Evaluation kit makes it easy to deploy smart horticulture system

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Agriculture is relying more and more on sensors and big data to better monitor crops, ranging from scheduling irrigation to harvesting. Arrow Electronics has developed an evaluation kit for smart horticulture that eases the challenges of deploying a scalable and secure system. The kit consists of all required hardware and software needed to implement a complete indoor horticulture solution, from gathering and analyzing the data to generating a response and acting on it.

Advances in smart horticulture practices in greenhouses and vertical farming enterprises help retail and domestic growers maximize crop yields and shorten growing time by optimizing environmental conditions while helping them save water and energy, said Arrow.

However, users often face challenges when deploying these systems. This includes combining the sensors, actuators, wireless communications, LED lighting control, and mobile applications.

“Even users who are technologically proficient to implement a system find that existing product offerings make it challenging to deploy a scalable, low-power, reliable system cost-effectively and securely,” said Arrow.

Arrow, in collaboration with Analog Devices, Silicon Labs, Osram, and Amphenol, have developed a horticultural evaluation kit that “pre-solves” challenges around sensing, power, signal conditioning, lighting control, and wireless communications.

The solution includes a soil-monitor node using power and analog IC solutions from Analog Devices to create a highly accurate measurement of the soil’s pH and moisture level to maximize crop yield. It also integrates an IoT gateway based on a Qualcomm 96Boards platform and LED node that can control the color, UV spectrum, and intensity of a custom light engine.

The IoT gateway enables custom control of the soil and LED nodes with the implementation of pre-certified Zigbee modules from Silicon Labs. In addition, iOS- and Android-based mobile applications are available for configuration and control of the soil and LED nodes.

The design files for the light engine, containing the Osram OSLON Square high-power LEDs, are available for further customization.