Remote sensing in agriculture is not new, it dates back decades. But recent technological advances in smart sensors and wireless networks are bringing new levels of monitoring into raising livestock. In particular, deploying sensor networks to remotely monitor horses, indoors or outdoors, can help prevent illness and reduce costs in equine management. For Spanish technology startup EOIT, remote sensing presents a new business opportunity featuring horses, stables and equine management.

The world horse industry plays a part in national, state and local economies in Europe, North America, and South America. The equine sector is diverse, involving agriculture, business, sport, gaming, recreation, medicine, and generating specialized skills and general employment across the board. Breeding, competition and leisure activities involving horses are important business concerns, and while horses are no longer used for primary transport they remain important assets.

Since 1500 Spanish horses made their way into the ancestry of many breeds founded in North and South America

In the EU, at least 6.4 million people practice equine sports -- two percent of the population of member countries. The region counts over 4.4 million horses, or about 12 horses per thousand habitants. In Spain, horses have long played a vital role in building cities and extending empires. Iberian sport horses figure among the most talented, popular breeds and today train and compete in elite events all over the world.

WSN: Monitoring horses and equine farm management

Seeing opportunity in an underserved market, Asier Gonzalez Gomez and a fellow engineer co-founded EOIT, one of a cluster of new technology startups from a program sponsored by the Basque Provincial Council. EOIT, an acronym for “Eyes on Inspiring Technology,” is an entrepreneurial company that views wireless sensor networks as an opportunity for technology to improve agriculture, at a local level and internationally.

Harnessing technology with sensor nodes, connecting agriculture and technology for cost benefits and energy savings

EOIT developed Smart Horse – an integrated technology platform that uses wireless sensor networks to monitor horses’ health, to control the condition of barns and stables, and generate alerts in real time.  Smart Horse is part of a Smart Farm application that brings together sensor data collection, alerts, and data analysis for use with other information management systems.

An avid equestrian, Asier used his background in telephony, information technology (IT), to create an equine monitoring system for use in horse stables, to monitor horses’ condition and fitness from anywhere in the world.  Sensor nodes and wireless networks would provide surveillance automation for barns, outbuildings, and paddocks.

Smart Horse Schema: monitor horses’ health, control the condition of barns and stables and generate alerts in real time

Smart Horse and Smart Farm are modular solutions, allowing EOIT to propose a complete operating system for equine farm management, to combine sensors with wireless communications. “I wanted to work with horses and saw a way to put electronics and telecommunications into play on IT projects that reach the equine market,” said Asier.

Waspmote: connecting sensors to the Cloud

Using Libelium’s Waspmote allowed EOIT to focus on the Smart Horse and Smart Farm applications, rather than spending time and money on trial-and-error design and hardware development. “We compared various solutions and narrowed down our choices. All of Libelium’s awards for their hardware meant that they were doing something really well,” said Asier.

Libelium Waspmote - Up to 70 Sensors available

Business advantage

Stable owners and equine facility operations are interested in horse monitoring and facility monitoring to save costs, save water and save energy. High technology and low power sensors add business value to the horse business, and to livestock industry in a number of ways.

Applied to horse management, Smart Horse offers a mix of applications for health care monitoring, sports training, asset tracking, as well as data collection and analysis.

Smart Horse - how it works

Technology platform

Smart Horse is based on Waspmote OEM and includes up to six calibrated sensors, to measure temperature, humidity, water flow, liquid levels, door and window open/close status. The sensor nodes collect, transmit and can store data. For Asier, the principal advantage of building EOIT’s product line on Waspmote was the fast time to market it afforded for the project. “Libelium technology is well documented, and Waspmote is based on Arduino pin-out so it was easy to learn and set up.”

Smart Mote in place inside the horse stable

Energy management was one of several chief requirements for the system: Waspmote nodes are ultra low power devices that can be installed anywhere in the horse facilities, indoors or outdoors. The modularity of Waspmote, in terms of sensor integration and radio connectivity, allowed EOIT to provide a final product to their customers in a short period, with sensor networks up and running quickly, and capable of sending alerts as needed.

For Horse Mote to identify any abnormal behavior, biometric sensors are placed on the horse’s body to monitor sweat, position/movement, pressure, heart rate. Libelium e-Health sensor platform is a good alternative for such biometric parameters monitoring projects, but EOIT decided not to use it in this particular case due to they needed specific sensors for big animals.

Horse mote sensors are worn by the horse without restricting movement

With Box Mote, environmental sensor nodes collect and transmit data from their position in the stall, in the barn, in the veterinary hospital.

The encapsulated sensors monitor temperature, humidity, water levels, status of doors and gates or other controls. The nodes connect wirelessly with an Internet gateway; values and results are easily read on an end-user application for real-time control of the sensing parameters.

Box Mote with solar panel collecting and transmitting data

REMOTE SENSING: Horse Mote, Box Mote, Farm Mote

Smart Horse is a modular system that addresses different aspects of equine and facility monitoring using Waspmote sensor nodes.

For horse owners, the Smart Horse system makes it easy to monitor the health and well being of the horses. A horse monitoring system can recognize signs of distress in horses, and connect through an Internet gateway to send alerts to a smartphone, to the Cloud, or any device connected to the Internet.

Horses and high technology

Caring for horses in stables and in pastures, Horse Mote monitors equine health for signs of illness such as colic, laminitis, or abnormal behavior, such as pacing, thrashing, casting… It can also monitor and detect signs of foaling in the case of broodmares, or keep a base line on the condition of any horse in the stable. Equine colic indicates severe abdominal pain originating in a part of a horse’s digestive system. Among domesticated horses, colic is the leading cause of premature death.  Clinical signs of colic usually require prompt treatment by a veterinarian.

Equine monitoring system in horse stables

EOIT’s Farm Mote monitors water level in tanks, weather conditions, and can harvest energy with its external solar panel. The sensor network includes data from any of the sensor nodes and is part of a modular management system adapted to the farmers’ needs and accessible from any device with Internet access. An alternative solution for water conditions monitoring is Libelium Smart Water: this wireless sensor platform allows to measure a dozen of the most relevant water quality parameters and send data to the Cloud for real-time water control.

