• • • SMART BUILDINGS & IOT• • • AgTech advancements
powering farming innovations Josh Mickolio, supplier business development manager, wireless and IoT, DigiKey
hile farming may be one of the world’s oldest professions, the agriculture industry is changing rapidly. Farms across the globe no longer fit the stereotypical rustic aesthetic with one family farmer who handles most of the day’s chores manually and lives off the grid without phone, cable or internet access. Today, modern farmers are increasingly turning to agriculture technology (AgTech) solutions to help keep up with the pace of global food demand. A wide variety of factors have made the farming job more complex and challenging, from climate change to labour shortages, rising costs, decreased interest in farming as a career and more.
W
Advancements in AgTech are responsible for smarter harvesting, the electrification of equipment and better data collection in order to make more informed decisions. Plus, advances in global connectivity have improved data communication speeds, even in extremely rural or high altitude locations where farms are often located. One of the AgTech solutions that is picking up a great deal of steam is precision agriculture, which relies heavily on technology to more accurately and efficiently complete farm tasks, whether it is weed and pest control, tracking livestock, maintaining equipment or protecting soil health. Farming requires a great deal of energy and resources, and precision agriculture aims to use that energy and those resources more effectively and efficiently for the betterment of all. Modern farms rely on technology to elevate the art of farming with automated and sustainable solutions.
Technology Enables Evolution The increasing amount of technology on farms dates back to the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, there was increasing public scrutiny of the use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture operations, and advances in GPS technology led to its installation in tractors and combines. Over the following decades, connectivity solutions have continued to improve, enabling faster data transfer for both cloud and edge computing globally. Additionally, the capabilities of autonomous solutions have accelerated in recent years, such as improvements in optics processing, the growth of artificial intelligence and the introduction of solid-state LiDAR, all of which add up to advancements for precision agriculture. In order to realise its full potential, precision agriculture requires a robust foundation, which often means a deep well of data points. That data is collected and measured by a wide variety of hardware and software solutions. Today, sensors are one of the most heavily used hardware solutions on the farm, they are essential to gathering data to inform decision making. These sensors are incredibly rugged, able to withstand many environmental factors such as high and low temperatures, extreme weather, chemical exposure, dirt, vibration, animals and much more.
As a result, the sensors used in most farm equipment are not only designed for wear and tear but also in terms of equipment design, they are typically well-protected and hidden in hard to disturb places.
Sensors used in AgTech tend to buck the ‘miniaturisation’ trend seen in so many other component categories. Because they are being installed on large farming equipment, there is usually more room to house them alongside other electronics or install extra protection inside the unit.
Improved sensor technology ultimately leads to
better, more precise results for farmers, such as better equipment positioning and monitoring, better moisture and sunlight detection, increased comfort for drivers and passengers, and much more.
Reaping the Benefits With billions of lives relying on farmers and the food they produce, the stakes are high, and today’s agriculture industry leaves no room for error. Global food demand is on the rise as the world’s population increases and available arable land shrinks due to climate change. This means farmers must increase yields while also deploying scalable and sustainable farming techniques.
Some of the most commonly used applications of precision AgTech on the farm include:
• Soil Health: mapping and monitoring fields for optimized application of nutrients, pesticides or irrigation
• Livestock Management: tracking animal behaviour and health; automated feeding or milking systems for enhanced productivity
• Crop Monitoring: computer vision-assisted harvesting and weeding, ensuring that crops are in the ideal condition for harvesting or targeting only harmful weeds with pesticide sprayers; as well as the use of drones and satellites for collecting aerial data
• Maintaining Equipment: monitoring vehicle and equipment health; flagging issues and parts needing replacement to prevent expensive breakdowns
As technology continues to scale and evolve toward precision and adaptability, farmers will reap the rewards, which range from increased land or livestock productivity to less reliance on manual labour and staffing, as well as positive environmental impacts from using fewer inputs.
32 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • SEPTEMBER 2024
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58
