of Calibrated Gas Sensors that improve the accuracy readings of gas sensors present in both our Waspmote and Plug & Sense! lines. This new line is developed in response to requirements of customers who needed to get maximum accuracy in their industrial, environmental, agriculture and farming applications.

Applications that are improved by adding calibrated sensors include:

Environmental:

• Forest Fire Detection: minimum amounts of CO (30 ppm’s) need to be measured to detect combustion
• Air Pollution: strict regulations make it important to control gases such as: SH₂, Methane (CH₄), CO, air pollutants

Agriculture:

• Wine Production: toxic levels of CO
• Green Houses: O₂, CH₄

Farming:

• Animal Offspring Care: SH₂, Methane (CH₄), NH₃
• Toxic Gas Levels (waste): SH₂, Methane (CH₄), NH₃

Industrial:

• Indoor Air Quality: O₂, NH₃, CO
• Explosive and Hazardous Gases: O₂, H₂, Liquefied Petroleum (Isobutane, Ethanol)
• Storage Incompatibility Detection: SH₂, CH₄, Liquefied Petroleum (Isobutane, Ethanol)

Gas Sensor Board for Waspmote with Calibrated Sensors

What is the accuracy of non-calibrated sensors?

Up to now, with gas sensors without calibration we could get useful information on the overall range of a certain gas. This means we could get two types of information:

• Presence / Absence of a gas: useful for detection
• Average levels: low / medium / high

This information is useful for applications where knowing the relative levels is enough and where price is key factor, as non-calibrated gas sensors are cheaper than the calibrated ones. Take into account that air quality projects such as the Nest Smoke Alarm, the Air Quality Egg, or Smart Citizen work with non-calibrated sensors, in the same way that Waspmote and Plug & Sense! do up to now. This shows how knowing the relative values and the presence / absence of a gas is enough for many applications.

What accuracy do we get with calibrated sensors?

Why are some gas sensors not included in the calibrated list?

Some sensors such as CO₂, NO₂, VOC, O₃ NH₃, Air Pollutants 1 haven’t been included in the calibration process as the internal operation of these sensors do not allow setting reference points in the vacuum chamber. This means we can keep using these sensors to measure relative changes but not specific ppm measurements. In any case, these sensors are extremely useful to measure the overall kind of concentration (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) of each gas and to detect its presence in a given place to control specific events.

Plug & Sense! Environmental Model with Calibrated Sensors

These sensors are calibrated in the laboratory using a vacuum chamber and adding small quantities of the gas to create a specific response curve for each sensor. When purchasing a calibrated sensor, a calibration certificate is included, indicating the conditions of the calibration and the output of the sensor for the three calibration points. From this data we obtain the concentration value in ppms (which is the final value we want to measure).

For more information about the Libelium’s new line of Calibrated Gas Sensors contact our Commercial Team.

Smart applications are becoming more prevalent in big cities and urban environments and in the countryside as well. Smart agriculture brings state-of-the-art technology to an industry where the plow and sickle have ruled for thousands of years.

In northwest Spain, wine growers of the Rias Baixas region are bucking traditional practices thanks to a government investment in Smart Viticulture that allowed multinational consultancy Idom to bring Libelium's Waspmote wireless sensor devices into the vineyards to address environmental conditions and improve environment-related management. The results are emblematic of how wireless sensor networks can improve many aspects of our lives via technological data acquisition that leads to informed decision making.

Figure 1: Albariño is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galicia, in northwest Spain

Introduction

Most wine connoisseurs have heard of Galicia's Rias Baixas region in northwestern Spain. It's where the white Albariño grape grows prominently, and it's helped make Rias Baixas an important Denomination of Origin recognized by wine lovers everywhere. To support the growing popularity of the grape and the Rias Baixas region's wineries (Martín Códax, Condes de Albarei, and Paco & Lola), the Pontevedra provincial council enlisted Spanish-based multinational consulting group Idom to spearhead a "Smart Viticulture" project using the latest technological advancements to monitor temperature, humidity, soil moisture and leaf wetness to improve environmental management of the vineyards.

The project was designed to benefit growers by enhancing grape quality and production. Partnering with Libelium on the Smart Viticulture project in Rias Baixas enabled Idom to focus on its strengths in managing the project while relying on Libelium's sensor technology to meet the regional grower's needs.

Figure 2: Map of the wine-producing region of Rias Baixas in Galicia

The project

Agriculture and viticulture in the region has kept to its traditions and implementing twenty-first century technology into growing practices is a novel concept. While largely unfamiliar with the many powerful applications of smart technology, the wineries were eager to be involved in a project where they would have ongoing access to environmental data, and therefore be able to make more informed decisions. In particular, they wanted to examine phytosanitary conditions to streamline and reduce chemical treatment practices.

The international engineering company Idom was chartered with managing the entire project operation, from the big picture to the nuts and bolts. This included making decisions on all subcontractors and resources used for the project. Having worked with Libelium previously on a Smart City project in the nearby port city of Santander, Idom was confident in Libelium's ability to deliver what the project needed from a technical standpoint. Libelium was selected to provide the wireless sensor network that would gather data from the vineyard and make it accessible to the growers.

According to Idom's Eduardo Diaz, the project manager, flexibility was important. "In terms of data acquisition, Libelium's broad product portfolio and the possibility of ad-hoc hardware configuration were optimal in meeting the specific needs of the project."

Other reasons why Idom tapped Libelium included cost factors; Libelium's products would not only provide an effective solution, but an affordable one. What's more, the Waspmote wireless sensor network platform was robust enough to withstand variations in outdoor conditions and changes in climate while maintaining energy efficiency. Also important was the fact that the hardware system was relatively easy to install and could be used and managed without difficulty by the various field operators or technicians at the wineries.

Deployment Sequence

The equipment for the Rias Baixas project included three Meshlium wireless gateways, and a dozen Waspmote nodes equipped with sensors to measure temperature, ambient humidity, soil moisture and leaf wetness, in real time. Meshlium's job is to gather all the data from the sensor nodes and send it to the Cloud through a 3G or Ethernet connection; Waspmote integrates GPS to deliver accurate position and time information.

First, the Meshlium gateways were installed, defining sensor zones within the vineyard. This was followed by the deployment and calibration of the Waspmote sensor nodes, starting with the mote located closest to a Meshlium and finishing on the point farthest away.

