Over the past few decades, the electronics industry has made great strides. In particular, the improvement of manufacturing processes has allowed a greater degree of miniaturization of electronic components, while at the same time optimizing costs, allowing the most advanced electronics to reach sectors where they have traditionally been less present. An example of this is the primary sector, for which electronics and digital technologies offer infinite possibilities for optimizing costs and resources.
To give an example, let's imagine that we were able to know the moisture content of the soil, the concentration of nutrients, the health of the crop, and the environmental conditions at all times. With all this information, we would be able to act on the crop only to the extent necessary. In other words, if we were able to know the condition and needs of our crops at all times, we could irrigate at the right rate to maintain soil moisture, avoid the onset of disease, minimize its effects, and create a prescription for action that maximizes the conditions of the crop. An automated approach, adapted to the environmental conditions and needs of our plantations, would allow us to reduce material and resource costs, minimize the environmental footprint of the activity, while maximizing production and economic return.
An automated approach, adapted to the environmental conditions and needs of our plantations, would allow us to reduce material and resource costs, minimize the environmental footprint of the activity, while maximizing production and economic return.
This approach, adapted to the environmental conditions and needs of our plantations, would allow us to reduce material and resource costs, minimize the environmental footprint of the activity, while maximizing production and economic return.
IoT and agriculture
In today's society, it is common to be constantly connected through cellular technology. The vast majority of people have a cell phone, so it is common to experience two situations typical of all wireless communication systems: coverage and battery limitations. Therefore, it would be logical to ask how these limitations affect IoT applications in rural environments.
Fortunately, the answer to this question lies in the very definition of the technology proposed for these applications. The current electronic solutions for IoT applications have been designed to operate on small batteries that can last up to 10 years without intervention, provided that they are properly managed. Of course, this requires technology development that optimizes data transfer times and the number of operations performed at the measurement nodes. In order to achieve this type of solution, the microelectronics industry has, over the last few decades, focused on the development of low-power and low-cost microcontrollers. This has made it possible to bring electronics to virtually any application.
On the other hand, under the IoT framework, there are different options in terms of communication systems. Some of these options are LORA, Sigfox or NB-IoT systems. Each of these systems has strengths and weaknesses that make them stand out in certain applications. However, they all start from the same premise, which is to guarantee data transmission over the longest possible distance at the lowest possible energy cost. Some of these systems allow a range of up to 15km (depending on the characteristics of the environment). However, this 15km can be seen as the size of the coverage area from the node to the nearest access point, so if the access point is connected to another network (wireless, cellular, satellite, or wired access network), we could say that the network has unlimited scalability. This is what we get with network solutions such as LORAWAN.
These types of solutions, aimed at obtaining and sharing data in real time, allow the complete digitalization of production environments in the primary sector. This is because current electronic technology allows these devices to operate in a wide range of environmental conditions. At the same time, designs specifically for rural applications ensure the durability of the systems, which can also be optimized through upgrades. They can also be optimized through remote software updates. This is a significant advantage, as it ensures the quality and maintenance of the installation, freeing the farmer from concerns about the electronic system, allowing him to focus on his main activity.
CognitIAs: Precision Farming
At CognitIAs, we develop our own products focused on precision agriculture. To this end, we develop state-of-the-art electronic systems that meet the needs of the industry in any type of application. Capable of operating outdoors in temperatures ranging from -40ºC to 85ºC, our systems can be used in any type of crop. guarantee data transmission in environments of up to 15 km radius, with minimal energy consumption that allows them to operate for up to 10 years on the same battery, or indefinitely if our self-sustaining solar panel solution is integrated.
Similarly, at CognitIAs we develop both control and action elements to optimize crop variables while reducing the consumption of material resources and minimizing the environmental footprint. To this end, we develop artificial intelligence systems capable of adaptively estimating the evolution of the physical variables of the crop, allowing to intervene in plantations in order to guarantee their health, productivity and profitability.