LoRa Alliance® To Show LoRaWAN® Connected Farm at World Ag Expo

Demonstrations from across the Alliance’s ecosystem will show ease of use for IoT, leveraging LoRaWAN Certified^CM devices to achieve resource conservation and cost savings for farmers

FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The LoRa Alliance^®, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN^® standard for the Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), today announced that it will host a LoRaWAN Connected Farm in booth NS6 during the World Ag Expo taking place Feb. 11-13 in Tulare, California. LoRaWAN is a LPWAN IoT networking technology that allows sensors to simply and easily connect to a network to capture valuable insights about water use, soil quality, livestock management and many other applications. Farmers are already using the technology to make smarter irrigation decisions, to better monitor crops and track livestock, to track farm equipment and farm and field conditions, and to monitor supply levels, etc. 

Water conservation is important across the United States, and agriculture consumes 80 percent of all water use in the country. LoRaWAN can be used to monitor and control usage, which has been demonstrated to reduce water consumption by up to 30 percent, while also reducing manual labor costs for irrigation checks, etc.

Specific benefits of LoRaWAN for agricultural applications include that it doesn’t require cellular connectivity to establish a network, meaning networks can be installed anywhere there is capability of transmitting over extremely long ranges in rural environments. Networks can be public or private, depending on the end-user needs. Compared to cellular data rates, LoRaWAN is extremely cost effective in sending messages from sensors that can be embedded anywhere, are battery powered and can last up to 10 years on a single battery. LoRaWAN technology has been proven to result in one-tenth the power usage, or in the case of battery-powered devices, 10x the battery life of competing machine to machine technologies. Because LoRaWAN leverages the unlicensed radio spectrum in the ISM band, it does not incur the operating expenses associated with having licensed wireless connectivity like cellular 4G or LTE for each end device in the network. Additionally, features such as TDoA geolocation capabilities allow operators to locate valuable assets in the field.

LoRa Alliance members will be on-site with demonstrations across many parts of the LoRaWAN ecosystem, from device manufacturers to transmission equipment providers to network operators and solution providers. Companies hosting demonstrations in the booth include IoT America, ITK, Kerlink, OrbiWise, Paige Wireless, Pessl, Sensoterra, Tektelic and WaterBit.

• ITK will showcase two different solutions. Firstly, Farmlife^® is a connected livestock solution with high added value for the management of cow farming. It provides 24-hour monitoring of animals to help farmers intervene at the best possible times. This helps anticipate risky situations by providing qualified indicators to monitor their evolution. It also optimizes the performance of animal batches by ensuring good behavior and health. Secondly, Vintel^® and Vintel Orchards^® are real-time field management decision support tools for managing vineyards and orchards suitable for all terroirs (microclimates and soil conditions). It acts as a daily plant-water stress indicator, as well as saves water and improves quality.
• Kerlink and IoT America will jointly demonstrate a soil monitoring managed service that enables farmers to gather data to increase yields and specifically grow larger grapes in their vineyards.
• OrbiWise will be showcasing its OrbiWAN LNS solution as it is used by its partners in the smart-agriculture market—agroThings (Brazil), YEAP! (Americas) and vineyards in France. The solution serves multiple purposes such as irrigation, farm equipment monitoring, crop management, livestock tracking and health monitoring.
• Paige Wireless will share the success of the first statewide public LoRaWAN network in the U.S. and its benefits for the connected farm. Along with providing the largest contiguous network in North America, Paige Wireless also offers its customers management platforms to easily and securely access the data from all connected devices.
• METOS USA by Pessl Instruments offers a wide range of weather stations and data loggers that provide localized weather forecasts, irrigation monitoring, disease modeling, workforce planning and more. Pessl will introduce the newest members of its METOS family, LoRAIN, LoRATH  and μMETOS, all of which leverage the LoRaWAN standard.
• Sensoterra will show its Single Depth wireless soil moisture sensor solutions, the new Multi-Depth sensor, new soil calibration curves and new reseller account management features. The patented “Farm Tough” wireless sensors can be installed in less than one minute, and provide actionable real-time data available on your phone, computer or via our API. Sensors measure at the active root zone, ensuring crops are optimally irrigated based on ground truth data.
• Tektelic will show its full end-to-end Smart Agricultural solution, including the newly released Smart Agriculture Sensor and lineup of best-in-class KONA gateways. The Agriculture Sensor is the ideal solution for streamlining and simplifying the collection of key soil and environmental metrics. Guests to the booth will get a firsthand look at how one can enjoy increased crop yields and decreased operating expenses with the deployment of this versatile device.
• WaterBit WaterBit will demonstrate its precision irrigation solution, which includes sensors and valve automation. This allows growers to plan and execute irrigation remotely and automatically to maximize their crop yield and quality, all the while optimizing water efficiency and labor usage.
  

The LoRa Alliance will exhibit in booth NS6 at the World Ag Expo Feb. 11-13, 2020 in Tulare, California. To schedule an appointment to tour the booth, please contact anne.vangemert@lora-alliance.com. Media interested in arranging an interview may reach out to lora-alliance@kiterocket.com to schedule.

About LoRa Alliance
The LoRa Alliance^® is an open, nonprofit association that has become one of the largest and fastest-growing alliances in the technology sector since its inception in 2015. Its members closely collaborate and share expertise to develop and promote the LoRaWAN^® standard, which is the de facto global standard for secure, carrier-grade IoT LPWAN connectivity. LoRaWAN has the technical flexibility to address a broad range of IoT applications, both static and mobile, and a robust LoRaWAN Certification program to guarantee that devices perform as specified. The LoRaWAN standard has been deployed by more than 120 major mobile network operators globally, and connectivity is available in more than 140 countries, with continual expansion. More information: lora-alliance.org

LoRa Alliance^®, LoRaWAN^®, and LoRaWAN Certified^CM are registered trademarks.