Commercial bee-keepers will be able to monitor their hives remotely with an innovative lid sensor being developed by Wlyd Networks and Bayer. The collaboration emerged after the Agri-TechE mission to St Louis in Missouri.
Mission valuable
Satellite IoT Consultant Eric Hewitson of Wyld Networks comments: “Wyld learnt an immense amount from the Agri-TechE mission to St Louis in early 2020, making great contacts in some of the key companies and organisations and gaining an understanding the immense scale of agriculture in the region. In numerous ways this reframed how Wyld perceived its place and potential in the agri-tech ecosystem.”
Wyld Networks simplifies sensor to satellite connectivity and this is a growing requirement. The new generation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites will very soon provide near global connectivity, and this will offer a huge opportunity to deploy sensors in remote areas where there is little cellular coverage.
Its product, Wyld Connect, enables sensors to send data directly to LEO satellites – at low cost, low energy and minimal investment.
Eric continues: “Since the mission we have started projects with Bayer and KWS and have many other potential opportunities arising from people and companies we met.”
Internet of bees
Wyld, in partnership with Bayer, is designing, building and testing a satellite connected beehive lid sensor. The project will gather data from hive health such as temperature, humidity and hive weight and combine this with the lid sensor data. Testing is taking place in beehive sites in the USA, Canada and Germany.
In addition, in collaboration with KWS it is testing satellite connected soil moisture sensors with a view to deploying across multiple field assets where cellular coverage is poor or unavailable. The need for connectivity everywhere at low power and low cost is critical for delivering granular data sets over time. Satellite IoT is the solution to meet this data demand.
Eric will be talking about the smart beehive lid sensor at the Agri-TechE event “Feel the buzz – Insect-tech explored” an online event on the 26th April 2022.