Farm Mote monitoring water level in outside tank

With wireless sensor networks and high technology, Smart Horse is part of a commercially viable Smart Farm application that brings together sensor data collection, alerts, and data analysis for use with any other information management system on the farm or horse facility. Different electronic devices collect data through an array of sensors and transmit to the Internet wirelessly. Data is available to be accessed remotely: it is possible to monitor the entire facility from a smartphone.

Data can be remotely accessed using a smartphone

The system generates alerts received on any Internet-connected device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Recorded information can be stored to compare against databases, to help track a condition, or evaluate treatment options, among many other applications.

EOIT and Smart Horse

Two intensive pilot projects are ongoing and allow the EOIT team and partners to refine the Smart Horse system in production conditions. One installation is in a veterinary hospital; another is in place on a horse farm, in the stables, barns and horse paddocks. Each deployment includes hardware and network installations based on sensor nodes that gather pertinent information 24/7. The sensor network solution includes monitoring tools, Cloud integration functionality, and can store and extend data to farm management. Systems are collecting sensor data such as temperature, humidity, opening / closing doors, water levels, etc.

Libelium's encapsulated solution: Waspmote Plug & Sense!

Waspmote can be included in projects in OEM or encapsulated versions. Libelium customers can choose to make his own solution using Waspmote as a part of it or use Waspmote encapsulated version (Plug & Sense!), as a turn-key solution.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! is a modular solution very easy to configure and deploy. Its sensor nodes integrate more than 70 sensors, adapting to any wireless sensor scenario such as air and noise pollution, irrigation control, livestock tracking, vineyard monitoring, water quality, etc. With its waterproof enclosure, Waspmote Plug & Sense! is suitable for outdoor deployment, and sensor probes are easy to add or change.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Environment model - Up to 6 sensor probes

For further information about our product lines go to Waspmote and Plug & Sense! website.

If you are interested in purchase information please contact the 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

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

Olive producers are an essential part of agricultural sector particulary in Italy and, in general, in southern Europe where they represent a significant share of the agricultural economy.

More than 1.8 million farms work on olive production in the EU. 40% of all farms are in Spain and Italy, and 60% in Greece.

The olive fruit fly pest

The olive fruit fly, named Bactrocera oleae, is a serious pest for olives. The larvae attacks in olive fruits and the damage caused in the fruit by tunneling of larvae in the fruit results in important losses of the crop.

TeamDev, an Italian software company, uses Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform to collect information localizing weather conditions to support farming management.

TeamDev works in precision farming sector, developing software and methodologies for decision support systems in agricultural management. This company has involved in many innovative projects related to agriculture with the aim of improving technological systems for monitoring crops.

In this case, TeamDev has been working in tight collaboration with Assoprol Umbria, an organization of Umbrian olive producers, to develop a web platform to collect information about the presence of olive fruit fly and to support a timely action and a defense plan.

Umbria, Italy

Data to predict flies diffusion

In the developed software, farmers can enter data about traps and adults of olive fruit fly captured. This software presents also data from the motes that is useful to create the model of fly diffusion based on weather conditions in each olive grove.

Model can predict the diffusion of flies, a useful tool to elaborate attack alarms in an early stage of fly spread. Timeliness allows protective measures against olive fruit fly, containing damage of drupes and production’s losses. With production losses avoided with the deployment, the farmer covers the technology investment within a year.

From a quantitative point of view, larvae cause the damage by the removal of the significant proportion of the pulp which as a consequence results in reduction in the yield of olives. Part of the production is also lost due to premature falling of the attacked fruit.

A qualitative aspect is the significant deterioration in the quality of the oil extracted from olives with a high percentage of attacks by larvae. Oil obtained from infected olives has a high acidity level (expressed as oleic acid, from 2% to 10% depending on the percentage of the infestation) and a lower shelf life as it has a higher peroxide value.

The predisposition to the fly’s attacks is tied to several factors. The main ones are climatic (temperature and rainfall), so marked differences can occur from year to year.

To control olive fruit fly, a combination of three techniques must be used to determine when to apply insecticides: (1) traps, used to capture adults and verify the growth of population in the olive grove; (2) study of the larvae in the olive and their damage after sampling and observation in laboratory, (3) monitoring weather conditions conducive to the growth of fly’s population. The results of both techniques provides information about fly spread.

TeamDev uses Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform to offer its customers a service for monitoring specific weather conditions in each plot, like temperature, humidity, rainfall, atmospheric pressure among others. Weather data integrates other information in software developed for farming management. Sensors permit scientific observation and measurement that represent an innovative way to manage critical agricultural operation. Moreover, the impact of the fly on the acidity of the oil obtained from olives, decreases the retail price of the crop. So, avoiding pest, increases the quality of production and rises the retail price.

Teamdev chose Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform because of low cost compared to quality and to traditional weather stations, and also for versatility of the code and flexibility of its usage.

Weather monitoring schema

"The use of sensor allows to provide a new service to Teamdev’s customers and extend skills and areas of activity. Precision farming has become the future way to manage crops for the continued supply of food within the ecological, economic and social limits. The ability of these devices to enhance and enable day-to-day monitoring promises increase agricultural efficiency", explains Andrea Cruciani, CEO at Teamdev.

"This case about pest management in olive groves is a good example of the important applications that Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform offers to plan "just-in-time" treatments based on weather condition and also to build predictive models", says Alicia Asín, Libelium’s CEO.

Sensors provide accurate information about important parameters: ambient temperature, humidity, millimeters of rainfall, atmospheric pressure, wind direction, wind speed, soil moisture, leaf wetness. These parameters are essential to evaluate climate peculiarity in each area and to control growth’s environment.

Sensors are installed in areas where local weather information are unavailable because of absence of other weather stations. Each sensor has a solar panel that ensures a longer power autonomy of the devices.

The Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform are connected by Meshlium to a cloud service of ArcGIS online, an ESRI geographic platform, that collected all data and geolocating them in maps. Data from each mote are sent hourly time and are available for monitoring crops remotely almost in real time from a location distant than plots by computer or mobile device. ESRI platform is fully compatible with Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform what was an advantage for TeamDev.

TeamDev has developed specific software to integrate this data in a web interface for manage farming, that can be considered a Decision Support System (DSS). In addition to weather information, software offers other information about crops like productivity, presence of pathogens, treatments, and other specific details. All this information is processed to support farming management or to build predictive models about pest diffusion, treatments programming only when it is absolutely necessary and just in the right time.

