Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1471114
SOLUTIONS THAT SCALE Improve Productivity, Reduce Waste, Save Time: Use Real- Time Irrigation Control. LoRaWAN ® IS THE RIGHT LPWAN LoRaWAN ® makes the IoT Ventures Irrigation Control solution possible by: • Enabling bi-directional communication that supports remote control requirements • Managing high device and message volumes per gateway with minimal message loss • Supporting flexibility in the way solutions can be engineered end to end to meet the specific requirements for a business scenario, including price, performance, power consumption and range • Having a large & active ecosystem to support global deployments of proven solutions LoRaWAN ® SCALES LoRaWAN® solutions scale. Our Irrigation Control solution leverages the LoRaWAN® community of offerings to enable the rapid build out and expansion of base stations and network capability. Using its LoRaSysCore, built on AWS, IoT Ventures has implemented the customer application that controls the end-to- end solution. It also provides diagnostic, operational and management modes to support operation at scale. IoT Ventures developed a purpose-built LoRaWAN® control device. The LoRaWAN® certification process enables the solution to be readied for access across the LoRa Alliance in different regions around the world. The Irrigation Control solution is expanding in terms of scope with additional aspects of water management on farms being incorporated. SITUATION Controlling water use in hard to reach places Solid set irrigation enables farmers to irrigate in hard to reach places – the outsides of a pivot irrigation circle, in hilly areas where pivots can't operate. Controlling hundreds or thousands of individual sprinklers spread over hundreds of hectares is time consuming and typically cost-prohibitive. So sprinklers run in the rain or when the ground can't absorb more water. This leads to wasted water and money, reduced pasture growth (productivity) and compliance issues regarding run off and pollution. ISSUE The traditional way to control individual sprinklers is a manually controlled timer. Users preset the day/ time for the irrigation to start and its duration. Once programmed, sprinklers controlled by manual timers will run until the timer battery runs out – approximately 3 months. Changing a programme typically happens when a battery change is required and a person rides or drives out to each irrigator to make a manual change. To justify a wireless control solution, the following parameters had to be met: • Low network costs – local private managed network • Low power requirements • Uplink and downlink message capability to control the device, set schedules and confirm activity In addition to meeting these messaging requirements, control devices needed to be able to deal with extreme weather, self- diagnosis of maintenance issues and be able to operate for more than 7 years in the field. Software is required for end users to control irrigators, set and manage watering schedules and get data about their water use. That software also needs to support the operational management and maintenance of thousands of connected devices across tens of customers and base stations while scaling up month by month and supporting reseller implementation of customers. Smart Agriculture New Zealand Solution Provider