Horticultural kit has sensor nodes
Equipped with sensor nodes, an IoT gateway, cloud access and mobile applications, an IoT horticultural kit from Arrow Electronics is based on an evaluation kit containing hardware and software needed to evaluate and implement a complete indoor horticulture lighting and care environment.
Smart horticulture practices in greenhouses and vertical farming enterprises, enable retail and domestic growers to maximise crop yields and shorten growing time. They also provide energy and water-saving opportunities to enhance sustainability.
End users often struggle to combine sensors, actuators, wireless communications, LED lighting control and mobile applications to gather the right data, analyse it quickly, generate the appropriate response, and act upon it, explains Arrow. Furthermore, existing product offerings can make it challenging to deploy a scalable, low-power, reliable system, cost effectively and securely. The Arrow horticultural evaluation kit addresses these problems to reduce time to market.
Arrow collaborated with Analog Devices, Silicon Labs, Osram, Amphenol to resolve ensing, power, signal conditioning, lighting control and wireless communication challenges.
The kit includes a soil monitor node from Analog Devices to measure the soil’s pH and moisture level to maximise crop yield. There is also an IoT gateway based on a Qualcomm 96Boards platform and LED node which can control the colour, UV spectrum and intensity of a custom light engine. Custom control of the soil and LED nodes is accomplished through the IoT gateway implemented by pre-certified ZigBee modules from Silicon Labs. iOS and Android-based mobile applications are available for configuration and control of the soil and LED nodes. The design files of a light engine containing Osram OSLON Square high-power LEDs can be provided for further customisation.
