LoRaWAN irrigation saves 30% water on pecan farm

STREGA LoRaWAN irrigation valve actuators in an agricultural application

“…water savings of up to 30% thanks to LoRaWAN technology”…

Graaf-Reinet, South Africa, April 9th, 2021. Water is scarce yet a vital resource for farmers in South Africa. Efficient use of water is therefore essential to increase productivity with this limited resource. A South African macadamia nut farm situated in a remote area on the banks of the Orange River had been looking for a solution to automate irrigation based on sensor data received from soil moisture probes.

The existing irrigation system was time based whereby the various blocks would simply be irrigated for a fixed 12 hours period regardless of the soil properties and existing moisture content in the various irrigation blocks. South African systems integrator, Tretower Telematics, was approached to conduct a trial using LoRaWAN, soil moisture probes and Strega valve actuators. The idea was to irrigate the various blocks until a predefined soil moisture threshold was met. This concept ensured that sufficient water was put down for the orchard, but no water was wasted by over irrigation. The trial proved to be a great success with water saving improvements of over 30%.

Different soils have different properties, for example, clay soils will retain water for much longer periods compared to sandy soils. Irrigation regimes should therefore take into account the properties of the soils as over or under irrigation is likely. Soil moisture probes are a useful tool to determine the water carrying capacity of soils.

The irrigation cycle commences with a manual command to open the valve and irrigate the orchard. As the soil starts absorbing water, the soil moisture probe responds with increases in moisture as expected. Once a preset threshold is reached, an automatic downlink is sent to the STREGA valve actuator to close the valve.

TRETOWER analysis shows automatic closing of the irrigation valve based on soil moisture level threshold

The STREGA valve actuator performs extreme range wireless control of the irrigation valve.

By automating the irrigation cycle based on soil moisture data, Tretower was able to demonstrate a water saving of up to 30%. This represents a huge efficiency improvement for the farmer who can now invest in developing further orchards using the same amount of available water.

Tretower Telematics is a South-African company located in Graaff-Reinet with strong expertise in advanced LoRaWAN irrigation solutions. “Tretower” is a sensor control solution that provides real-time visibility into the operating status of motors, pumps, valves, flow rate and other parameters of your irrigation and energy management system.

STREGA is a Belgian company manufacturing LoRaWAN hardware solutions for the irrigation and smart-metering market. STREGA is an active member of the LoRa Alliance® Organization (https://lora-alliance.org/)

Challenge or problem: Hard to reach locations and no smart control on the quantity of water delivered to the plants.
Solution: The STREGA smart-Valve combined with soild moisture sensors permited to optimize water consumption and optimize plant growth.
Result: 30% water savings and healthier plant growth.
Additional Components Included in Success Story: irrigation for agriculture
Industries (Solutions):
Focus: Sub-Metering
Agriculture
Cities & Municipalities
Health & Healthcare
Infrastructure
Energy & Heating
Logistics
Manufacturing
Production
Properties & Buildings
Retail
Security & Safety
Other
Functionality (Devices):
ACCELERATION
AIR HUMIDITY
AIR PARTICLES
AIR PRESSURE
AIR TEMPERATURE
ANALOG INPUT TRANSMITTER
BAROMETRIC PREASSURE
BUTTON / SWITCH
CARBON MONIXIDE
CATTLE TRACKING
CHEMICAL DETECTION
CO2
COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION/FEEDBACK
DENDROMETER
DIGITAL INPUT TRANSMITTER
DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE
DISTANCE
DOOR ACTIVITY
E-INK DISPLAY
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICITY METERING
ENERGY METERING
ENERGY OPTIMIZATION
FLOOR DRAIN LEAKAGE
GAS DETECTION
GAS METERING
GAS TANK LEVEL
GYROSCOPE
HUMIDITY
HVAC MONITORING
INCLINOMTETER
INDOOR ENVIRONMENT
INFRARED PYROMETER
IR
LEAF WETNESS
LEAKAGE
LEVEL
LIGHT
LIGHTNING AVERAGE DISTANCE
LIGHTNING STRIKE COUNT
LIQUID LEVEL
MANHOLE MONITORING
MBUS - LoRaWAN BRIDGE
MODBUS - LoRaWAN BRIDGE
MOISTURE
MOTION DETECTION
MOVEMENT
MULTI PURPOSE
NITRIC OXIDE
NITROGEN DIOXIDE
NOISE LEVEL
OCCUPANCY
OPEN / CLOSE
OPTICAL DISOLVED OXYGEN
OPTICAL PULSE COUNTER
OVERFLOW MONITORING
OXYGEN
OZONE
PAR LIGHT
PARKING OCCUPANCY
PARTICULATE MATTER (PM)
PASSAGE DETECTION
PEST CONTROL
pH LEVEL
PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION
POSITION / TRACKING / GPS
PRESSURE
PROXIMITY
PULSE COUNTER
PUSH BUTTON ALARM
RAIN GAUGE
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
RELEASE BUTTON
REMOTE POWER SOCKET
REMOTE RADIATOR CONTROLLER
REMOTE READING OF EXISTING METER
REMOTE RELAY CONTROLLER
REMOTE VALVE
SALTINITY
SMOKE DETECTION
SOIL MOISTURE / IRRIGATION
SOIL TEMPERATURE
SOIL VOLUMETRIC WATER CONTENT (VWC)
SOLAR RADIATION
SOUND
STRAIN/WEIGHT
STRUCTURAL LOAD
STRUCTURAL TENSION
SUB METERING AND BILLING
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
SURGE ARRESTER
TEMPERATURE
TILT MONITORING
TURBIDITY
TVOC
VACUUM PRESSURE
VAPOR PRESSURE
VEHICLE COUNTER
VIBRATION
VOC
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER FAULT CIRCUIT BREAKER
WATER METERING
WATER TEMPERATURE
WEIGHING SCALE
WIND DIRECTION
WIND GUST
WIND SPEED
WINTER ROAD MAINTENANCE
Applicable Environment (Devices):
Indoor
Outdoor
IP Rating (Devices): IP67
Access technology: LoRaWAN
Certified members: Strega
Contact information: hello@stregatechnologies.com
Company website: www.stregatechnologies.com
Listing created Sep 1, 2021

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