The latest version of a Victoria tech firm’s wireless moisture and temperature monitoring system for irrigated crops will allow users to monitor several growing conditions from one interface.
ESI Environmental Sensors Inc. on Tuesday rolled out its new GroPoint Wireless system, which the company said now includes “improved” radios that accept four digital or analog readings, along with web-enabled software and cellular modem coverage for remote locations.
The new release means “farmers and irrigation managers can now monitor critical soil and weather conditions from one extremely straightforward software interface,” the company said.
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“This makes it dramatically more efficient to monitor large crop areas in order to minimize damage due to weather and irrigation issues, while maximizing crop quality and yield.”
GroPoint Wireless is meant to give real-time moisture and temperature information, allowing producers to better manage irrigation and protect crops against frost. The system is designed to send alerts through e-mail to users when temperature or moisture breaches user-defined alarm levels, the company said.
Users can also add other sensors to monitor pressure, flow, rain, wind speed and direction among other data, the company said.
The system uses 900-MHz radios to send line-of-sight transmission up to five km, with an optional cell modem add-on that provides the information over the internet. ESI said its next-generation software offers graph and list views as well as Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping.