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! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.
• If you are interested in purchase information, please contact our Sales Department.

References:

• TeamDev: www.teamdev.it
• Esri: www.esri.com
• ArcGIS: www.esri.com/software/arcgis
• Fruit fly image: “Fly December 2007-11” by Alvesgaspar, used under CC BY-SA 3.0 / Croppe and turned from original

Getaria is a tourist destination of the Basque Coast in the North of Spain which has increased tourism volume in recent years. The council is searching for recognition as smart and sustainable tourism destination through an environment monitoring project linked to the public wireless network.

Getaria, Basque Country, Spain

Getaria has a wireless WiFi/Wimax network that is ready to provide free public Internet access in different districts of the town and can also be used to self-provision other internal services for the city hall itself. This wireless network, combined with Sigfox network, has been improved to add new IoT services to citizens.

The project includes a technological platform used to collect, integrate, store and analyze municipality information with a global perspective. Between the public services that the project is monitoring figures the environmental control of air, noise and water in real time to increase citizens welfare and to prevent problems that can cause a negative impact on the tourism attraction.

In fact, the network monitors the noise impact in ten leisure locations so that the municipality can confirm the complaints from neighbors and tourists lodged in the nightlife of the historic center.

Regarding water quality measurement, the objective of the Council is to control any spills on the public supply that can affect water quality to two main beaches, the port and rainwater locations. For that, our Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water solution has been installed. In this case, the sensors used are: pH sensor, Conductivity sensor and Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP).

The network also includes two air quality monitoring systems to ensure that pollution levels are adjusted to European standards and to monitor areas at risk of emissions from the largest concentration of tourism using means of transport that emit CO, NO₂, O₃, SO₂ and harmful particles. In fact, Libelium Plug & Sense! Smart Environment PRO enables the Air Quality Index (AQI) calculation, thanks to 16 gas sensors providing extremely accurate ppm values and a high-end Particle Matter sensor.

The Spanish company, Nexmachina Solutions, has developed this project with Libelium technology. iQmenic is the Nexmachina’s platform for monitoring and managing wireless sensor networks communications and IP devices to deploy new IoT services.

iQmenic platform

Nexmachina consider that Libelium technology provides customers the best devices compatible with all type of wireless communication protocols. “Flexible, strong, autonomous, calibrated and real time sensing solution” is the definition that Fernando Presa appoints to Libelium sensor technology. Besides, he remarks that users are very satisfied because the solution offered can grow at the rate of their requirements.

Getaria environmental control

ROI in tourism impact

The recognition of the city as smart resort on the Costa Basque, will provide an increase in visitors which will result in a positive impact on trade, hotels and restaurants establishments in the municipality. In 2015, the Tourism Office at Getaria registered a total volume of 35,748 visitors coming from Spain, France, UK and USA. In the next two years is expected an increase in the volume of tourists around 5,000 people to exceed 40,000 visitors annually.

The recorded data will be posted on the municipal website. The council will deploy an action plan from the decision-making system based on environmental data registered. Thus, when noise levels or water quality may not be appropriate, they may take action against those responsibles. And when the sensors detect that the air quality worsens by CO₂ emissions, traffic diversions can plan and enable park and ride for tourists in high season.

The installation of the equipment has given special care to minimize the visual impact of the devices and to prevent citizen complaints.

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Environment PRO application: Gases PRO Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Water application: Smart Water Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Cities application: Smart Cities Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Sigfox: Waspmote Sigfox Networking Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

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

References:

• Nexmachina Solutions: www.nexmachina.com/
• Getaria town hall: www.getariaturismo.eus

Smart Coruña is the innovation programme which began in 2011 and whose objective is to transform the beautiful city of La Coruña into a technology hub where new services, which improve the city´s efficiency and the sustainability, are implemented. Smart Coruña has positioned the city as a benchmark for new investments and new R&D developments and has contributed to the creation of new jobs stimulating the growth of the IT sector.

A Coruña, Galicia, Spain

The project, 80% financed by European FEDER funds, provides a holistic view of the city and its services. It consists of 14 technological pilots including Libelium technology and the deployment of the Sofia2 Platform.

The urban services variety ranges from resource and environmental management to citizen and tourist services and its ultimate goal is to improve quality of life in La Coruña:

• Air and acoustic quality and meteorological measurements: This vertical controls the air and acoustic quality throughout the city by measuring air conditions and noise levels at strategic points. The system enables the identification of the pollutant sources and allows the decision making process regarding the implementation of corrective plans when the environmental quality or noise levels recommend so. The vertical also includes different Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! devices that are used as meteorological stations, measuring temperature and humidity.
• Water quality Management: This area aims to remotely monitor the water supply and sewerage networks of the city, ensuring its effective distribution. It includes smart irrigation and different management systems to control water-flow, speed, rate and tubes conditions, any pressure changes due to leaks can be rapidly detected rapidly, minimising water losses. The system also has devices capable of measuring the physical and chemical characteristics of water in reservoirs, water treatment plants and city beaches. It ensures the quality of the drinking water supplied to the public is excellent and also warns about any possible anomalies.
• Energy efficiency: Implementation of an energy efficiency tool to monitor and reduce energy consumption in 55 public buildings and a system which automates the processes of the Potable Water Treatment Plant reducing its energy consumption as well. The aim is to reduce the consumption of electricity and gas to the minimum. Both initiatives generate economic savings, enhance environmental care and have positioned La Coruña as a benchmark in the field of energy management.
• Traffic control: the real-time traffic optimisation system collects information in order that citizens and managers can make better mobility decisions in real time. A series of cameras and devices have been installed in the monitored priority roads to determine and control the traffic situation. Likewise, a number of control cameras are installed at the access points of pedestrian areas. The smart parking system collects information about the free parking spaces, improving mobility as it helps citizens avoid wasting time looking for parking spaces. All the information is available to citizens and visitors through a web portal, a mobile app and dynamic information panels.
• Citizen interaction and tourism: this vertical brings together electronic administration possibilities, bidirectional citizen communication and tourism services. The electronic administration system allows citizens not only to start any official procedure through the electronic channel, but also to keep track of the status of the inquiry and attach any necessary documentation. The interaction system allows citizens to receive information about the events of the city and also participate, propose and report openly about its functioning. The guided visits system with augmented reality offer an interactive experience of the city’s main attractions.

