Smart Farming for a Growing Population

It is currently predicted that the global population will reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Farmers are embracing IoT in order to meet new challenges, such as addressing extreme weather conditions, correcting intensive farming practices and meeting the growing demand for food. How can A.N. Solutions wireless products and services assist in achieving current and future farming objectives and meeting farming needs?

Greenhouse Automation and Surveillance

Growing populations will need more food and strategies that improve the yield of crops, including greenhouse automation and wireless technologies to control environmental parameters. Traditional manual intervention often provides less effective results, in addition to unnecessary energy loss, production loss and labor cost.

Our wireless sensor solutions may be used to monitor and measure environmental parameters, providing alerts to when data falls outside of specified ranges for optimal growth. As information is provided in real time, control actions can be applied and crop damage avoided with minimal manual intervention. Adjust light levels, humidity, temperature, heating systems, misters, fans and more through IoT technology used in a smart greenhouse.

Farming Automation

Precision farming makes for more control and accuracy to raising livestock and growing crops. IT, sensors, control systems and automation are highly important technologies and concepts found within this approach to farm management. Farming automation can positively impact and create more efficiencies when it comes to:

• Livestock tracking and monitoring;
• Animal-related feed supply;
• Vital control and surveillance;
• Hygienic precautions;
• Seed storage; and
• Control of perishable farm products storage.

Combine wireless sensor systems, cloud technology and simplified interfaces to benefit from smart farming practices, improving animal health, seed, supply and storage conditions and more.

Planting Automation

Horticulture presents its own unique set of challenges that generally call for more sophisticated solutions compared to agriculture. Soil quality and moisture levels are some of the factors that can impact crop yields. Sensors and a wireless control system may be used for:

• Soil control,
• Moisture control,
• Irrigation automation,
• Crop surveillance;
• Targeted fertilization; and
• Automated seeding and harvesting with specially equipped machines.

Ensure efficient use of necessary resources to maintain soil quality and moisture, making for healthier crop growth and improved yield with wireless sensor technology and advanced IoT technologies.

Smart Irrigation

A self-sufficient intelligent irrigation system employs wirelessly-networked soil moisture sensors and valve control actuators to avoid excessive or insufficient watering. Solar-powered sensors supply the data to the main control unit that sends commands to the valve control actuators to release the right amounts of water creating perfect conditions for the plants’ growth.

The main control unit also serves as a gateway to the cloud. To simplify the wireless network management tasks, all data monitoring and network control features can be made available via a web-based backend portal or a convenient mobile app. The entire network can run in an auto mode using preset thresholds for key parameters.

There are numerous benefits of using a wireless technology, including:

• Quick setup;
• Flexible network configuration;
• Easy scalability;
• Simplified maintenance; and
• Lower costs.

By finding the right antenna type and optimizing its performance, you can greatly increase the data transmission distance, thus eliminating the need for the range extenders. It all leads to a significant cost reduction. At A.N. Solutions, we excel in RF design, and antenna matching and optimization, and can help you design a robust and cost-saving smart irrigation solution.

Get Vital Control and Surveillance with A.N. Solutions

A.N. Solutions brings unique hardware and software solutions to farming and agricultural industries that may be scaled up or down as needed. Small organic farmers, as well as large-scale producers, benefit from the information gleaned from a network of wireless sensors that may be placed on a range of different types of buildings and surfaces.

A.N. Solutions works with the system currently in place to enhance data collection and transmission without the need for expensive traditional installation costs. Different wireless sensors are connected via a self-organizing, self-healing mesh network and can relay information to the cloud or connected devices via flexible interfaces.

Farming facilities can use our wireless sensors to get real-time data to make needed adjustments to improve soil, crop and animal health, quickly address storage condition issues and eliminate excess energy consumption. This advanced technology can be used for livestock tracking, failure prediction systems, resource mapping and more. The benefits of A.N. Solutions wireless sensor products and services include:

• Automation of data collection and transmission;
• Integration with current or new networks;
• Low-cost installation;
• Unique feature configurations for farmers and producers; and
• Low maintenance requirements with long battery life.

Our powerful @ANY hardware platforms may be modified, extended or integrated to meet the specific needs of farmers and producers. Out of the box, the @ANY-based wireless sensors require little effort to install and begin using. A long battery life of 5-10 years makes for few maintenance requirements. Farmers can do what they do best, leaving data collection and delivery to systems designed by A.N. Solutions.

Case Study: Smart Irrigation System Cuts Water Waste By 70%

Aardra Systems is dedicated to creating smart irrigation systems that sense the moisture in the soil and automatically replenish sufficient moisture for the plants, thus preventing unnecessary loss of precious resources. The precise amount of water is delivered according to soil composition and the plants’ needs. The Aardra smart units are designed for gardens, landscaping projects, and large farms and can be integrated into existing irrigation systems.

Aardra used to design and produce wireless RF transmission modules in-house that used up a lot of internal resources. It used to take six to seven months to design an RF module, perform lab tests and optimize the RF performance, and then certify the product for CE and FCC compliance. This process was not only time-consuming and costly but also distracted the Aardra team from focusing on their core business of creating efficient irrigation systems.

By outsourcing the RF design, system integration, and certification to A.N. Solutions, Aardra was able to cut the product development time by 80%! The RF module’s performance was so outstanding with a range up to 600-700 meters that they even discontinued their X-Com range extender as there was no need for it anymore. Before, they had to use the range extender because the RF modules embedded in Sencom and Valcom units didn’t provide sufficient range.