Mesh Protection
More than 30,000 hectares now produce grapes for wine production in New Zealand. The increase has seen growers resort to using land not previously thought to be able to sustain such a harvest because of potentially devastating frosts in spring and autumn. Claire Le Couteur talks to an innovative engineering firm helping to take the risk out of the wine industry.
With the increasing popularity of our wines at home and overseas, it is important to protect these valuable crops as efficiently and fully as possible. Dave Rankin, an electrical engineer, has developed an innovative system to monitor horticultural crops using a wireless mesh network that delivers climatic information to growers using a robust and simple technology. "After a fair bit of development of hardware and software, I came up with a product that collects information in real time for vineyards," says Dr Rankin.
Based in Christchurch at the Canterbury Innovation Incubator (Cii), Dr Rankin's company, Indigo Systems, arose from earlier wireless mesh communications work he completed after finishing his PhD. at the University of Canterbury in 2001. While designing home automation systems he saw a possible use for the technology in the agricultural and horticultural area, especially using advanced power saving algorithms to prolong battery life and radio waves to carry information across much longer distances.
This case study is reproduced with permission from e.nz magazine. Subscriptions to e.nz are discounted for schools and TENZ members.