Sofia2 Platform visualizer for Smart Coruña project

In the scope of this project, a specific Portal was published in the City Council’s website aggregating all public information to be presented to the citizens. Lots of different visualizers are accessible across the website, from traffic information to rental bike availability.

Smart City Coruña Brain

Sofia2 is deployed in La Coruña, centralizing information from various different city services and giving solution to specific needs across the whole area of the city. The combination of the information from all these verticals in one unique platform has allowed to build complex and smart solutions where each vertical, instead of working independently, can take advantage of information from the rest of the solutions to provide a better use of resources. Sofia2, as a cross-domain platform, is a great fit for those cities with heterogeneous services being built or which have already been built which now need to be combined to extract all the value from them.

Sofia2 is Indra’s IoT Interoperability Platform. It acts as the middleware and repository that allows real time interoperability of multiple systems and devices, offering a semantic platform to make real world information available to smart applications (Internet of Things). It is multi-language and multi-protocol (multichannel), enabling the exchange of information between heterogeneous devices and systems. It provides publishing and subscription mechanisms, facilitating the orchestration of sensors and actuators in order to monitor and act on the environment. Real time rules can be configured in the Platform enabling detection and reaction to complex events. All communication between systems and devices is stored in a BigData database enabling any kind of analytics (descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive) over the information exchanged across the whole solution.

Contact:

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Environment PRO application: Gases PRO Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Water application: Smart Water Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Cities application: Smart Cities Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Parking application: Smart Parking Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• Sofia2 Platform: www.sofia2.com
• Coruña Smart City: www.coruna.es
• Coruña Smart City, selected as Best Practice in EY Smart City IndeX report: www.ey.com

Buy this IoT Kit at The IoT Marketplace!

AJ Bush Meet Manufacturer is the Australia’s largest and longest established meat products businesses and has two large-scale meat rendering plants based in Australia in the cities of Queensland and New South Wales. Organic wastes from such facilities pose significant environmental management challenges.

In fact, Queensland plant is one of Australia’s major service rendering plants processing both red meat and poultry by-products and has been recognized with the National Premier’s Sustainability Award. Libelium wireless sensor network has been installed at site for integration with the EnviroSuite software platform.

Libelium sensors and EnviroSuite Agriculture Module being installed at AJ Bush.

Besides, the deployment also includes Libelium Plug & Sense! Smart Water with sensors for electrical conductivity, temperature and dissolved oxygen installed in a creek within the AJ Bush property boundary. These sensors provide real-time monitoring of water quality, giving an early warning system for potential surface water contamination. Next sensors to be installed include measurements of nitrate, pH and flow in real-time.

Libelium Plug & Sense! sensor platform captures all relevant data in realtime. The EnviroSuite software platform receives the data and converts it into powerful monitoring, forecasting and reporting tools to aid effective management of operations and compliance processes. Early results show that the water module is working as expected.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture and Water schema

The Water Module has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of environmental reporting and compliance in a broad range of human activities that affect both surface and ground water, while significantly improving the ability to proactively manage these issues. This project lets cover the investment in 18 months due to reduced grab monitoring, improved labour efficiencies and lab costs.

Screenshot from EnviroSuite’s New Water Module

“It is so much better knowing what’s happening in your soils and waterways by getting real-time data compared to the old ways of sending samples to the lab and waiting for weeks for the results, and not knowing in the meantime what’s going on”, comments David Kassulke, Managing Director at AJ Bush.

“We are very excited with the deployment of the Water Module in Queensland with an iconic Australian Company that is committed to leading their industry in adopting best practice solutions to managing their relationship with their surrounding environment and communities.”, says Peter White, CEO of Pacific Environment.

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Agriculture application: Agriculture Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Water application: Smart Water Board Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• EnviroSuite:www.envirosuite.com

• Pacific Environment:pacific-environment.com

• AJ Bush: www.ajbush.com.au

Discover our IoT Kits at The IoT Marketplace!

The building industry needs to reduce the environmental impact generated by its activity to improve the sustainability regulations compliance and, at the same time, increase its competitiveness reducing costs.

This is the aim of the VisionTech4Life, an initiative as a result of Basque Country companies and research centers cooperation, to know and mitigate the environmental effects which implies any civil work.

For that, they have developed an environmental impacts detection system in real time which allows measure water quality an other atmospheric parameters based on Libelium wireless sensor networks technology.

This project has been deployed in the “Villapérez” water treatment plant construction, located in Oviedo (Asturias, Spain).

Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

Helped by the Environmental Surveillance Plan which exists in the construction, they identified the surroundings and made the most sensible points in order to measure the water, air and noise quality. For these last parameters, they selected the check points close to houses placed in that area. In these points were installed the noise and particle matter sensors.

Water sensor calibrating works in the water treatment plant

The project is equipped with four Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform connected by a Meshlium Gateway with an outwards public IP. One of the nodes has a M2M connection and the three others use a Zigbee 802.15.4 communication protocol.

Water treatment plant monitoring

The four Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform installed monitor the following environmental and water quality parameters:

• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water: Turbidity, Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP), pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Temperature.
• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Environment: particle matter PM1; PM2,5 PM10, and Temperature, Humidity, Pressure atmospheric.
• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Cities: day, evening and night Luminosity.
• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Cities: Luminosity and temperature.

On 5th March started one of the hardest and at the same time craziest amateur rallies in the world: the Panda Raid. It is a seven-days-race through the Moroccan desert. The only essential requirement is to drive an old Fiat Panda (Seat Marbella in Spain).

Morocco, Africa

What makes this rally different and tough is its rules. GPS and Internet are not allowed during the race. Participants only can use a compass and a roadbook to navigate and avoid getting lost. Of course the intuition and expertise of the drivers play an important role.

Castellón Smart City is a pilot project installed at the neighborhood of Pau Gumbau in Castellón de la Plana (Spain). The deployment takes place over an area that covers 222,000 square meters were near 8,000 citizens live and work on their daily basis together with gardens, parks, schools and private & public buildings.

