Australian environmental measurements technology company ICT International is offering an Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled version of its conditions-monitoring solutions to wirelessly provide sensor data from forests, orchards and parks. During the past year, those using the solution have expanded from farmers, foresters and researchers to include companies seeking carbon credits based on soil and plant measurements. ICT is providing users with LoRaWAN-based sensors that can detect water and plant growth levels, as well as other environmental data needed to understand conditions around plants, trees or waterways, without users having to be onsite to check dataloggers. The LoRa-based chips that transmit data to the cloud are provided by Semtech.
For the past 40 years, ICT has offered plant physiology devices to monitor conditions around plants and trees, according to Peter Cull, the company managing director. ICT’s solutions have been deployed in the Amazon rainforest, on the tops of California redwoods, in greenhouses and shellfish hatcheries in Australia, and at mine rehabilitation sites in Australia and Peru. It’s a science-led company, and Cull, who grew up in farming, has a Ph.D. degree in irrigation scheduling of cotton.
Peter Cull
These days, however, technology is at the center of ICT’s offerings. The company sells its own sensors that can measure plant water use, based on sap flow; plant water potential, known as psychrometry; soil moisture; and soil water potential. The findings can then be compared against ambient and microclimate conditions from local-area weather stations, Cull says.
According to Cull, the company’s roots are in water use. “We’ve always measured water in the environment,” he states, “whether in soil, plant or atmosphere,” to help companies and researchers better understand how to manage water use. Traditionally, he notes, this has been accomplished with dataloggers that had to be physically read, but customers often need to collect information from remote locations. Some companies wanted to capture more data without physical presence at remote locations. “That’s not possible with dataloggers, so we became deeply involved with IoT as much as four years ago.”
Semtech produces high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, along with algorithms for environmental applications, according to Marc Pégulu, Semtech’s VP of IoT strategy and products. The technology leverages LoRaWAN to transmit small packets of data at a long range, using a minimal amount of power. In that way, an ICT sensor could use a small solar panel for its power, or a battery with a lifespan of approximately six to 12 months, while sending data every 15 minutes.
ICT International’s sensors include the SFM1L Sap Flow Meter, which uses a heat-ration method to measure water movement velocity, as well as plant or tree growth, by detecting high, low and reverse flow rates in small woody stems and roots, as well as large trees. The company’s PSY1 Stem Psychrometer measures a plant’s stem water potential, which can indicate potential plant water stress. As each sensor measures these and other conditions, it forwards that information to an ICT gateway via a LoRa connection. The gateway then employs a cellular connection from a local service provider to transfer that data to a cloud-based server. Users can access the server on which ICT’s software displays conditions in real time, and they can receive alerts when conditions might require a response.
That means a user can potentially improve the health of plants or trees. “Addressing factors [such as water stress] quickly can help trees remain healthy,” Cull states, which could benefit multiple parties, including providing a healthier ecosystem for a community. Several cities and counties are using the technology to ensure the health of parks and green-belt areas. A healthy tree can provide carbon sequestration through photosynthesis, Cull explains, while providing shade-based cooling and evapotranspiration. The system can enable more productive harvests for farmers, he says, as well as measurable carbon capture.
ICT International’s use of LoRaWAN for its sensors, Pégulu says, “is a great example of how low-power wide-area networks can ultimately create a smart city and a better and healthier planet for all.” He adds, “The real-time monitoring enabled by the LoRaWAN connectivity is providing actionable data,” which can include water allocation to a city park, for instance. Cull says the IoT-based technology is bringing new companies and organizations to ICT for environmental monitoring, whereas the datalogger version would not have provided the real-time data that could have been required in the past. “None of the urban or forestry agencies had access to such data before,” Cull explains.
Marc Pégulu
In a typical deployment, users would select a few representative trees or locations, and then apply sensors. They would not only measure water in plant stems but also at two or three different depths in the soil, and the sensors could be linked to local weather information, such as temperature and precipitation levels. The sensors could transmit the collected data to the gateway (a single gateway can support up to 20 sensors) at a distance of up to 800 meters (2,620 feet), depending on the environment.
When ICT receives an order from a customer, the company configures the sensors according to that customer’s needs. It then ships those customized sensors and the gateway to the user, who can distribute the hardware however it needs to be deployed. ICT will go onsite to help customers deploy the sensors if needed, Cull says, though “more often than not, they know how to set it up, so we provide a little bit of help on the phone.”
If a sensor is running on batteries that need replacement, or if it requires maintenance, a worker can unscrew the sensor from the node and swap it out without taking the system offline, according to ICT manufacturing technician Toby Partridge. Use cases have been expanding in recent years, he says. For instance, companies are using the solution for fire prediction in vulnerable forests and grasslands, by measuring how dry vegetation is, as well as monitoring ambient and soil temperatures.
If conditions are right for a fire, Partridge says, alerts can be sent to warn authorized parties. “It’s a fire-warning system that runs on Semtech chips as well,” he states. The technology has recently been adopted by several Australian cattle ranchers, who use the data to understand the health of the pastures in which their cattle graze, by measuring plant growth, soil moisture and rainfall levels. Based on that data, ranchers can better coordinate the movement of cattle to where the best grazing opportunity exists.
The IoT technology has also been used for oyster growing, as part of the Transforming Australian Shellfish Production project in New South Wales. For that project, sensors have been used to detect low salinity levels and water temperature changes that might require estuary closures. To date, the technology has been deployed at 12 oyster-producing estuaries in the region, relying on Cat-M1 communications. The collected data is forwarded directly to the oyster growers’ mobile phones.
For ICT, Cull reports, the mission of solving problems for the farming and mining industries, or for scientists, has not changed. The company comprises environmental scientists rather than technologists, he says, adding, “We’ve been measuring these parameters for 40 years, so we understand the sensors and the environment.” The use of IoT technology means classical datalogger or wired solutions can be replaced with sensors, Cull says, though he adds, “We’re not computer gurus trying to find the problem. We know the problem—we grew up with the problems in agriculture.”
While some technology companies are developing solutions “from the cloud down,” Cull says, “we are doing it from the problem up.” That works for Semtech, Pégulu says, since ICT builds a solution that his company can serve with its IC. According to Pégulu, ICT is focusing on water shortages and environmental conditions, which are an area important to Semtech.
Cull says he has seen the technology help farmers and other customers grow larger, healthier plants and trees thanks to the IoT data, which is consistently provided every 10 minutes. “Even five years ago,” he recalls, “we couldn’t have dreamed of measuring these parameters, so we have completely new clientele from completely new markets,” and from 50 countries. “We get satisfaction from battling the issues around water and the environment, and the customers sure as hell appreciate it.”