SmartAgro – Mediterranean Excellence in Computing and Ontology

Low-Power Soil Moisture and Temperature Monitoring System
SMART-MES Telemetry Station

Low-Power Soil Moisture and Temperature Monitoring System

Description

This system is optimized for long battery life, can be used both indoor and outdoor. The data is transmitted only periodically, which allows the micro controller to enter deep sleep mode while idle. The idle current consumption is only 4.1uA, which grants the ability to last long even on a single coin battery like CR2032. The sensor is inserted into the ground, while the transmitter is flexible for attaching to a firm support system. The collector is powered via the USB cable.

The images below show the system in the testing environment.

Specifications

The communication system is based on RF technology which has proved reliable during the testing period. Multiple transmitters are supported and the communication range is 100m in line of sight, which means that a single collector can cover the area of around 31000m².

The expected battery life is 332 days on a single CR2032 battery when data is transmitted once every 10 minutes. For the most practical purposes much bigger transmitting period is needed, which guarantees even longer battery life.

Ordering information: MCN-SAG2

For order and interest write us at info@meconet.me.

SMART-MES Telemetry Station

SMART-MES (Smart Measurement Station) is wearable IoT based measurement station of general purpose. It is suitable for Smart Agriculture, Smart Transport, Smart Environment and any other purposes. It has developed as internal experiment within H2020 Project SMART4ALL and project VIRAL. SMART-MES uses the last technological solution in both hardware and software. The sensors acquire data of importance as temperature, humidity, soil moisture, light intensity etc. and send them to the SMART-MES STATION, which consists of nodeMCU (modern networked microprocessor), LoRaWAN communication module, actuator and sensors’ front end, power supply based on autonomous solar-battery system and output (power switch) module. The pre-processed data and sent via LoRaWAN to REMOTE COLLECTOR, which further via Wi-Fi and router (hot spot) communicates to CLOUD. The CLOUD integrates commercial IoT platforms like ThingSpeak, IFTTT, Zapper with SMART-MES system. As a result, the measured quantities can be monitored via the Internet anywhere, at any time.

SMART-MES in precision agriculture

The components of SMART-MES system in Vineyard are shown bellow. We can see the outlooks of transmitter and receive modules.

The station can be used for precise Microfarming and Horticulture. For measurement of the air temperature and humidity SMART-MES uses widely available sensors, while for soil moisture monitoring MECOnet developed own family of capacitance sensors as seen down. Those sensors are very stable and well calibrated.