The Smart Agriculture at Mardi Agro Park, Langkawi, which monitors grapes as a crop.
THE inevitable arrival of the industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) is yet another stage in humankind’s march of progress since the invention of the wheel back in the late Neolithic period.
Since that time, our maturity towards greater technological advances has gone unabated, all the way to the 20th century with the first Industrial Revolution.
One particularly essential part of these advances is the strides we have made in communication, starting from the first electrified telegraph in 1831, a century unfolded when messages can be heard across vast distances, even continents.
In 1941 the first “cellular telephone” was proposed but it took a further 40 years for the first functioning handheld mobile phone to go into operation, the Nordic Mobile Telephone, which uses the analogue 1G service.
Durian farm owner Chang Teik Seng is optimistic of what 5G can offer in the future.
Today, we are at the cusp of advancing towards the fifth generation in mobile networks and the possibilities are endless – and not only for smartphone, tablet and personal computer users.
The new system has the potential to increase production and expand business further with its low latency and larger bandwidth.
Faster transmissions allow for smarter integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which in turn rolls out the Internet of Things (IoT), where everyday items can be remotely activated and controlled via a network.
Future in farming
Although agriculture can be perceived as one of the industries that are unlikely to adopt new technologies, 5G can provide future agriculturalists more accurate ways to increase productivity and even quality of produce.
Farms the world over are starting to take advantage of 5G speeds and bandwidth, employing IoT applications in their agricultural processes and are already reaping the benefits.
Especially in terms of cost, farm communities that have no access to fibre optics or find it too expensive to install can turn to 5G broadband Internet connection – with machines and installations integrated in stables and on fields at any location and linked to a farm network.
Sensors attached to nets send an alert to Chang when a durian drops.
In Zibo, Shandong province of China, the Hefeng Unmanned Farm deploys 5G for its high bandwidth, low latency and massive connection to generate tremendous amounts of original data, which is then used to instruct equipment and machines remotely on when to harvest, till the soil, seed, or spray fertilisers and water (1).
In Switzerland, the Agricultural Research Institute Agroscope works with local telco Sunrise and Huawei to deploy drones for monitoring crops (2).
Equipped with multispectral sensors to analyse nutrient status, these drones provide data that can be used to cross-reference with weather and other agronomical information to apply an optimal quantity of fertiliser.
In Australia, agricultural giant John Deere purchased the artificial-intelligence startup Blue River and is working to integrate AI, robotics and machine learning into its agricultural equipment – allowing for connected vehicles to respond based on information they receive from sensors (3).
On a Blackhills Farm in New Zealand, over 2,000 cattle and 800 sheep are monitored by the SCADAfarm system, supported by Vodafone NZ (4).
The system also monitors water and energy consumption and location of the irrigators and also takes into account soil moisture measurements and real-time weather information.
Farmers can then access the information and control irrigation systems via a tablet or smartphone.
Being 5G ready
Maxis had long started its 5G journey. Recognising the potential that the technology holds towards realising IR4.0, the telco signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei in February 2019 to cooperate on conducting full-fledged 5G trials.
By the following month, Maxis ran its first 5G live trials in the country, recording close to an impressive 3 gigabytes per sec (Gbps) in download speeds – a result of constant upgrades to its transport network.
Simultaneously it is strengthening its core network elements to support the technology’s demands in flexibility and scalability.
Maxis’ NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) offers a wide range of new IoT devices and services that are powered by a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology.
Farmers can remotely monitor their crop conditions using the Maxis NB-IoT system.
It improves the power consumption of user devices, system capacity and spectrum efficiency, especially in deep coverage, with battery life extending more than 10 years – all of which have a wide range of use.
Local success stories
In an agricultural demonstration project with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) Agro Park in Langkawi, Kedah, the Maxis NB-IoT network offered an advanced technological solution to help increase yield, resource efficiency and quality of produce in grape farming.
It allowed farmers to upscale on deployment covering wider areas, thanks to its ability to support millions of connected sensors at a low power consumption and therefore longer operation in the farms.
Mardi was able to gather large amounts of data using the technology, which then can be assessed using advanced data analytics and provide better decision-making.
Maxis head of Enterprise Practices Claire Featherstone said, “At Maxis, we are committed to develop the local ecosystem in order to help businesses see the real benefits of adopting IoT technology.”
This precision farming method enabled by Maxis NB-IoT allows Mardi farmers to remotely monitor their crop conditions through a web application.
They receive alerts on the possible detrition of environmental variables, enabling them to take pre-emptive action to maximise yield value obtained from the planted crop.
At the end of the day, the system offers cost savings, improves efficiency and creates new business opportunities.
Mardi deputy director for Smart & Precision Farming Dr Ahmad Safuan Bujang said that working with Maxis presents a good opportunity for the two parties to embark on something tangible as compared to working in isolation.
“By having this collaboration, you can speed up this process and make sure the technology goes out to the public much faster, with the expertise on both sides that make the technology more relevant to the industry.”
Maxis head of Enterprise Practices Claire Featherstone said, “The opportunity for NB-IoT is immense, as it can be a means to fuel big data analytics and easily enable real life use cases. At Maxis, we are committed to develop the local ecosystem in order to help businesses see the real benefits of adopting IoT technology.”
In Penang, the Bao Sheng Durian Farm worked with Maxis to preserve the freshness of its crops by placing sensors along the nets that capture the fruit as it falls from the tree.
According to farm owner Chang Teik Seng, when durians are consumed within 30 minutes from its fall, not only are they at the optimum freshness, but they also retain a special numbing quality that is rare and unique.
With the sensors placed at key positions on the net, the problem of combing through the entire hilly 2.4ha farm is solved with less waste of manpower.
When a fruit drops, sensors detect the tension and weight upon the net and trigger an alert for Chang, who can then monitor the location directly on a mobile application.
As excited as Chang is at the prospects of what 5G can further offer, he looks forward to more solutions in the future.
“I hope a future solution will allow me to accurately predict the durian harvesting period or the ripening of durians even before they fall, ” he said.
“Our collaborations with Mardi and Bao Sheng Durian Farm are just two of many examples of our research and development efforts, which has progressed to the implementation of NB-IoT solutions for soil and water measurement, smart utilities, and asset tracking among others.
“Ultimately, our goal is to work with partners to leverage the latest technology to make a positive impact across industries, ” said Featherstone.
References
1) https://carrier.huawei.com/en/success-stories/Industries-5G/Agriculture
2) https://www.cio.com/article/3564550/using-5g-to-revolutionize-farming.html
3) https://www.vodafone.com.au/red-wire/5g-future-agriculture
4) See how your business can benefit from the wide range of solutions from Maxis Business.
