Irrigation management technologies have been around for some time, but only as proprietary systems. As a result farmers were locked-in with their suppliers. Usually this meant high cost, recurring fees, and lock-in to older technology, as there is no incentive for the supplier to innovate. Leveraging open source technologies, Vinduino is positioned distinctly with a focus on innovation, affordability, and farming expertise.
Our system provides on-line irrigation guidance, “how much and how often to irrigate”, and feedback from soil moisture sensors that helps farmers manage irrigation better under changing climate conditions. We improve profitability with lower water cost, higher yield, and better quality fruit.
A Vinduino sensor station can support up to 4 soil moisture sensors at one location, and can also support an optional accurate digital temperature probe. We exclusively use made-in-USA NEMA 4X enclosures, which ensure that the unit is weather proof. Optimized low power technology keeps the station running un-supervised during multiple growing seasons.
Using a long-range wireless network, we collect data from affordable irrigation sensors in vineyards. This is then used for on-line guidance to optimize irrigation. Our networks are based on the new LoRa standard. LoRa is different from WiFi and cellular in that it trades speed for range and low power. You cannot use it to download videos, but you can remotely monitor a sensor 5 miles away, running on a battery for more than a year. We provide LoRa community networks with Vinduino sensor stations that can range up to 10 miles with line-of-sight. LoRa uses license-free frequencies, so there is no network provider cost.
