French internet of things specialists boost US agriculture
Two French comms companies are helping clam farmers of the Gulf Coast of Florida manage aquaculture, boost production and practice sustainable farming. With support from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), the LoRaWAN-based station near Cedar Key, in Florida uses Bioceanor’s cloud-based, plug-and-play and autonomous Aquareal system with sensors from fellow gallic creatives Aqualabo. They continuously monitor data as its instantly transmitted to a dashboard accessible by the public via a Kerlink Wirnet iFemtoCell gateway.
Monitor water quality
The Bioceanor water quality monitoring station reports on water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen for clam growers in Cedar Key. This means they make better decisions and more timely, said Leslie N. Sturmer, of the IFAS Shellfish Agriculture Program. “Clam growers can refine and improve management practices, compare crop losses with water-quality events, provide documentation for crop losses, and identify trends in environmental conditions critical for clam health and production.”
Refine clam growth
With this information, clam growers can refine and improve management practices, compare crop losses with water-quality events, provide documentation for crop losses, and identify trends in environmental conditions critical for clam health and production.” In addition to feeding farmers with constant updates the farm management parameters, the data informs their decisions on, say, the best lease sites to select based on water salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH levels and temperature. In addition, the data helps them anticipate extreme events that require clam-preservation actions.
Kerlink gateways
“We have used Kerlink gateways in several continents and they have always been a reliable hub to gather data from our IoT water-quality devices,” said Charlotte Dupont, CEO of Valbonne-based Bioceanor. “We can use local sim cards to provide a continuous service to our customers. This deployment in Florida where the data arrives in real-time on their website for public information is highly reliable with Kerlink devices.”