Castellón, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

IoTsense, a company owned by Grupo Gimeno Holding, decided starting this project based in Libelium technology to show municipality and private companies the Smart City Platform working in real time. “There is no better way to show the potential of the sensor network platform than live, with real time data”, explains Ignacio Llopis, Head of Business Development.

Water, waste management and weather sensors

Castellón Smart City project integrates 25 different kinds of sensors to measure and control data from different sources in order to obtain organized data from a global perspective. Some of the most relevant sensors are “Watchmeter” IoTsens –Data Logger, Limnimeter, Waste level sensor, Meteorological station, soil moisture sensor or luminosity sensor. All of them are connected to Libelium’s Waspmote OEM platform which is focused on the implementation of low consumption modes.

Waspmote OEM platform and Gases Board integrated in IOTSense platform

Sensors like “Watchmeter” Data Logger or Limnimeter allow a detailed water management. “Watchmeter” Data Logger records data by instruments and sensors that allow final user to discriminate between water users consumption using “flow patterns”, this way user may know how much water is using for different activities. Limnimeters allow remote control of facilities collecting data from water pipers like water height, flow, percentage fill, spill alarms or temperature. It indicates the exact evolution of the water level collecting information automatically and detecting flood risks. The Libelium Smart Water platform allows to measure these and other parameters such as pH, ORP, Disolved Oxygen and many other water ions and chemicals such as Fluoride, Calcium, Nitrate, Chloride, etc.

Other examples of integrated sensors are waste level sensors or meteorological stations. The first one allows managing the waste truck route by an ultrasound sensor capable of collects real time data about filled percentage, temperature and vibration of the bin. The second one, the meteorological station, allows real time control of weather parameters like wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and precipitation rate. In this way the data of every sensor can be stored for further studies and decision making.

IOTSens installation diagram of functioning

Engineering team at IoTsens selected Libelium’s wide range of sensors for this project because of the quick & easy to install and deploy and for the versatility of its components. “We could aggregate different kind of sensors and devices on the same gadget”, states Llopis referring to Waspmote OESM platform.

The National Park of Manú in Peru is one of the most impressive nature reserves in the world and it is the home for a great biological diversity. The UNESCO recognized it in 1987 as World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. Nevertheless, this wide range of plants and animals, although they are protected, are also threatened by climate change. In order to preserve these and others species, some Peruvian professional researchers have led a project with the aim to monitor nature behavior in real time and habitat.

National Park of Manú, Peru

Sensors in a remote nature reserve

The path to acess to the National Park of Manú last many hours and goes across roads and rivers. During this way is really common to suffer temperature changes, from a burning sun to heavy rain. The rain-forest is such a unique area that is vital for researchers data collection in order to analyse this particular information.

RFID Radical Solutions, a Peruvian company that offers M2M solutions, has installed Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Environment and Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture in this project. With this two wireless sensor platforms different parametres from water and air are collected. The communication protocol applied to communicate the Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform with the Meshlium Gateway was LoRa 900MHz with a high-range-transmission.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture and Environment schema

In this project, led by the Peruvian engineer Jorge Camus, there have been installed several cameras and 25 wireless sensors which, through an aerial, emit the information about what is happenning in at least 30 kilometres of the nature reserve via Internet to anywhere.

There have been installed five Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platforms to control different parametres in order to preserve the rain-forest environment:

• Three Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Agriculture: digital humidity + temperature (sensirion), atmospheric pressure and weather station WS-300.
• One Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Agriculture PRO: digital humidity + temperature (sensirion) and solar radiation.
• One Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Environment : temperature, humidity, CO₂, NO₂, O₂, CO, CH₄, air pollutants, O₃ and atmospheric pressure.

“This area is really rough but there is no doubt that is the most suitable one to see how the world behaviours in its natural state. So that, I think that this is the best place to carry out a project about environmental monitoring”, considers Jorge Camus, engineer of the project.

Plug & Sense! Smart Environment

Real time data for researchers

Akara Resources, subsidiary of ASX-listed Kingsgate Consolidated Limited, is the leading gold producer in Thailand owning the largest and most important gold mine in the country: Chatree.

The Chatree Mining Complex is nearly 300 kilometres far from Bangkok. The mine operators were under pressure from a community and government regulator that perceives that adverse impacts are being experienced by the local communities due to their proximity to the mine. In fact the mine operations had been suspended in the past due to this concern.

However, the innovative EnviroSuite – Libelium solution provides the mine operator with an advanced system to manage risks of impact on the community and enables them to keep track of any evolving issues using real-time data rather than a perception of unmitigated risks.

Chatree, Thailand

The project in the mine, led by Pacific Environment, has a main goal: strengthen Akara’s committed to its corporate and social responsibilities with local villages surrounding the Chatree Mining Complex. The project includes four different lines of action:

• Monitoring module for real-time meteorological and air quality updates.
• Modelling module for predictive and risk management operations.
• Complaints Management.
• Blast Management.

Chatree Mining Complex

Libelium Wireless Sensor Network has been installed to control air quality parameters and to monitor real-time weather changes. The mine´s air quality will be monitored by Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform in real-time and stored using EnviroSuite’s Air Quality Module. The archived data can be accessed for use in compliance reporting and back tracking for accountability.

Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) and Temperature sensors from Libelium Plug & Sense! Smart Environment PRO have been used in order to measure some parameters. In this case, the nodes communicate directly with EnviroSuite Cloud Platform through 3G. One of the aims of the project is maintaining a strong environmental management system adjusted to regulatory and social licenses in order to improve the relationship with Public Regulation Organizations.

Installation diagram of functioning

Plug & Sense! Smart Environment PRO has been designed to meet the regulations and demands of governments and municipalities for Smart Cities or Air Quality deployments. One of its key features is the calibrated Gases PRO Sensor Board which is able to monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure, particle matter in the air (dust) and 16 different types of gases.

It is generally known that miners are exposed to some health risks during their working hours. They are in contact with different substances that could result in some illness related to respiratory system. By controlling and monitoring air quality some of this threats can be reduced in order to improve and lengthen their working lives

“The result of the project has been successful using EnviroSuite with Libelium Sensors to further enhance our environmental management and bring an even greater level of accountability and transparency to our most important stakeholders”, affirms Greg Foulis, Kingsgate Limited CEO.

