Friday, March 29, 2024

Machine internet network to roll out

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Farm connectivity is due for a major boost, thanks to the installation of a nationwide network enabling more on-farm devices to communicate with each other via the internet.
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Spearheaded by the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) NZ, the network initiative aims to be completed by late next year. It will lift the ability of more farms to utilise devices often linked through the “Internet of Things”, or the IoT network.

Typical farm IoT applications include sensors, monitors and equipment that can be programmed to communicate with each other via a specific wireless bandwidth, and not necessarily via a computer or laptop.

WISPA chair Mike Smith says almost 70% of New Zealand’s rural population is covered via WISPA services and the group’s members are working to enable 5000 repeater sites around the country with the equipment.

“Basically, we are putting an extra layer of IoT capable bandwidth over our members’ existing wireless bandwidth,” Smith said.

“At present, say a farmer wants to monitor soil moisture, they can only connect systems through proprietary networks – this will be open to any company and end-user who wants to utilise this technology.”

Often IoT equipment only transmits small amounts of data periodically.

Smith says member providers are now enabling their equipment with the IoT capable LoRaWAN (long-range wide-area network) that assures distant transmissions with low power consumption.

“As a system it has very good propagation and, while it is early days, we are working on a large, rapid network rollout,” he said.

While the plan is national, Smith says every district covered by a provider will have technology installed that meets that particular region’s demands and transmission challenges.

He envisages there will ultimately be a single entity managing the IoT network, which will be open to any company that wants to link its equipment up through it.

“We have a number of pilot trials under way and have a proof of concept plan in place,” he said.

While IoT is relatively well understood by the rural sector after several years of media coverage, its application has been largely limited to early adopting farmers so far.

But data demand on farms has been estimated by Business Insider Intelligence to surge to one million data points collected every day on every farm by next year, compared to only 100,000 in 2014.

“So IoT is getting to the point this has to be done for a mass market. We bring local and regional operators to it, having one network with the same technology, managed long-term,” he said.

He estimated current proprietary network systems bought onto farms with IoT tech was adding about $2000-$3000 to the cost of the technology’s installation.

Agritech NZ chief executive Brendan O’Connell says his members welcome the establishment of the IoT network, with value to be earnt both here and abroad.

“There has been a rural IoT roll out in other countries, including Scotland, and our challenge is similar to other countries with hills and valleys,” O’Connell said.

“From our perspective we have a dual interest in agri-tech being able to deliver value here. If we can create an example of what we learn here, it becomes additional value for exporting our technology as well.”

He says the nimbleness of smaller WISPA providers makes them ideally placed to deliver network solutions specific to districts, with service personnel in those districts to back up the network technology.

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