Figure 3: Schematic of the Smart Viticulture solution

Figure 4: The Agriculture Sensor Board for Waspmote integrates the sensors that measure a variety of environmental factors.

Figure 5: Waspmote Sensor Platform

Figure 6: Waspmote and Meshlium in the vineyard

Once the base system was deployed, an end-user application was developed to allow control of the system from anywhere connected to the Internet and a statistical prediction model was created to correlate weather conditions with the onset of disease in the vineyard.

Figure 7: The smartphone end-user application allows control anywhere.

Positive Results

In the end, growers of the Rias Baixas region were able to deploy and use a Smart Agriculture production system that generates key environmental data for vineyards and wineries and allows them to make informed decisions. The whole system includes these components:

• Environmental data-capturing network to measure leaf precipitation, atmospheric humidity, and soil temperature and moisture.
• Ad-hoc statistical model able to transform data information and account for pathogen evolution and infection risk to Albariño vines.
• Data center where data could be aggregated and processed into a reviewable online platform that displayed key information concerning viticulture production of interest to both wine growers and wineries.
• A unique communications channel where the various users—wine growers and viticulture technicians, and others in the field—became valuable information sources, and made the system "smarter" with more frequent use.

The project launched in 2012 and has quickly proved a success. From a pool of approximately 1,000 wine growers, about 400 became habitual users during its first year. Idom's Eduardo Diaz says that the region's wine growers were able to reduce phytosanitary treatments such as fertilizers and fungicides by more than 20 percent, and improve growing productivity by 15 percent, a welcome outcome on both counts. It has made the wineries more profitable, but also more eco-friendly. "That's important for health reasons, of course, and it also helps the image of Rias Baixas growers and the region's Albariño wines. It's a good form of promotion."

Figure 8: Old vines and new technology existing side by side.

Eduardo Diaz believes that the data acquisition platform created using Libelium's Waspmote proved a sound investment in Rias Baixas and is something other wine growing regions should investigate, even without subsidies. Smart Agriculture is a great use of wireless sensor networks, and demonstrates how to apply technology to a resource-intensive problem.

The Smart Viticulture project's benefits in terms of better productivity, costs reduction, and improved management are catching the attention of wineries and agricultural co-ops. Idom is already in discussion with private organizations in the industry interested in taking advantage of such a platform themselves.

Figure 9: Rias Baixas Vineyard

The Future of Smart Applications

Sensor technology can play a key role in many types of projects, from mobility to energy efficiency to environmental sustainability. The Waspmote sensor devices used in the Rias Baixas Smart Viticulture project were praised for their installation ability and the ease at which they could be configured. In traditional forms of industry, like agriculture, where technology can often be a foreign concept, the simplicity to effectively deploy such devices is greatly appreciated.

Figure 10: Waspmote Plug and Sense! Smart Agriculture node resides in a waterproof IP65 enclosure with external sockets to attach sensor probes.

For Smart Agriculture, Waspmote Plug & Sense! sensor nodes can detect, monitor, and inform on a wide number of agricultural issues, such as soil moisture and temperature; leaf wetness; atmospheric pressure; solar radiation; wind speed; ambient temperature; humidity; rainfall; and many other relevant purposes. Libelium has developed Plug & Sense pre-configured sensor devices for a variety of industries and applications, including Smart Cities, Smart Parking, Smart Environment, Smart Metering, and Smart Security.

Beyond the vineyards, Smart Agriculture has a host of applications—from regulated irrigation on golf courses to monitoring and controlling climate conditions and mitigating greenhouse gases. Libelium is addressing every possibility.

Related Links:

1. Albariño
2. Rias Baixas
3. IDOM
4. Waspmote
5. Meshlium
6. Smart Agriculture Board
7. Waspmote Plug and Sense! Smart Agriculture
8. Rias Baixas winegrowers discuss their experience

About the Author

Javier Martinez is the Chief Sales and Business Development Officer at Libelium. His specialty is in the implementation of hardware and technology for wireless sensor networks as well as standard platforms for the Internet of Things, Smart Cities, and M2M solutions.

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As published in Sensors Mag

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Libelium launched a Smart Water wireless sensor platform to simplify remote water quality monitoring. Equipped with multiple sensors that measure a dozen of the most relevant water quality parameters, Waspmote Smart Water is the first water quality-sensing platform to feature autonomous nodes that connect to the Cloud for real-time water control. Waspmote Smart Water is suitable for potable water monitoring, chemical leakage detection in rivers, remote measurement of swimming pools and spas, and levels of seawater pollution. The water quality parameters measured include pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), conductivity (salinity), turbidity, temperature and dissolved ions (Na+, Ca+, F-, Cl, Br-, I-, Cu2+, K+, Mg2+, NO3-).

The Waspmote Smart Water platform is an ultra low-power sensor node designed for use in rugged environments and deployment in Smart Cities in hard-to-access locations to detect changes and potential risk to public health in real time.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water model

Waspmote may use cellular (3G, GPRS, WCDMA) and long range 802.15.4/ZigBee (868/900MHz) connectivity to send information to the Cloud, and can accommodate solar panels that charge the battery to maintain autonomy. Smart Water nodes are ready to deploy out of the box and sensor probes can be recalibrated or changed in the field, with kits provided by Libelium.

“Smart Water is an improvement on existing water quality control in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and low operational costs. For municipalities, water quality detection and monitoring systems have to be reliable, autonomous, and flexible,” said David Gascón, CTO at Libelium. “With Waspmote, a full Smart Water solution is now available at a price point ten times less than current market solutions, for better management of water resources.”

Applications:

• Potable water monitoring: Common chemical parameters include pH, nitrates and dissolved oxygen. Measuring O2 (or DO) is an important gauge of water quality. Changes in dissolved oxygen levels indicate the presence of microorganisms from sewage, urban or agriculture runoff or discharge from factories. A right level of ORP minimizes the presence of microorganisms such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria. Levels of Turbidity below 1 NTU indicates the right purity of drinking water.
• Chemical leakage detection in rivers:  Extreme pH or low DO values signal chemical spills due to sewage treatment plant or supply pipe problems.
• Swimming pool remote measurement: Measuring oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), pH and Cloride levels of water can determine if the water quality in swimming pools and spas is sufficient for recreational purposes.
• Pollution levels in the sea: Measuring levels of temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen and nitrates gives feedback for quality-sensing systems in seawater.
• Corrosion and limescale deposits prevention: By controlling the hardness of the water we can avoid the corrosion and limescale deposits in dishwashers and water treatment devices like heaters. Water hardness depends on: pH, temperature, conductivity, and  Ca+/ Mg2+ concentrations.
• Fish Tank Monitoring (Aquaculture/Aquaponics): Measuring the water conditions of aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks. Important values are pH ,Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and water temperature.
• Hydroponics: Plants that take the nutrients directly from the water need a precise pH and Oxygen in water (DO) levels to get the maximum growth.

