A zero-maintenance, autonomous, wireless “tag” powered by the sun will benefit farmers by enabling precision agriculture and smart irrigation according to its manufacturer.
Sol Chip Comm (SCC-S433) joins the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT), feeding readings such as soil/air temperature and nutrient levels from a variety of sensors into a cloud server. These readings are analysed by an application with view to providing valuable information to farmers for optimising irrigation and fertiliser use.
Sol Chip says the all-weather SCC, which measures 13 x 8 x 4cm, is designed to operate continuously for more than a decade – and without battery changes thanks to what the company calls its “Everlasting Solar Battery”. The battery is actually a combined solar cell (Saturn photovoltaic chip) and energy storage unit. Assuming the unit is fully charged, it can operate under zero light conditions for at least a month.
The SCC has a wireless range of 1,500 metres and automatically uploads data harvested from sensors into the cloud. Multiple transmissions can be made each day.
It seems quite a few devices can be used in a single system. The company says it has “hundreds” of SCC-S433 tags wirelessly connected to a single Sol Chip Wireless Gateway using a star topology and transmitting via the 433MHz ISM band. Gateway backhaul options are GPRS, 3G, Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
“Sol Chip is uniquely positioned to realize our vision of enabling billions of autonomous IoT devices for many different market sectors in a way that is cost effective and environmentally sustainable,” says Sol Chip CEO and Founder, Dr. Shani Keysar.
Sol Chip states the SCC device also has applications in other settings; including
- Smart cities – such as sensors on garbage bins
- Asset/personnel positioning and tracking – keeping tabs on valuable heavy equipment and people
- Environmental monitoring – pollution and fire alerts
- Smart grid – grid monitoring
- Oil and gas Sector – pipeline monitoring.
Other similar products manufactured by Sol Chip have home automation applications; such as in connection with security systems, smoke/ gas detection and smart light switches.
