The changing climate is driving demand for robust smart agriculture solutions crucial for farmers’ food production and livelihood in rural communities worldwide. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and more frequent droughts and floods are all contributing to crop damage and disruptions in food supply chains.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, a global nonprofit organization helping to tackle climate change, the impact is already being felt and is expected to intensify in the coming years, just as the global population is expected to increase by 2 billion people by 2050.[1]
The changing climate is also taking its toll on municipal parks, golf courses, sports fields, and other urban green spaces, where turf relies on soil moisture for survival. This is particularly true for areas with microclimates, such as high-elevation regions, coastlines, and urban environments, where the local geographical characteristics influence temperature, precipitation, and wind.[2]
This week’s New Tech Tuesday features the Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle, which combines advanced and robust technology for monitoring environmental parameters in indoor and outdoor settings.
The Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle provides a comprehensive and powerful solution for monitoring critical environmental factors like temperature, moisture, and air quality. The bundle is composed of the Arduino Portenta C33, a versatile MCU module featuring the Renesas Electronics R7FA6M5BH2CBG microcontroller that leverages a high-performance Arm® Cortex®-M33 core, and the Nicla Sense environment board, which integrates three advanced, ultra-low-power sensors from Renesas. Together, this bundle offers seamless integration and scalability within the Arduino ecosystem (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle includes the Portenta C33 system-on-module, based on the R7FA6M5BH2CBG microcontroller, and the Nicla Sense Env. (Source: Mouser Electronics)
For the newest designs in smart agriculture, the Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle offers numerous key features:
In agriculture, the Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle offers a practical way to monitor the local climate’s moisture level and temperature from multiple points across vast fields. By tracking moisture and temperature in real time, farmers can optimize irrigation schedules and soil health. This technology helps reduce water waste, improves crop yield, and ensures sustainable smart farming practices. Farmers can make practical use of the two available air quality sensors to monitor their warehouses for toxic substances or gas leakages, including the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hydrocarbons, CO2, and hydrogen. The data can then be transmitted to the connected Portenta for real-time alarms. Additionally, the flexibility of the Portenta system allows integration with other environmental monitoring tools, such as nutrient sensors or pest detection systems, for a comprehensive farm management solution.
The bundle is equally effective for monitoring urban microclimates that affect turf conditions in municipal parks, golf courses, and other green spaces. Real-time environmental data collection helps superintendents adjust irrigation schedules, ensuring efficient water use and avoiding overwatering or underwatering. It also aids in the prevention of temperature stress and turf disease across golf courses or large playing fields.
The Arduino Portenta Environmental Monitoring Bundle offers a versatile solution for monitoring environmental variables like moisture, temperature, and air quality. With its powerful computing capabilities, user-friendly design, low power requirements, and open-source ecosystem, the Portenta bundle is a valuable investment for those seeking to enhance environmental monitoring with a climate-resilient solution.
Sources:
[1] https://www.edf.org/agriculture/climate-proofing-agriculture [2] https://www.benchmarklabs.com/blog/micro-climate-forecasting/
Rudy Ramos brings 35+ years of expertise in advanced electromechanical systems, robotics, pneumatics, vacuum systems, high voltage, semiconductor manufacturing, military hardware, and project management. Rudy has authored technical articles appearing in engineering websites and holds a BS in Technical Management and an MBA with a concentration in Project Management. Prior to Mouser, Rudy worked for National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments..