How do you supply the right amount of water to a plant in the greenhouse? Sensors can be of valuable assistance. With an ingenious system, you can map out the specific need for water for each plant.
Duration
June – December 2023
Partners (TU Delft)
Do IoT Fieldlab, TU Delft, Robohouse and The Green Village
Partners (other)
SenseNL develops and supplies wireless sensors for measurements around the plant roots, in the soil or substrate mat. This allows to gain precise insight into what a plant needs. These measurements are of help to growers to optimise water use, enhance crop quality and achieve larger production.
Currently, the (CARA MET) sensors use a LoRaWAN module for wireless communication. Although this technique performs properly, multiple base stations are required for coverage over a larger area. In addition, wireless updates take a lengthy time due to the limited bandwidth of LoRaWAN.
The goal of this project is to replace the current communication module with a 5G module. That will increase the range of the sensors, so fewer base stations will be needed to communicate with the cloud. Future firmware updates can also be performed faster. Furthermore, 5G allows for new features and applications in the future with the sensors. Think of algorithm-based crop prediction and making these predictions increasingly accurate.