Smart Water Sensor Board + Probes for Waspmote OEM

Waspmote Smart Water Technical Characteristics:

• Sensor probes measure more than 12 chemical and physical water quality parameters such as pH, nitrates (NO3), dissolved ions (Na+, Ca+, F-, Cl, Vr-, I-, Cu2+, K+, Mg2+, NO3-) dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity (salinity), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), turbidity, temperature, etc. Pollutants can be detected and treated in real-time, to ensure good water quality over an entire water supply network. Extreme pH values may indicate chemical spills, treatment plant issues, or problems in supply pipes. Low levels of DO may indicate the presence of microorganisms due to urban/agricultural runoff or sewage spills. ORP measures how well water sanitization is working.

• Waspmote transmits sensor readings to the Cloud via 3G, GPRS, or WCDMA cellular connections; in the case of several nodes located in the same zone, Waspmote sends values to the Meshlium Internet Gateway via long range RF bands 868MHz and 900MHz. Sensor data is available in real time, even from sensor nodes situated in remote locations.

• CE / FCC /IC certification and quad-band cellular connectivity (850/900/1900/2100MHz).Waspmote supports any cellular connection provider, and is ready for deployment in any country in the world.

The new Smart Water sensors are available for both Waspmote lines:

• Waspmote Plug & Sense! [Ready to deploy in final projects]
• Waspmote OEM [To be embedded in a third party product line]

Download here the Smart Water Technical Guide.

For more information about the Libelium’s new Smart Water Sensors contact our Commercial Team.

IoT market moves from pilots to full-scale projects requiring local support worldwide

SAN JOSE, Calif., and ZARAGOZA, Spain—March 31, 2014—At the EE Live! Conference today, Libelium confirmed the expansion of its distribution network to VARs in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America to meet the strong demand for IoT applications in agriculture, environmental control, Smart Cities and Smart Water.

Libelium’s local distributors in the U.S., Australia, China, Germany, New Zealand and South Korea will sell and deploy IoT solutions based on Libelium’s Waspmote wireless sensor platform. Asia Pacific includes some of the world’s fastest growing urban areas: Navigant Research forecasts that annual Smart City investment in Asia Pacific will quadruple by 2023, to reach $11.3 billion. Similarly, market momentum in Europe and North America is strong for precision agriculture and Smart Cities projects now progressing from pilot to full-scale rollout. Libelium has opened a U.S. office to support customers in these markets.

Libelium Distributor Network: http://www.libelium.com/contact/#distributors

“Currently, 80 percent of Libelium’s revenues come from export, with our wireless sensor network technology deployed in agriculture and Smart City projects that require local partners,” said Javier Martinez, Libelium Vice President, Business Development. “Many cities in developing and developed countries are adopting sensor solutions to reduce energy use, monitor environmental conditions, optimize mobility, and to improve infrastructure for the future.”

Libelium is poised to expand its global distribution network on five continents in 2014, with special interest for VARs in LATAM and the Middle East. To locate or propose a distributor, please contact: commercial@libelium.com; telephone: +34-976-547-492.

Libelium Distributors / VARs

• Australia/New Zealand: M2M Connectivity provides distribution and technical support for wireless M2M products and technologies including cellular (LTE/3G/GSM), satellite (Iridium/Inmarsat/Globalstar), industrial short-range wireless (Bluetooth, WLAN, ZigBee) and modems, modules and accessories. www.m2mconnectivity.com.au
• China: PuTianTongDa Technologies (PUTD), a network equipment supplier and services company located in Beijing, serves customers in the areas of environmental protection, meteorological monitoring, petrochemical, power transmission, transportation and water conservation. www.putd.com
• Europe: EXP GmbH – Germany
  EXP-Tech is one of the largest DIY online shops in Europe. www.exp-tech.de
• North America: Premier Wireless Solutions (PWS) is a value-added distributor and solutions provider offering a full spectrum of RF technologies, systems integration services, testing & certification, and cellular data plans. www.pwsstore.com
• South Korea: Founded in 2012, IREXNET is active in three key business areas: network integration, solution integration, and IoT products. www.irexnet.co.kr
• Worldwide: The online DIY retail store Cooking Hacks serves developers, designers, engineers, inventors, and makers for projects with sensors, robotics, actuators, Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Creators of the Arduino Xbee shield, among other add-ons, Cooking Hacks began selling Waspmote OEM worldwide in September 2012. www.cooking-hacks.com

Open Aquarium and Open Garden IoT solutions use Arduino and Open Source APIs

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., and ZARAGOZA, Spain—Today, at Dreamforce 2014, Libelium launched two new sensor platforms that automate control and maintenance tasks in aquariums and in gardens through wireless connectivity and using open source APIs. Designed for Makers, the new IoT solutions are based on Arduino, and include specialized sensors to measure parameters vital to aquatic life in ponds and fish tanks, or for indoor and outdoor gardening.

Open Aquarium monitors factors in water such as temperature, pH, conductivity; it measures water levels and leakage, and deploys actuators that can feed the fish, regulate water heating / cooling, activate pumps to change water or administer medicine, and control light intensity to simulate day- and night cycles. The sensors send information using wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G, for a perfect solution to monitor complex Aquaponic installations.

Open Garden includes a suite of sensors such as humidity, light, temperature, or soil moisture to monitor plants for optimal care wherever they are situated. Its actuators can control irrigation, and activate lights and oxygen pumps. A Hydroponics kit is also available including pH and conductivity probes.

Each product comes with a complete open source API, and a web application that allows collected information to be stored in a database and visualized from a browser or from iPhone or Android smartphone devices. Open Aquarium and Open Garden are designed to work with both U.S. (110V) and Europe (220V) power requirements.

