WaterBit chose AT&T to provide highly secure connectivity to its autonomous irrigation solution, which aims to help farmers increase yield and conserve resources.
Farmers can improve labor, water and land efficiency with 24/7 monitoring and reliable connectivity.
In-field data collection of soil moisture and nutrients gives farmers near real-time insight into crop conditions. Integrating data collection with WaterBit’s cloud-based software lets growers monitor and analyze soil moisture, as well as plan and control irrigation with pinpoint accuracy.
WaterBit is a low cost, low maintenance, easy-to-install solution that allows growers to target irrigation precisely at specific terrain locations. The soil monitoring sensors are non-intrusive and are suited for all types of crops – nuts, berries and vineyards. Farmers can set it and forget it.
According to the company, the solution works as follows:
“WaterBit sends data from multiple field locations to one central network gateway hub. The hub is not disruptive to field operations. It can be installed at an off-field location and spans over a 1.5 mile range. The gateway uses AT&T Global SIM card and Internet of Things (IoT) Services like Control Center to securely send data to the WaterBit cloud. Data is updated every 15 minutes, around the clock. And users can access it and control irrigation from virtually anywhere via a mobile-friendly app. By optimizing water use, growers can boost crop quality and yield. Not over-watering saves fuel and equipment costs. And it conserves an important natural resource – water.”
Key benefits of the solution are:
- Easy to maintain – Solar-powered, low-energy device operates reliably for years and eliminates in-field battery changes.
- Compact – Fits under the foliage and won’t interfere with field operations and harvests.
- Data-rich – Cloud-based 24/7 data gets sent directly to your device to power fully-informed irrigation decisions.
“Western Growers is excited about the WaterBit and AT&T relationship. These types of strategic collaborations are necessary to bring IoT to the field level and can help growers drive further precision into their operations,” said Hank Giclas, senior vice president of science and technology at Western Growers. “The WaterBit technology for precision irrigation coupled with AT&T’s focus on agriculture is a solid indicator of the future trends in smart agriculture.”
For more information:
http://about.att.com/story/waterbit_attconnectivity.html
