SMART AGRICULTURE
Thanks to Waspmote and wireless sensor networks it is now possible to manage crop cultivation and to know the exact condition in which plants are growing from the comfort of your own home.
By combining sensors such as humidity, temperature, and light, the risk of frost can be detected, possible plant diseases or watering requirements based on soil humidity, among others. This helps us to control conditions in nurseries and to closely monitor high performance or delicate crops, such as vines or tropical fruit, where the slightest change in climate can affect the final outcome. All of this information can also help us to determine the optimum conditions for each crop, by comparing the figures obtained during the best harvests. Given their ease of use and scalability, wireless sensor networks can also be used to monitor isolated areas of difficult access, where mushrooms grow for example (mushrooms, truffles, etc).
Waspmote detects environmental values and can store them, send them to a data processing centre for analysis or send emergency alarms. For example, depending on soil humidity it will send a message (through the ZigBee network or by SMS) to stop watering, thus contributing towards efficient water management.
Finally, the connection between Waspmote and Meshlium allows all of the sensor network’s information to be published on the Internet or stored in a database for subsequent study.
ANIMAL REARING
Installing a wireless sensor network near animals can help optimise their rearing conditions. It is possible to monitor the temperature of litters to keep it at suitable levels; to measure levels of gases produced by livestock such as methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and Hydrogen Sulphide (SH2); or even to control animals’ stress levels by monitoring flock restlessness with vibration and movement sensors.