“We design connected technology using open source code to help makers discover, improve, and scale new sensor-based solutions for the Internet of Things,” said David Gascón, CTO at Libelium.

Immediate Availability

Kits for both platforms are available for purchase on the Cooking Hacks website, Libelium’s open hardware division. Pricing starts at 199€ (~$250). For further information, please see:

Open Aquarium
http://www.cooking-hacks.com/documentation/tutorials/open-aquarium-aquaponics-fish-tank-monitoring-arduino

Open Garden
http://www.cooking-hacks.com/documentation/tutorials/open-garden-hydroponics-irrigation-system-sensors-plant-monitoring

For more information about our products contact the Libelium Commercial Department.

In Libelium’s product portfolio is possible to find different options to control and measure agriculture and water parameters. On the one hand, Libelium offers professional solutions based in our own designed platform Waspmote: Smart Agriculture and Smart Water, on the other hand, we have designed two Arduino based cheap alternatives for makers: Open Aquarium and Open Garden that are distributed by Cooking Hacks – Libelium’s open hardware division.

In this article, we will go through the main differences between them to help Libelium’s customers to choose the platform that suits best their needs.

So let’s start with the comparative of Libelium water monitoring products: Smart Water VS Open Aquarium.

Smart Water wireless sensor platform simplify remote water quality monitoring. Equipped with multiple sensors that measure a dozen of the most relevant water quality parameters (Temperature, Conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Oxidation-reduction potential, Turbidity and Dissolved Ions sensor probes available), Smart Water is the first water quality-sensing platform to feature autonomous nodes that connect to the Cloud for real-time water control. Their sensors are available for both Waspmote lines: Plug & Sense! – ready to deploy in final projects, and OEM – to be embedded in a third party product line.

Plug & Sense! Smart Water

Waspmote Smart Water OEM Solution

On the other hand, Open Aquarium is an Aquaponics Sensor Platform for makers, based on Arduino. It has been designed to help makers to take care of their aquariums, fish tanks and ponds, automating the maintenance tasks that take place in them, through wireless connectivity using Arduino Open Source API. Consists of two different and complementary kits: Basic and Aquaponics, and many several extra accessories.

Smart Water VS Open Aquarium Comparative Table

Smar Water One Step Probe Change

Smar Water One Step Solar Panel Connection

Open Aquarium Basic Kit

Let’s take now a closer look to the main differences between Libelium agriculture monitoring products, Smart Agriculture VS Open Garden.

Smart Agriculture platform can be used to monitor different environmental parameters related to agriculture such as temperature, humidity, soil temperature/humidity, weather station, leaf wetness and many other parameters. The monitoring of these parameters allows to minimize time and money as well as maximize agriculture results. The Smart Agriculture board enables control with a finer granularity than existing precision agriculture techniques. Our solution brings extreme precision to crop growing in, for example, vineyards and greenhouses, by enabling irrigation and climate control to be matched to local conditions.

Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture

Waspmote Smart Agriculture OEM Solution

Open Garden is our Open Source hardware alternative to commercial home automation to remotely control indoor and outdoor plants. There are three different kits, each ready for a specific kind of growing plant scenario: indoor (houses and greenhouses), outdoor (gardens and fields) and hydroponics (plants in water installations). The kits include a suite of sensors form measuring parameters such as humidity, light, temperature, or soil moisture to monitor plants for optimal care wherever they are situated. The Hydroponics kit includes pH and conductivity probes. Its actuators can control irrigation, and activate lights and oxygen pumps.

Smart Agriculture VS Open Garden Comparative Table

For more information about our Waspmote product lines:

• Waspmote
• Plug & Sense!

Waspmote Plug & Sense!
Smart Water model

Waspmote Plug & Sense!
Smart Agriculture model

For more information about the Open Source platforms check the complete tutorials:

• Open Aquarium
• Open Garden

Open Garden

Contact the Libelium Sales Department.

If you are exploring IoT possibilities with a pilot project, setting up a demo to engage with potential customers or just comparing technology options, time is the most important factor.

We have created five different IoT Vertical kits addressing the most dynamic Internet of Things verticals and one Evaluator kit to ensure you get started in as fast as possible. These vertical kits are factory programmed, include a visualization plugin in Meshlium (only available in IoT Vertical kits) and five hours of technical consultancy so that you can have a working project just by powering on the devices.

Meshlium visualization plugin allows to:

• Visualize real-time data.
• Show measured data graphically between different time periods. It is possible to select for example last week, or last month data.
• Compare different parameters in the same node, and check their historical evolution in a comparative way.
• Geolocate the nodes via GPS and a communication module, and check in a visual map the data measured for each node.

It is possible to store data both in Meshlium internal database and in an external one, synchronizing Meshlium with a company management platform or ERP. All the data can be easily exported in different formats such as CSV, TXT, etc.

Compare different parameters using line charts

Geolocate nodes and data measured in visual maps

Smart Cities IoT Vertical Kit

The Smart Cities IoT Vertical Kit allows real time monitoring of key parameters in cities, such as sound and light to make noise urban maps, or to develop adaptive lighting systems.

Smart Cities IoT Vertical Kit

Weather control and air quality applications can be carried out thanks to humidity and temperature sensors and pollution detectors (CO2, NO2, CO, O3). Trash collection routes might be optimized with the ultrasound detection of rubbish levels in containers.

Related case study: Smart City project in Serbia for environmental monitoring by Public Transportation.

Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit

The Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit enables monitoring of environmental parameters in agriculture, vineyards, greenhouses or golf courses.

Soil moisture and temperature, humidity, leaf wetness and atmospheric pressure sensors allow to control the amount of sugar in grapes to enhance wine quality, as well as to control micro-climate conditions to maximize the production of fruits and vegetables in green houses.

Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit

The three levels of depth of the soil moisture sensor are helpful to reduce waste of water by selective irrigation in dry zones. On the other hand, controlling humidity and temperature levels in hay, straw, etc. can prevent fungus and other microbial contaminants.

Related case study: Smart Agriculture project in Galicia to monitor vineyards with Waspmote.

Smart Parking IoT Vertical Kit

The Smart Parking IoT Vertical Kit enables detection of free parking spots. It is designed to be buried in parking spaces and to detect the arrival and departure of vehicles with an electromagnetic field sensor.

