Tyndall’s ‘small smart farm’ is a new project by Mariusz Wilk, a Connect – Centre PhD candidate at Tyndall National Institute funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
Connect is SFI’s centre for future networks - the next generation of the internet and all the amazing things that will physically attach to it including the sensors that Mariusz is working on.
In Tyndall as part of CONNECT we are developing the “Smart things” which communicate sensed data to the cloud to enable informed decision making about the world around us and how e interact with it.
A group in Tyndall in Cork is leading the development of new nano-technology based sensors and integrating them into the next generation internet.
This is one example of the Internet of things in operation in an Agricultural setting – The “Internet of Farms”
Our small smart farm takes live data from all over the farm and we want to use the information to make all sorts of decisions. We are focusing today on soil temperature, PH, moisture content …. future technology will look at phosphate and nitrate levels in soil and tell you if/when you need to fertilise your pasture and with how much.
This will enable farmers of the future to operate their farms in a more cost effective and optimised fashion – the phrase used is “precision Agriculture”. Technology like this will enable significant cost savings to farmers around their farming operations.
The current system is just the beginning of the work being carried out in Tyndall as part of CONNECT and we will develop and integrate all kinds of new farm-useful sensors in the coming 2 years based on what we are hearing at the ploughing today. UCC plant science Department and Teagasc are working with Tyndall to develop the technology edge for Irish farmers.