Opti-Harvest
Datalogger with LoRa communication and solar powered LoRa-LTE gateway
Challenges
Opti-Harvest, a leader in agricultural technology, sought to design an IoT-enabled data collection service to help growers monitor environmental conditions and optimize crop yields. The challenge for Intelligent Product Solutions (IPS), a subsidiary of Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FORD), was to create an outdoor data collection system capable of withstanding the rugged conditions of a farm or vineyard. The solution had to be:
- Quickly designed and deployed
- Reliable in harsh outdoor environments (weather, irrigation)
- Capable of delivering at least one year of battery life
- Robust enough to operate with sensors in remote fields
Solution
IPS designed a highly reliable IoT solution that integrates real-time environmental data collection with intelligent analytics to optimize farming decisions. The system includes:
- Battery-operated sensors: Collect data every 15 minutes from the field, measuring infrared, light, temperature, and humidity.
- Solar-powered gateway (Opti-Gateway): Transmits data from sensors over LoRa to a central system, covering up to 640 acres.
- Cloud integration: Data is sent via LTE to Google Cloud for easy and quick access by farmers. This centralized data system allows growers to incorporate real-time environmental and plant data into their decision-making process.
The Opti-Harvest solution empowers farmers to gather critical data on factors affecting crop yields and make more informed decisions, ultimately leading to higher yields and lower operating costs. Growers in California, including those in pistachio, wine grape, and almond production, are already benefiting from this innovative technology.