Smart Parking IoT Vertical Kit

It includes PVC casings for mechanical impact and ingress protection. The use of PVC ensures that radio communication is not hindered.

Related case study: Smart Parking and environmental monitoring in one of the world’s largest WSN.

Smart Environment IoT Vertical Kit

The Smart Environment IoT Vertical Kit allows to monitor temperature and humidity, as well as measuring levels of CO, CO2 and O3. This kit can be used to control air pollution from cars and toxic gases generated in factories and farms (CO and CO2). These same gases can be monitored to ensure workers and goods safety inside chemical plants, and to reduce the presence of ozone in the drying meat process in food factories.

Smart Environment IoT Vertical Kit

A relevant application for this kit could be forest fire detection, just by controlling combustion gases and preemptive fire conditions in order to define alert zones.

Related case study: Smart Factory: Reducing Maintenance Costs and Ensuring Quality in the Manufacturing Process.

Smart Water IoT Vertical Kit

Smart Water IoT Vertical Kit is equipped with multiple sensors to improve and simplify remote water quality monitoring (pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, etc). Using this kit swimming pool conditions can be remotely controlled, and cities can benefit by monitoring the quality of tap water.

Smart Water IoT Vertical Kit

Chemical leakages and pollution levels in rivers and in the sea can also be prevented by real time measurement of pH and conductivity levels.

Related case study: Water Quality Monitoring in Europe’s Largest Fluvial Aquarium.

Evaluator Kit

This kit is designed to compare different radio technologies or create customized demos. It contains the most demanded products in our catalogue, so that you do not need to spend lots of time configuring your order.

To ensure you start testing the products as soon as possible, we include 1 attendee place at Libelium training course where you will learn from installing the IDE to program Waspmote (more info about training courses here).

Finally, we also include a 3 hour package of online technical consultancy, to solve quickly any doubt you may have when getting your hands on Waspmote. Both training courses and consultancy hours are given with Libelium R&D engineers.

Note: Until September 4th we offer one additional place at Libelium training course. Including this training (2 attendee places) you save almost 50% on the retail price of the Evaluator Kit separate items.

Evaluator Kit

For more Technical information go to Waspmote and Plug & Sense! website.

For more information about our products and to know all the components in every kit contact the Libelium Commercial Department.

Flores en la mesa is an Aragonese company that grows and sells fresh edible flowers and crystallized flowers. These unusual products are based on plants that are carefully grown, free from chemicals, intended for human consumption. Crystallization is done by hand, slowly, to respect the anatomy of the flower and to preserve its shape and aroma. The process is artisanal and labor-intensive, for a high-end product intended for the gourmet market.

Flores en la mesa crystallized flowers

The plant nursery business is seasonal, with activities that vary according to light and plant lifecycles. Raising seedlings and flowers requires greenhouses to keep temperature, light exposure, and nourishment at levels that facilitate the plants’ growth and development. Energy costs can be important. As a startup entrepreneur, Laura was aware that sensors could help her in the daily tasks of raising flowers.

“With modern technology we give people a way to experience culinary traditions that are centuries old,” said Laura Carrera. “The edible flowers we grow are served in some of the most innovative restaurants in Spain. We also crystallize the flowers, a process where we dip them in egg white and cover them with a sugar coating. The flowers last more than nine months this way.” The Flores en la mesa team is composed of engineering graduates in food science and technology, with specialized training in nutrition and dietetics.

The edible flowers are grown in controlled environment greenhouses on site, some sown in soil according to precise cover calculations. Plants such as mini-pansies and chocolate mint seedlings are transplanted from planters to soil, while nasturtium and borage seeds are sown in place in raised beds. The company works with 25 different varieties of edible fresh flowers and has already carried out advanced research with orange blossoms (known as Flor de Azahar, or fleur d’oranger). Sensor networks can help automate and monitor many activities that involve growing the plants, preparing fresh flower trays, and collecting fresh flowers for the crystallization process that takes place in the workshop.

Flores en la Mesa Greenhouse

Sensors in the greenhouse

Flores en la mesa reserved an area and a greenhouse structure for its sensor installations. The system includes Waspmote Plug & Sense! Agriculture nodes installed in a greenhouse, to measure factors such as temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and luminosity over a large cultivated surface. The greenhouse measures 12×5 m – 60 m2, with two auxiliary plantations (interior and exterior). Some of nodes are equipped with solar panels to harvest energy, and communicate via XBee and 3G modules.

Greenhouse with flower pots

Irrigation control – frequency and automation

For Flores en la mesa, collaboration with Libelium to deploy wireless technology allowed the installation of an automated irrigation system with real time data control, capable of recording and adapting to environmental conditions inside the greenhouse. The variety of sensors monitors a wide-ranging range of parameters of interest. The system can check that the irrigation system is working properly, whether on automatic or manual modes, and avoid using the drip irrigation during freezing periods when plants and tubes could suffer damage.

Monitoring pH control can show the effects in the variation on flower color and growth. Water temperature and electrical conductivity levels help study the parameters appropriate for plant growth. The system allows data presentation in graphic format, to study the effect of seasonality in cultivated varieties and take action when the values reach inappropriate levels.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture model

Preparing the materials

Flores en la mesa assembled the greenhouse and covered it with a plastic awning to make sure the structure was rigid and capable of withstanding the weather. The structure includes a water inlet and electricity outlet. Sensor nodes have direct access to power, with probes situated at various levels, from the ground to the greenhouse ceiling, in position to capture and measure the different parameters. Waspmote Plug & Sense! Agriculture boards are fully charged and programmed, from the factory. To connect them, Libelium created a XBee network with star topology. Two of the nodes send data periodically every 15 minutes to the central node. This node collects the data along with its own sensor data and sends it via 3G to a server. The data can be stored on Meshlium internal memory and visualized through its web interface. With Waspmote Plug & Sense!, sensor probes can be added or replaced without the need to uninstall or interrupt the network.

Flores en la mesa schema

Installing Waspmote Plug & Sense!

Installing the sensor nodes was as easy as sticking the sensor probes in the ground to cover soil moisture and soil temperature sensors and turning the Waspmotes on.

