IoT farming solution: GPS tracking for agriculture management

Problem

FarmManager is an Israeli IoT farming startup. Their application provides an IoT-based agriculture monitoring system that ensures full control over crops, higher profitability, and compliance with food safety standards. So far the product operates on the national market, but its owners get ready for a global release. 

FarmManager needed to connect their IoT-based farming app to a GPS tracking platform to process data from devices installed on tractors and agricultural machinery. However, it was a not so trivial problem:

• Tractors and other pieces of equipment in agriculture usually move at a speed as low as one to four kilometers per hour. Most trackers ignore such values and don't send them any further, so a farmer doesn’t have a clear picture of what’s happening in the field.
• The solution must provide a reliable connection with the Wialon GPS tracking platform for data transfer and processing.
• As the application is developed as a product for a global market, its owners were searching for devices and ways to transfer data from them that would be available worldwide.

Finding the right hardware for the IoT farming product was a challenge, and FarmManager spent six months checking the leading manufacturers of trackers in Israel with no result.

Solution

To find the right solution to their problem, FarmManager contacted Ananas Global, Wialon’s partner in the Middle East.

Hardware

The telematics service provider started with a search for the most suitable devices capable of tracking low speed machinery. They needed a solution that would combine accuracy and fine granular tracking for effective IoT-based farming. Some of the hardware manufacturers they were considering were even ready to make changes to their basic models; in this case, unfortunately, they would lack data precision.

Finally, Ananas Global opted for the Queclink GL320 model. It tracks low speeds with high accuracy and has a complete set of additional functions that can be customized. Also, it has an input that turns it into a vehicle tracker with no effort.

After integrating GL320 trackers into the IoT farming solution, Ananas Global created a converter to turn one voltage into another and unify it for different models of trackers. 

Software

After testing several GPS tracking platforms, Ananas Global and FarmManager selected Wialon to collect data from trackers. The Wialon API proved to be secure and reliable to connect services and transfer datasets of all sorts and numbers. Also, FarmManager appreciated the professional support and documentation provided by the Wialon team.

FarmManager IoT-based farming solution

The IoT farming solution by FarmManager allows its users to:

• check working instruction execution;
• ensure automatic logging of daily operations in the field and optimize them;
• track employees, subcontractors, and machinery during working hours;
• find mistakes in ongoing processes and correct them online;
• reduce costs of implementation activities.

The farming GPS system works with global SIM cards that are used worldwide. 

After implementing the solution, Ananas Global continues providing 24/7 phone/mail support.