Leveraging LoRaWAN Technology for Precision Agriculture in Greenhouses

Abstract

The technology development in wireless sensor network (WSN) offers a sustainable solution towards precision agriculture (PA) in greenhouses. It helps to effectively use the agricultural resources and management tools and monitors different parameters to attain better quality yield and production. WSN makes use of Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs), a wireless technology to transmit data over long distances with minimal power consumption. LoRaWAN is one of the most successful LPWAN technologies despite its low data rate and because of its low deployment and management costs. Greenhouses are susceptible to different types of interference and diversification, demanding an improved WSN design scheme. In this paper, we contemplate the viable challenges for PA in greenhouses and propose the successive steps essential for effectual WSN deployment and facilitation. We performed a real-time, end-to-end deployment of a LoRaWAN-based sensor network in a greenhouse of the ’Proefcentrum Hoogstraten’ research center in Belgium. We have designed a dashboard for better visualization and analysis of the data, analyzed the power consumption for the LoRaWAN communication, and tried three different enclosure types (commercial, simple box and airflow box, respectively). We validated the implications of real-word challenges on the end-to-end deployment and air circulation for the correct sensor readings. We found that temperature and humidity have a larger impact on the sensor readings inside the greenhouse than we initially thought, which we successfully solved through the airflow box design.

Energy Consumption Analysis of LPWAN Technologies and Lifetime Estimation for IoT Application

“…However, in real time measurement there are several factors that impact the energy consumption as mentioned in Section 5 . We deployed a LoRaWAN based network in a greenhouse [ 42 ] based out in Belgium to monitor the environment as shown in Figure 22 a. In this setup, we used imec’s OCTA-Connect platform board which has onboard temperature and humidity sensors.…”

Precision Techniques and Agriculture 4.0 Technologies to Promote Sustainability in the Coffee Sector: State of the Art, Challenges and Future Trends

“…In this sense, several studies are related to the use of A4.0 technologies, such as sensing and actuation drones to identify and control pests in crops [20], sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) for water management [21], agricultural decision support systems [22], proximal images and machine learning (ML) to identify nutritional deficiencies in crops [23], among others. These technologies assist in data collect, information analysis, diagnostics and formulation of strategies for the agricultural sector [24]. In this research, we review the use of A4.0 technologies and PA techniques in the coffee sector.…”

Emerging Line of Research Approach in Precision Agriculture: An Insight Study

“…Usage of various controllers, actuators, and sensors further offers relevantwater supply statistics for better irrigation management. To effectively operational, PA demands the use of progressive technologies, i.e., usage of sensors [10], precision farming software [11], connectivity protocols [12], and location monitoring tools [13]. Irrespective of PA's known benefits, it is still yet to get a discloser about the research progress regarding more insights over challenging state of farming, minimal resource waste, identifying the unique pattern of production or risk.…”