Parameters measured:

• Temperature – Ground + Ambient
• Humidity – Ground + Ambient
• Ultraviolet

Smart Agriculture Node in Greenhouse with probe in soil near irrigation tubes

Sensors (per above parameters):

• Soil temperature + Ambient temperature
• Soil moisture  + Humidity
• Solar radiation

Smart Agriculture Node setup

The company’s ongoing study and analysis of the sensor data allow flexibility to experiment with planting and harvesting dates, and general cultivation cycles. Roses, for example, are susceptible to fungal infections. Nasturtium responds best in warm climates, but their optimal cycles are different in a more severe continental climate. “While there are many studies of food plants such as corn or wheat, there is not much research on ornamental and edible flowers. What we are learning in our work with sensors is valuable for our customers, and allows us to develop new products.” said Laura Carrera, Flores en la mesa.

Flores en la mesa final product

Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit

Libelium has prepared an IoT Vertical Kit so you can simply develop similar projects as fast as possible. The new Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit is factory programmed, and enables monitoring of environmental parameters in agriculture, vineyards, greenhouses or golf courses.

It includes three Waspmote Plug & Sense! nodes that allow to easily measure soil temperature and moisture, as well as humidity, leaf wetness and atmospheric pressure.

Smart Agriculture IoT Vertical Kit

The IoT Vertical Kit includes a visualization plugin in Meshlium where you can check data in real time, display a graphic with every measured parameter between two time periods or geolocate the nodes via GPS and compare different parameters in the same node. (See image below).

Visualization Plugin in Meshlium

Find a detailed description about the hardware, sensors and information to program an application on the Agriculture Board Technical Guide.

Further reading and information

Read about a related case study with Waspmote and the Agriculture Sensor Board, integrating RFID technology in Smart Agriculture project in Galicia to monitor vineyards with Waspmote.

Read more about our product lines in Waspmote, Plug & Sense! and Meshlium websites.

If you are interested in purchase information please contact the Commercial Department.

In agriculture, information-based systems that were unimaginable a generation ago are improving crop and farm management today. Precision Agriculture, for instance, is one area where sensor technology brings new capabilities that solve age-old problems.

SMART VINEYARDS – Switzerland with PreDiVine – Predicting Diseases of Vine

Dolphin Engineering, hosted at the Startup Incubator of the University of Lugano in Switzerland, is active in precision agriculture. The young company offers services that monitor the microclimate conditions of crops to predict plant diseases.

Using a dedicated wireless sensor network based on Libelium’s Waspmote sensor platform and complex prediction algorithms, Dolphin Engineering’s PreDiVine system can predict the evolution of some of the most serious diseases, and also suggest “just-in-time” and targeted treatments needed to keep vineyards healthy and profitable. PreDiVine is the result of a Smart Vineyard R&D project spanning nearly three years and funded by the Commission of Technology and Innovation (CTI) of the Swiss Confederation.

Mauro Prevostini from Dolphin Engineering

Dolphin Engineering founders, Mauro Prevostini and Antonio Taddeo, selected Libelium’s Waspmote sensor platform because they were familiar with Arduino-based electronics. In fact, working on projects to train high school students preparing engineering careers at the University of Lugano, they discovered Libelium and Waspmote Smart Agriculture.

“We found the Libelium Waspmote platform ideal for our purposes because of its flexibility in programming the firmware and the possibility of adding sensors, based on our changing requirements,” said Mauro Prevostini. “The online code generator and the examples provided by Libelium were very helpful in developing the firmware to satisfy our needs.”

Self-adaptive management

In essence, PreDiVine is a Decision Support System (DSS) that monitors microclimate conditions in the vineyard to predict the spread of grapevine pests and diseases. Among the microclimate conditions it monitors are air temperature, humidity, leaf wetness and rainfall.

PreDiVine installed in grapevines

For continuous improvement of vineyard management policies and practices, the PreDiVine DSS presents a web-based Adaptive Management framework. The system is dynamic, learning from the outcomes of actual conditions and in-field activities and observations.

PreDiVine prediction dashboard

Farmers and growers can adapt their actions to the current situation in the field by means of a dialogue between the grower and the crop. PreDiVine generates and sends notification messages with predicted dates of phenological events, to enable and organize monitoring activities and allow the growers to prepare insecticide applications.

An initial installation of PreDiVine is located in the canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland, where severe outbreaks of Flavescence dorée have occurred and the control of the FD vector is mandatory. After the success in Ticino, PreDiVine has been validated in other wine growing regions, and is now deployed in the Romandie region of western Switzerland, in northern Italy (Veneto), and in France. The system has also been validated in Piemonte and Tuscany.

In these areas the wine growers can monitor the health of their vineyards continuously. Waspmote Smart Agriculture nodes monitor multiple environmental parameters, and transmit the sensor data to a data center equipped with sets of algorithms, where the system stores and elaborates the data and provides predictions as results. End users can read the results by accessing the PreDiVine system on a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.

PreDiVine Vineyard Installation

Looking ahead, Dolphin Engineering is working to extend the capabilities of the system, and has partnered with an important international consortium to provide risk predictions for other vineyard diseases like downy- and powdery mildew, both of which are now integrated in the PreDiVine DSS. Because the PreDiVine system combines scientific research with management activities, the company has also established important relationships with renowned international research institutions and universities, such as Agroscope, University of Lugano, University of Milan, University of Padova, and L’institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin. In the near-term, Dolphin Engineering is interested in integrating Waspmote with LoRa extreme long-range radio technology.

References:

Dolphin Engineering – www.dolphin-engineering.ch

Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) – www.kti.admin.ch

Agroscope: www.agroscope.admin.ch

Startup Incubator Lugano: www.cpstartup.ch

WAMS – an adaptive system for knowledge acquisition and decision support: the case of Scaphoideus titanus – www.dolphin-engineering.ch

SMART VINEYARDS: Waspmote Plug & Sense! in Slovenia with Elmitel eVineyard

In Slovenia, Elmitel specializes in wireless sensor networks and has developed new viticulture solutions based on Libelium Waspmote Plug & Sense! encapsulated sensor nodes. It so happens that the Elmitel team is a group of young engineers, who are also agronomists, sommeliers and wine growers.

Node installation with solar panels in Slovenia

When it comes to wine, the company is well situated in the heart of one of the world’s oldest historic wine producing regions. This proximity brought them closer to the problem of geographic diversity in farming and viticulture. It also influenced their approach of bringing modern “smart” sensor-and-Cloud technology within reach of non-technical users, including the farmers and vintners of traditional wine producing regions in 10 countries.