EnviroSuite Cloud Platform visualizer

EnviroSuite is the Cloud Platform used for data visualizing. Through the Air Quality Module data collected can be real-time monitored and analysed. “EnviroSuite is quickly gaining international recognition for the vital insights it delivers to help companies reach operational and regulatory goals, as well as providing essential transparency for community relations”, consider Pacific Environment CEO, Peter White.

The project carried out by Libelium and Pacific Environment could be deployed in other metal mines. EnviroSuite’s Platform has previously been deployed in other projects related to the mining sector in coal and iron ore mines in Australia with clients such us BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and Anglo American.

Contact:

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Environment PRO application: Gases PRO Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• EnviroSuite: www.EnviroSuite.com
• Pacific Environment: www.pacific-environment.com
• Akara Resources: www.akararesources.com
• Kinsgate Consolidated Limited: www.kingsgate.com

Discover our IoT Kits at The IoT Marketplace!

Urban traffic is one of the main problems affecting the quality of life of residents in cities and metropolitan area. Current city models, with a very distributed layout and an urban population in constant growth, contribute to an ever increasing number of daily trips.

Besides problems with pollution, safety and energy consumption, providing a sustainable way of mobility for citizens to arrive to their destinations requires new ways of managing urban traffic.

Wireless Sensor Networks are now more than a promise to develop and implement real systems. Using this technology as a base, a research group from the University of Málaga has developed an Urban Information System to gather relevant information about city environments, particularly relative to traffic. The group is composed by Alfonso García, professor of Systems Engineering and Automation department, Juan Jesús Fernández, main researcher and Juan Martín and Miguel Martín, R&D engineers.

Málaga, Andalusia, Spain

Wireless Sensor Networks to collect vehicles information

Accurate information is one of the first requirements to achieve the goal of sustainable mobility. Acquiring precise and timely data about travelers movements is the first step to look for an optimization of the available means as infrastructure.

While a wide variety of sensors are available, they usually need modifications on the roads and nearby areas (for instance, burying cables), and thus construction works and road closures are a part of any deployment.

In addition, most of these sensors provides only vehicle counting and, while some types allow for vehicle identification (opening the way to trend monitoring and estimation), they need means for processing, as in the case of video cameras. This is an investment to add to the construction and deployment works.

Nodes used in the deployment

Sensor nodes communication

With the support of a research grant from the regional government (Junta de Andalucía), the Urban Information System (UIS) is a rapid deployment system focused on providing information about traffic, using a set of sensors to gather information about vehicle counting, vehicle identification, noise levels, dust (particle matter concentration PM10), gases concentrations, humidity, etc.

The system is implemented as a Wireless Sensor Network, with different types of nodes, with power supply independence from the grid, and allowing an easy and inexpensive deployment around an area of interest.

The chosen area was a section of the Highway A-357 in Malaga (Spain), with a speed limit of 100 km/h and the surroundings of a roundabout with different entries and exits within a short distance.

The Urban Information System (UIS) is based on hardware and software provided by Libelium. For instance, Waspmote Sensor Platform, Smart Cities board, gases board, gases sensors, ultrasound sensor, dust sensor, noise sensor and Bluetooth modules are only a few of Libelium solutions integrated in the system.

“Thanks to Libelium we have been able to focus on the application development instead of the issues related to hardware”, argues the researcher manager. The deployment comprises sensor nodes and coordinator nodes. These are some of the sensors installed:

• Bluetooth Node.
• Ultrasound Node.
• Laser Node.
• Gases Node.
• Environmental Node.

These sensor nodes send the information gathered periodically to a manager node – the Meshlium Gateway – which is also called the coordinator node.. The ZigBee protocol is used for communication among nodes. This protocol has been selected because of its efficient energy consumption and acceptable data transfer rate.

As far as data is concerned, the information collected by the coordinator node is always available through two wireless protocols: WiFi and 3G. There are two ways to access to the information gathered by the coordinator node:

• Direct access via WiFi or 3G: the data acquired by sensor nodes are obtained and processed in the coordinator node. Later, these data can be seen by a laptop or a computer using WiFi or 3G.
• Real Time: The coordinator node must synchronize with a computer working as external server, via 3G. This computer acquires and monitors data sent by sensors, processing the information and allowing interaction with an operator.

Diagram of the wireless sensor network

One of the key features of UIS is vehicle identification. Bluetooth nodes acquire the MAC (Media Access Control) of Bluetooth devices located in vehicles traveling on the selected urban area. The Bluetooth node detects also the device type (mobile phones, hands free, laptop, etc.).

In this way, the MAC address of a particular Bluetooth device is unique, so it can be used to identify the vehicle carrying the Bluetooth device. The car tracing can be possible through the detection of the same MAC by different Bluetooth nodes of the UIS platform. If a difference of time exists between different intervals of detected Bluetooth with the same MAC, then a trip between a certain origin-destination pair has been identified.

This process is used to calculate the Origin-Destination matrix. The O-D matrix is a powerful tool for traffic management, containing the information about the way vehicles are moving between different points of interest. It is noteworthy that privacy rights are preserved, since MAC addresses are not linked to any individual.

But a total count of vehicles is needed to calculate the O-D matrix. UIS uses ultrasound and laser nodes for that purpose. The first of them detects vehicles crossing the sensors beam. The second type sweeps the driveway analyzing the existence of vehicles. The advantage of a laser node with respect to the ultrasound node consists in the capability to detect a vehicle and the lane it is using.

On the other hand, ultrasound node has a simpler, cheaper and faster installation. It can be positioned in any street element, while the laser node needs to be placed at a height of 7 or 8 meters.

The UIS has been tested in different real-world scenarios. Since it is based on a wireless network, different layouts can be easily adopted to cover different road configurations. The real areas can be shown in the SCADA interface.

SCADA visualizer

A powerful tool for city managers

This project presents a wireless sensor network designed to characterize urban traffic parameters. In particular, vehicle counting and identification are the key to obtain information about origins and destination of trips in the area under study.

This data allows the calculation of the origin-destination matrix in real time, providing city managers with a powerful tool to adapt traffic planning to real demands. Up to now this matrix required an extensive field work linked to roadside interviews and needing weeks or months to be completed.

