By Juan Pedro Tomás
Australian IoT operator NNNCo has deployed a new network spread across 32,000 square kilometers in Victoria to help local farmers make better use of digital technologies on their farms.
The Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) was funded as part of the Victorian Government’s On-Farm internet of things trial.
“IoT has a major role to play in Australian agriculture, particularly as the sector works towards its goals of becoming a $100 billion industry and carbon neutral by 2030,” said NNNCo CEO and Co-Founder Rob Zagarella.
“LoRaWAN is ideal for the agriculture sector because it was developed for industries that needed a cost-effective, long-range signal with a battery life of many years for IoT sensors, and the ability to meet 100 per ceny of all coverage needs to every sensor and device deployed in the field”, he added.
In the trial, some farmers use environmental sensors like soil moisture probes to analyze real-time weather data and determine the best time and quantity of water for irrigation. Others use sensors to monitor tanks, silos or gates opening.
“We’ve installed around 150 gateways on farms and provided our data exchange platform product called N2N-DL to ensure data generated from the trial can be turned into meaningful information for farmers to make more informed decisions. The N2N-DL IoT Platform harmonizes access to a vast range of sensors and devices, with integration to 18 AgTech Solutions Providers. NNNCo is working closely with the entire agricultural ecosystem to ensure that solutions can be deployed on any farm wherever there is an NNNCo LoRaWAN network,” said Zagarella.
Agriculture Victoria’s Acting Executive Director of Agriculture Policy Julie Simons said the lack of reliable on-farm connectivity, capital costs and uncertainty around navigating technology choices posed barriers preventing some farmers from adopting emerging digital technologies on-farm.
“The LoRaWAN network being delivered through the trial is helping to overcome these challenges by supporting farmers to test the benefits of IoT technology such as soil moisture probes, weather monitoring, humidity and temperature monitoring, water tank level monitoring, and asset tracking on their farms,” Simons said.
“The IoT trial is not only an opportunity for horticulture, dairy, sheep and cropping farmers to establish the technology best suited to their circumstances, it will also allow us to share lessons from the trial with other farmers to help them better understand how investments in IoT technologies can assist their decision making and improve their operations”, Simons added.
Universal Communications Group (UCG) and NNNCo have recently announced a strategic alliance agreement to offer IoT end-to-end solutions to smart cities and smart utilities across Australia and New Zealand.
UCG is a supplier of network design, construction, operations, maintenance, and project management services. The company works with Australia and New Zealand’s largest telecommunications operators to optimize the performance of their existing and planned infrastructure. Some of UCG’s local government clients include City of Gold Coast and Lake Macquarie City Council.
NNNCo is an Australian LoRaWAN network operator with a carrier license, which focuses on the provision of IoT network services to enable enterprise-grade solutions for smart cities, smart utilities, smart agriculture and smart industries.