Rolling hills and green valleys: geodiversity accounts for some of the diversity in wine

Elmitel has developed a Cloud platform core, called Elmitel Sensing, to create a Waspmote-based vineyard monitoring solution to cover all three parts of a sensor network: data acquisition, storage, and processing. The solution adds a unique functionality to Waspmote Plug & Sense! nodes that simplifies deployment, and so reduces network setup costs, making it attractive for non-technical users and small growers.

The Elmitel Sensing Cloud platform allows custom applications on top of the measured data. One spin-off application for the viticulture market, called eVineyard, effectively combines Elmitel Sensing and Libelium technology for a complete Cloud-based solution for managing vineyards that incorporates the easy node deployment feature.

With the environmental data collected and measured by Waspmote Plug & Sense! nodes, including temperature and soil humidity, the Elmitel’s eViti application can advise growers as to the best time to spray the vineyard against different diseases that occur in their area.

Temperature graph in eViti

Easy setup for a single Waspmote or multiple nodes

Getting up and running is easy. A Waspmote Plug & Sense! sensor user can connect to the computer via USB, follow a simple set of instructions, and the node is configured and ready to install. With Elmitel’s eVineyard and eViti solutions, this setup is done without the need for programming knowledge, or any installation of software development tools (IDE).

eVineyard generates, connects and compiles the sensor node code in the Cloud, and assists the user in uploading the software to the node via a simple setup wizard accessed from a laptop computer.

“Constant monitoring of vineyards is critical to ensure that disease doesn’t appear, If you can see it on the leaves, it is already too late,” said Matic Šerc, founder of Elmitel’s eVineyard.

The benefits for farmers are multiple, including savings of not only time and money, but also savings related to the environment. Using sensor technology means that toxic spraying must occur only when absolutely necessary. What’s more, eVineyard alerts farmers and vintners in case of dry soil and other conditions that may require attention or human intervention. Users can create maintenance and weather reports and also log in directly from the vineyard.

Because of the easy deployment of the sensor nodes, the cost of a smart viticulture solution is suitable for smaller vineyards and also for organic production. “That goes for any farmer who needs to spray their crops extensively and who could benefit from optimizing the crop spraying schedule,” said Matic Šerc. In certain cases, the return-on-investment (ROI) for a wine grower translates to 20-30 percent less spraying

Two sites, two approaches to precision agriculture

1. Irrigation control for young plants

Vineyard in Podgorci

Near Podgorci, the eVineyard system is deployed in a grapevine nursery where young plants require close monitoring with regard to watering to ensure they get off to a good start. Among its many indicators, the system is configured to send an alarm when the soil is getting dry and when watering schedules need revamping. Spray-timing predictions are also used as a means for treating the diseases of the vine.

2. New vineyard

Vineyard in Zvabovo

In this location, eVineyard is installed in a recently planted vineyard that was formerly a cultivated field. The geographical diversity of this area creates a variety of climate conditions. The vineyard is near the woods, so the sensor nodes are used to guard against disease outbreak prediction and to provide optimal spray timing, according to the vineyard’s micro-location. Elmitel’s eViti vineyard decision support system is helping the grower avoid problems with Oidium, or powdery mildew, once present in the location in previous years.

References:

Wine growing regions of Slovenia.

Elmitel Sensing: sensing.elmitel.com

eVineyard and eViti: www.evineyardapp.com

For more information about Waspmote Plug and Sense! in vineyards, click here.

Waspmote Smart Agriculture is designed to monitor factors in vineyards to prevent the spread of disease, to enhance wine quality, to perform selective irrigation in fields, golf courses, and plant nurseries, and to control greenhouse conditions. Sensors include:

• Soil moisture
• Soil temperature
• Leaf wetness
• Solar radiation
• Atmospheric pressure
• Stem diameter
• Anemometer
• Wind vane
• Pluviometer
• Ambient temperature
• Humidity

Find a detailed description about the hardware, sensors and information to program an application on the Agriculture Board Technical Guide.

Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Plug & Sense! and Meshlium websites.

If you are interested in purchase information, please contact the Commercial Department.

Monitoring the environment with Waspmote sensor technology and Cloud analytics helps Indonesian farmers improve cocoa production and face climate change.

Modern farming methods based on wireless sensor technology can boost productivity, create economies of scale, and help communities thrive. Singapore-based IoT solution provider BioMachines designed a wireless sensor network system integrating Waspmote Smart Agriculture sensors to measure environmental parameters in the cocoa fields of tropical Indonesia. The solution collects environmental data from laboratory and field-based experiments, and facilitates knowledge transfer to cocoa farmers.

Cocoa field trial site

The cocoa plant grows in tropical environments, throughout the wet, rainy regions of Africa, Asia and Central America. According to the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), Indonesia is the third largest cocoa producer in the world, and this cash crop is strategically important to the country. Cocoa is big business based on smallholdings and intensive farming: 80-90% of cocoa production comes from small, family-run farms, typically 2-4 hectares (5-10 acres).

Indonesia, proximity to Singapore

Chocolate in high demand

Expected growth in cocoa consumption is on the rise, partly due to pressure from markets in the developing world that have acquired a taste for chocolate. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) estimates that demand will exceed supply in 2020, by a potential 1-million ton deficit. In 2014, Indonesia produced 450,000 tons of cocoa beans, according to the Indonesian Cocoa Association (ASKINDO). The figure contrasts starkly from peak production of 620,000 tons in 2006. Askindo’s estimation of an 11% decline in 2015 marks a 10-year low.

Climate change and cocoa farming

In Indonesia, the factors contributing to the decline in cocoa production include effects of climate change; aging trees prone to pests and diseases; and lack of scientific knowledge on the crop, at the farm level.

To determine a set of best breeding and agronomic practices, researchers, plant scientists and agronomists looked for a way to collaborate through laboratory and field-based experiments in the cocoa fields in Indonesia. The Internet of Things (IoT) solves one of the major challenges of access, via remote monitoring systems. The Indonesian cocoa farms and research stations are located in far-flung areas that previously required experts to travel for days in arduous conditions to access the field and the data.

