Background
Ningxia is a place with abundant heat and light, yet little rain, in the western part of China. The climate is dry and there is a big fluctuation in temperature between the day and the night. Due to its excellent geographic and climatic conditions, Ningxia is an ideal place for cultivating high-quality grapes. However, cultivating grapes requires strict moisture in different growing periods, and high-quality grapes must be grown under strict moisture control in the soil. In this situation, remote irrigation is urgently needed.
Milesight helped the vineyards in Ningxia with our sensors to monitor the moisture, temperature and electrical conductivity of the soil in that area. It is ensured that the soil conditions are in a regular state by using solenoid controllers for remote irrigation of grapes according to different growth periods, as well as conserving the water effectively.
Challenge
- Difficulty in Data Collection
Since the vineyard spans a sizable area, conventional data collection is challenging.
- High Cost of Manual Irrigation
Manual irrigation results in a waste of time since people need to operate on-site which is not effective. It is urgent and necessary to deploy devices to meet the requirements of automatic and remote irrigation.
- Inconvenient Power Supply
The monitoring devices need to be powered by batteries or solar energy due to the inconvenience of power supply in the vineyards.
Solution 
At the pilot project, our client installed one UG67 LoRaWAN® gateway, 20 units of EM500-SMTC, which were the soil sensors, as well as 10 pieces of UC511 solenoid valve controllers in the pilot area of the vineyard to monitor the soil conditions in real-time remotely to ensure the sufficient nutrition of grapes. The gateway receives data from the soil sensors through LoRaWAN®. And when the data hits a threshold, the solenoid valve controller can automatically open the water valve. Additionally, clients can use their mobile devices to access real-time data on the Milesight IoT Cloud platform.
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Deployment
In the solution, EM500-SMTC is hung on the line between the vines, and the external probes are inserted deep into the soil for receiving accurate and instantaneous data information on soil moisture content, temperature, and electrical conductivity. Except for the ultra-low power consumption of the device, through LoRaWAN® wireless transmission, easy installation and accurate data collection can be realized.
Besides, there are two outputs of UC511 Solenoid Valve Controller for connecting water valves. It is also equipped with a solar panel to enhance energy efficiency. And UC511 is able to work collaboratively with EM500-SMTC soil sensors for event triggers. For example, if the soil moisture value reaches the threshold, it will trigger the solenoid valve for automatic remote irrigation; on the contrary, when the soil moisture returns to a normal state, it will stop the irrigation process. This precise and automatic remote irrigation method not only ensures that the vineyard maintains a stable humidity level, but also saves water usage and improves water utilization.
In addition, the UG67 LoRaWAN® gateway is installed in a high place by holding the pole and powered by an external solar panel, taking full advantage of the sufficient sunlight in the Ningxia area. What makes the solution more attractive is that the data collected by the sensors can be transferred to Milesight IoT Cloud via the LoRaWAN® gateways for remote monitoring and control.
The pilot project received high approval from our client and would be a fair reference for a large-scale vineyard which has more than 1 million square meters.
Benefits
- Data visualization
Collected data can be transferred to the Milesight IoT Cloud platform, enabling users to remote control and monitor the device.
- Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement
The automatic remote irrigation system can reduce labour costs and improve water usage effectively.
- Flexibility at Scale
LoRaWAN® technology has a high potential for scalability by increasing the number of gateways, controllers and sensors that can accelerate the capacity of covering from a small pilot area to the whole vineyards.