The system has been validated in real conditions. Transmitter nodes have been tested separately and data about detection using ultrasound and Bluetooth have been obtained. The complete system have also carried out proving its capability to calculate an origin-destination matrix in real time, with acceptable accuracy.

The UIS is possible to be deployed by a wider geographical area, as a city. Besides, calculations can be refreshed in real time through the SCADA system, allowing traffic managers to obtain an information that up to this moment required weeks or months.

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Cities application: Smart Cities Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Gases application: Gases Board Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• Universidad de Málaga: www.uma.com
• Systems Engineering and Automation department of University of Málaga: www.uma.es/isa
• A Wireless Sensor Network for Urban Traffic Characterization and Trend Monitoring: www.mdpi.com

Discover our Smart CIties IoT Kits at The IoT Marketplace

Smart Agriculture and Organic Farming are two trends strongly linked. In the United Kingdom are walking hand in hand for a while to improve competitiveness of small producers. Senseye, a UK software company focused on prognostics and conditions monitoring, decided to develop a project with organic farmers to increase their crops and make them sustainable.

Since the beggining, the Senseye engineer team detected a lack of freely available public data in matter of agriculture issues, so they decided that it was necessary to work elbow to elbow with farmers and deploy a sensor network around the country to collect data.

United Kingdom

This project was deployed in 9 farms located across the UK, form Riverford Organic Farms in Devon to Spen Farms run by the University of Leeds. The aim of this project was to be able to capture useful data to start predicting measurements and events that could help farmers and agronomists to save time and money with its farms. In this project, the type of farm was not determining, because it has been deployed in a diverse range of crops, from vegetables to grain.

There was not any similar project so the system deployed was built from the ground-up. Besides, there were some ‘musts’ that defined the project. First of all, the solution must have a competitive price. Besides, the devices should be easy to setup and, of course, with low maintenance costs. Finally, the systems should have the ability to send data to Senseye cloud service with a minimal fuss.

Precise location where the sensors were deployed

It was considered some providers but finally Libelium devices were choosen because of some reasons:

• The best comparative price and value for money.
• All the sensors were integrated and available.
• The API and the codebase.
• The Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform ‘ready out of the box’ idea.

Libelium sensors being installed in the farms

In this case, Senseye chose Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform, fully equipped with Libelium sensors, because of its features of automatic functioning, high resistance, durability and easy implementation. In fact, one of the experts involved in the project, Joe Britto, highlights these features about Libelium products: “We managed to install each unit on average in about 20 minutes“. Specifically the devices installed were the following:

• Five Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture PRO, with Digital Humidity & Temperature probe, Soil temperature probe, Solar radiation probe and Soil moisture probe.
• Twelve Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Agriculture, with Digital Humidity & Temperature probe, Soil moisture probe, Soil temperature probe and Weather Station WS-3000 probe
• Four Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Environment, with NO₂ probe, NH₃ probe, CO₂ probe, Temperature probe, Humidity probe and Volatile Organic Components sensor probe.

The socioeconomic importance of tobacco in Italy requires a continuous update of technical improvements to rationalize the cultural practices in order to obtain a product of higher quality, but respecting the environment. High quality depends on cultivation techniques, including chemical substances that could be toxic for smokers, or specific pedology and climatic requirements.

Veneto, Umbria and Campania, Italy

TeamDev, an Italian software company, has deployed Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform to collect information localizing weather conditions to support farming management. TeamDev has worked with a farmer association on tobacco’s monitoring.

Innovation in tobacco crops thanks to sensors

One of the major problems for captains of vessels, especially during summer, is the absence of marina’s reservation mechanisms. In fact, sometimes it is not possible to plan a trip by boat securing the position where it will be stationed throughout the course of the tourist route.

The start-up SaMMY, financed by the Fiware Accelerator European Commission FrontierCities, rises up from this need detected in Greek ports. They have developed an application to become the ultimate fellow traveler for yachters, skippers and marina administrators. It supports e-booking services, navigational and parking assistance features and mobile guidance to the nearby coastal areas.

The pilot project, deployed in Patras port yachting area with Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform, has been implemented to modernize the operation of marinas with the installation of a wireless sensor network to monitor mooring berths, measuring the sea water level and observing the weather conditions.

Patras Port in Greece

Sensor to modernize marinas

The project, carried out by Libelium and SaMMY, wants to fill a huge gap in marinas services but also to open a channel for a smarter communication with the world of marine tourism, which conquers constantly new territories and searchs for smarter tools. A sensor network has been deployed to monitor mooring berths as well as sea and environment conditions.

Libelium sensors and gateway installed in Patras port

This project comprise the collection of several parameters to solve different issues related to the marina. For that, three different kinds of Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform with a wide range of sensors have been installed building a wireless infrastructure:

• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water: it has been used to control the Water quality, that is measured by the pH calibration kit and Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) with calibration solution. Water quality is important to take decisions regarding the waterflow rate to the port and the presence of people at the mooring berths.
• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Security: it has been used to detect the height of the sea surface and the height to reach the port using the Liquid Level sensor probe and the Presence sensor (PIR) probe. It is important to take decisions regarding the waterflow rate to the port.
• Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Cities: this node has a double mission. On the one hand, it is used to monitor weather conditions using a Temperature sensor probe and a Humidity sensor probe. On the other hand it is utilized to monitor the vessels presence in berths and the berth positions and it is controlled by an Ultrasound sensor probe.

The communication protocol used to connect Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform with the Meshlium Gateway is TCP/IP 802.15.4. Fiware technologies are used for the Cloud services and a dedicated agent, Node.js, for the communication with the Meshlium.

Patras port deployment

Yachts management through data

The wireless sensor network installed in the marina allows to monitor and manage mooring berths. Thanks to the measurements provided by this application deployed by SaMMY, it is enabled an online contact and reservation mechanism that improves the way they operate ensuring the comfort of ship passengers from tourist boats.

Apart from the features inherent to the port, the SaMMY application brings others related to the hosting of the boat marinas. It provides information on nearby points of interest as well as the common services of interest for travelers and crews.

“This way the marinas provide important information to the yachters; the marinas administrators have a clear view of the status of the berths, improving this way the quality of the services and the scheduling of the yachting trips”, considers Ioannis Kostopoulos, SaMMY CEO.

