Smart Agriculture project in Galicia to monitor vineyards with Waspmote
In a next phase we are going to expand our existing ZigBee network with some Libelium hardware. This sensor device will be installed on the roof of the campus and will provide us with weather information. To achieve a connection between the roof and our administrator node the data will be send via several router nodes, which we are optimizing at this moment. The weather information will probably be recorded at regular intervals and can then be used by the web application.
An example of a system with such a configuration is described in the article “Smart Agriculture project in Galicia to monitor vineyards with Waspmote” by Alberto Bielsa. The article describes the major problems agriculture is facing today and shows how Wireless Sensor Networks can come to a help.
Soil compaction is one of the worst problems agriculture is facing nowadays. This is caused by the use of heavy machinery and negatively impacts the capacity to store and conduct water, deteriorating growth and increasing the risk of soil loss by erosion. A second major problem is water scarcity.
To face these problems the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) encourages the agricultural sector to become rapidly modernized. Wireless Sensor Networks can be used to monitor a lot of environmental parameters such as (soil) temperature and humidity, leaf wetness, etc. By collecting such data systems can be optimized, maximize agriculture results and minimize time and money at the same time.
A concrete implementation of such a system can be found in a vineyard in Ponteverda (Spain). The system monitors the vineyard conditions in real-time and is able to predict the appearance of a plague in the next hours/days. This allows taking measures to minimize the impact of the plague in the vineyard and saves time and money. The data is also used to control the irrigation system in the vineyard and the AC in the wine cellar.
The diagram below visualizes the project:
For more information about the project and some screenshots off the web and smartphone application we refer to the full article on the libelium website: http://www.libelium.com/smart_agriculture_vineyard_sensors_waspmote
So, if I understand, you will use the libelium hardware, like the Waspmote to measure the the temperature and the humidity to control the temperature in GroupT. How many would you need to use? And doesn’t a system like that already exist? Because have at home a temperature humidity monitor that measures those things, isn’t it possible to implement this kind of device and use these results?
We will indeed set up a network with libelium and xbee hardware (so create a ZigBee network) but we won’t actually use it to control the temperature in Group T. The goal is more to create a stable and intelligent network, so collect data from the weather station and bring it as efficient as possible to the gateway. Suppose a node on the path its batteries run out the network must be able to find an alternative route via other nodes in the environment and still deliver the data. That’s also the difference with the device you mentioned, it uses a simple RF circuit but there is no ZigBee protocol running so it doesn’t have such intelligence. It is developed to collect data from your sensor only outside your home at the base station inside, not to be part of a whole network of sensors in your street.