Sensors and the IoT for remote crop management

As part of Indonesia’s Sustainable Cocoa Production Program (SCPP) BioMachines worked with a client organization to transform a remote site into a Smart Cocoa research station that monitors environmental parameters, automatically manages data collection and storage, and transmits information to the Cloud.

The Smart Cocoa research station provides information to enhance sustainability and the commercial viability of important elements in the cocoa sector value chain. For this project, experts from Australia, France, Indonesia, the U.K. and the U.S. work together to adapt local cocoa production practices to a changing climate. This involves coupling real time measurement of environmental factors with scientific observations and manual data collection from trees equipped with near field communication (NFC) tags.

Smart Agriculture sensor network with Waspmote Plug & Sense!

BioMachines selected Waspmote Plug & Sense! models because they provide protection against harsh outdoor conditions, essential for this field deployment.

Smart Agriculture Plug & Sense!

A total of 50 Waspmote sensor nodes are installed within range of the cocoa research facility, sending information continuously to the Libelium Meshlium gateway that boosts the signal, stores, and transmits data to the Cloud.

Meshlium and Weather Station

BioMachines installed Waspmote Plug&Sense! Smart Agriculture Pro sensor nodes to monitor several combinations of environmental parameters, which vary according to experiment design.

Parameters measured include:

• Temperature
• Humidity
• Photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR)
• Soil water potential

WSN Agriculture Diagram

In addition to the standard Smart Agriculture Pro sensor sets, Libelium designed a new, customized Waspmote sensor board to collect soil volumetric water content, and soil electrical conductivity data for the project.

To allow on-site and off-site staff hands-on access to the system, BioMachines developed a dashboard that manages all the digital activities, allowing:

• On-site research managers to assign data collection tasks to field staff, directly synchronized to their respective tablet devices.
• Access and visualization of sensor, environmental, and NFC data by on-site and off-site researchers.

Remote location requirements

Because Internet connectivity in the rural site can be unstable, a local server system is also deployed as an interim solution to store information for task management and field data collection, without incurring data loss. The collected data are sent to the Cloud when connectivity permits: this allows the off-site researchers and collaborators across the globe a means to access, visualize, and analyse the data from the on-going experiments.

For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Agriculture application: Agriculture Board Technical Guide

Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Plug & Sense! and Meshlium gateway websites.

If you are interested in purchase information, please contact our Sales Department.

References:

BioMachines: www.biomachines.com

International Cocoa Organization – ICCO: www.icco.org

Sustainable Cocoa Production Program (SCPP): www.swisscontact.org/indonesia

Cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao): en.wikipedia.org

Access to the entire article at internetofbusiness.co.uk

Strawberries are widely appreciated for their characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. But this fruit must also be eaten as soon as possible because it does not keep well.

In the European sphere, Italy is the fourth country for strawberry production (around 140,000 tons), on a surface of 3,700 ha, 80% of which take place inside covered spaces. Greenhouses are located in the northeast of the Emilia Romagna Region, one of the most important horticultural areas in Italy, both for variety and quality of the products.

Emilia Romagna, Italy

Berries direct to consumer

In terms of strawberry production, the common goals of the growers are to shorten the time between pick and sell and to increase the quality of the berries (especially appearance and flavor). The recent trends are a rising number of farmers that sell their products on their own and more interest in using smart solutions for a continuous control of the factors affecting quality.

In fact, strawberries growing in greenhouses are very susceptible to two main factors: air temperature (significant from the coverage of the greenhouse up to harvest) and water irrigation amount (very important both during the first months after planting and before harvest).

Strawberry field

Ready data to avoid losses

Both these parameters have to be constantly maintained within optimum ranges, in order to avoid loss of product that otherwise can reach up to the 80% of the yield, caused by the presence of misshapen, plant collapsed and small fruit. Farmers need to know the level of greenhouse temperature and soil water content many times a day, in order to make decisions about temperature management and water supply.

In the Italian city of Imola -well known for another special "red icon", the Enzo e Dino Ferrari race circuit- there is a company specialized in innovative crop management by putting data at the service of operators in horticultural area. Famosa perfectly combines the skills of its members, Massimo Noferini, an expertise in sensors and technologies used for monitoring parameters, and Elisa Bonora, who has the know-how in environmental, physiological and productive standards related to fruit and vegetable quality.

Strawberries greenhouse

In 2015 Famosa developed a web service portal named esiFarm which receives and aggregates data coming both from wireless systems and portable instruments. The purpose is to allow instantly check of environmental, physiological and productive parameters and to receive notifications as alert when urgent corrections are needed.

It makes users benefit from the opportunities of precision, finding ad hoc solutions in the most critical moments and structuring with more confidence long-term plans. It is a decision support system that makes horticultural managing easier and that introduce the IoT in agriculture.

During spring 2015, Famosa started working with farmers that cultivate strawberries under greenhouse conditions.

They developed a solution that combines agriculture in the greenhouse field sensors (for parameters monitoring) with web service portal esiFarm (for continuous data control and for a wireless system able to connect sensors with the portal).

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture schema

After a market research considering costs, stock of sensors and system flexibility, Famosa chose Libelium Waspmote Platform sensor, in particular Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture, as the perfect solution.

Air temperature and soil water content sensors, placed near the plants, allow a continuous monitoring of the crop. The farmer can instantly check the strawberries status on the mobile phone and receive alerts when sensitive threshold are reached.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture

Time, money and quality savings

The investment in this controlling system can be easily returned in a couple of years and farmers have several advantages:

• They save time because they do not need to spend many minutes a day (hours in a week!) into the field to control the crop status.
• They are more confident since their decisions are based on real data, which is constantly collected and elaborated from the system.
• They save money and energy reducing water daily supply up to the 30% after planting and around the 15% during harvest.
• They decrease product losses due to the presence of misshapen, plant collapsed and small fruit and rot, keeping a constant production of around 40 t/Ha.
• They maintain high and constant quality standards that increase the loyalty of the consumer and allow selling with a constant price all along the harvesting period (around 3.5-4.5 euro/kg for product directly sell).

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Agriculture application: Agriculture Board Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! and Meshlium gateway websites.
• If you are interested in purchase information, please contact our Sales Department.

References:

• Famosa: www.famosasrl.com
• Everything related to strawberry plants and growing strawberries: www.strawberryplants.org
• Comune de Imola: www.comune.imola.bo.it

Acces to the entire article in sensorsmag.com