The SaMMY project has developed a unique marina application which aim is becoming a modern communication and information tool for skippers, crews of tourist vessels and managers marinas. The application to end-users is offered for free for smart phones and mobile devices such as tablets with Android or IOS operating systems.

Mobile version of SaMMy application

Nautical tourism maket and especially the sector of yachting and marinas is very dynamic. They contribute decisively to the development of local economies of Mediterranean countries and Northern Europe cities. According to European Commission, activities around yachting generate an annual turnover of 15 billion Euros providing more than 303,000 jobs.

The pilot project, carried out by Libelium and Sammy, could be deployed in other marinas of the Mediterranean sea during the following months. The platform has already been presented in conferences in Greece, Italy, Spain or Belgium with great success.

Contact:

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Water application: Smart Water Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Cities application: Smart Cities Board Technical Guide
• For technical details on Waspmote hardware, sensors and how to program a Smart Security application: Events Board Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• SaMMY: www.sammyacht.com
• FIWARE: www.fiware.org

Discover our IoT Kits at The IoT Marketplace!

Councils and governments are conscious about the significance of improving public areas. Not only to reduce costs, but also to show their commitment with inhabitants and tourists that visit their cities. This is one of the main reasons why Smart Cities are more than a phenomena, actually they are a reality and the trend that every public institution wants to follow.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is a great example in the Smart Cities field. With different projects to ease citizens lives, it has became one of the worldwide references of innovative and technological developments. With Barcelona Council and Starlab, Libelium has worked in a smart water project to control the irrigation system in Poblenou Park Centre.

Irrigation system management with only a click

Starlab, together with other companies, has deployed a remote control irrigation system for Barcelona that will help to reinforce its Smart City status. Starlab’s contribution to the service is by soil moisture monitoring with in situ probes that use Libelium technology . The deployment is based on sensors technology and consists in allowing remote control of the irrigation system to facilitate the management of the water network.

Before starting the project, each zone of the park was studied and analyzed in order to know their specific needs. The SmartIrrigation system is controlled and monitored thanks to different soil moisture sensors which measure humidity and water flow in strategic points of the area.

The deployed probes datalogger is based on Waspmote Sensor Platform with sensors probes from a third party. This fact gives an impression of the versatility of this device. It enables connection with a wide range of sensor probes that does not have to be from the same manufacturer.

In SmartIrrigation project soil moisture probes are located underground together with Waspmote Sensor Platform, which are put inside waterproof boxes that ensure highly durability. Besides, these devices are powered by a long-life battery with one year autonomy.

Smart Irrigation System

Data gathered by Waspmote Sensor Platform can be sent to a gateway or directly to the cloud. It can be done through several communication protocols, such us GPRS, 3G, 4G, LoRaWAN, LoRa, Sigfox, 868 MHz, 900MHz, ZigBee, 802.15.4, WiFi, RFID, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. In this project, data is sent through ZigBee to Meshlium Gateway, also provided by Libelium, and from there to the cloud using 3G. All the Meshlium installed are located in the garderner huts to facilitate the communications.

The information collected in the Meshlium Gateway can be visualized in a platform which concentrates and allows knowing the state in each zone. Two departments of Barcelona Council, Urban Services and Computing, have worked with Wonderware to carry out the application which can be controlled with computers, smartphones and also tablets.

Visualizer developed by Barcelona Council and Wonderware

If your are enjoying nature, sitting on a bench or walking through Poblenou Park Centre, you will probably see some members of Barcelona Parks staff and Gardeners using tablets. This is not the way how they spend their break times, the tablets are their new work tools. The new irrigation management system allows an automatic control of the electronic valves that close or open the water flow.

Cutting down water and money

The Council of Barcelona led this project which is part of Barcelona Smart City project. Cristina Vila, General Manager of Water Cycle in the city, considered the deployment as a great success because “the system optimizes water consumption because it irrigates with the proper amount according to weather conditions and the plants’ needs“.

Thanks to this new management system the municipal water bill has been cut down near a 25% in the city. Moreover, this reduction is not just about money, the water usage has been reduced too. Barcelona is saving resources such us water with Internet of Things technology and contributing to enhance the environment too. For gardeners, their daily work tasks has been eased too. Controlling the irrigation system and detecting any incidents that may have occurred can nowadays be checked in real-time.

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

More info:

• For technical details on Waspmote Sensor Platform hardware programmable software, modules and boards: Waspmote Sensor Platform Technical Guide
• Read more about Libelium sensor product lines in the Waspmote, Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform and Meshlium Gateway websites.

References:

• Starlab: www.starlab.es
• SmartIrrigation: www.star2earth.com
• Wonderware: www.creatingsmartcities.es

References of the service:

• BCN Smart City: http://smartcity.bcn.cat/en/telemanaging-irrigation.html

Discover our IoT Kits at The IoT Marketplace

Vietnam is one of the main worldwide fish producers and exporters. Its anual fish production is approximately of 5.699.250 tons which supposes an export value of 1,7 billions USD. The main markets for its production are Europe, USA, Mexico and China. The European Union has already warned the wholesalers to establish tougher control measures on the quality of fish and also on the farming conditions.

Thanh Bình District, Dong Thap Province, Vietnam

PHA Distribution, one of the leading IoT & ICT distributors in Vietnam market, has deployed a wireless sensor network in a Vietnamese fish farm in Thanh Bình District, Dong Thap Province, next to Mekong river, with Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform. The aim of the project is to monitor in real-time different parameters to control water quality and prevent some diseases that could affect fish in order to improve the quality and quantity of the production.

Waspmote Plug & Sense! intallation in a fish farm pond

Real-time monitoring to improve the production

The main goal of the project is clear in words of Tran Vinh Phong, Managing Director at Pha Distribution: “Real-time monitoring will allow us to help our end clients to be aware of preventable diseases in order to save costs in diseases treatment and keep fish in good health before harvesting job as well as mange fish loss to the minimum rate”.

The company has chosen Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense! Sensors Platform, fully equipped with Libelium sensors, because the hardware has a good design, it is easy to implement, scalable depending on the demands and also have low maintenance costs.

Fish farm deployment functioning diagram

Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Water have been deployed in the source of water supply and also inside the fish farm. Water and fish quality are controlled by the following parameters: