Internet-Based Monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n Alarm the Farm<\/a> – Wifi-based monitoring – http:\/\/alarm.farm\/<\/a><\/p>\n Apitronics <\/a>– Opensource monitoring systems – www.apitronics.com<\/a><\/p>\n Fido <\/a>– Open-source \/ DIY monitoring and alarm system – http:\/\/farmhack.net\/tools\/fido-temperature-alarm-sends-text-messages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Monnit <\/a>– Wireless sensor systems – www.monnit.com<\/a><\/p>\n Mojyle <\/a>– “One Wire” monitoring systems – www.mojyle.com<\/a><\/p>\n New England Farm Sensors<\/a> (Larry Manire – Coventry, RI) – Providing monitoring system consultation and installation services. http:\/\/nefarmsensors.org\/<\/a>. Larry maintains a growing list of vendors and suppliers of remote monitoring systems.<\/p>\n Smart Farm Innovations<\/a> (Robert Arnold, Argyle, NY) – Providing consulting, technical assistance and support for farm data, networking, website, and monitoring systems. Authorized Monnit reseller.<\/p>\n Sensaphone <\/a>– Primarily phone line based alarm systems – http:\/\/www.sensaphone.com\/ <\/a><\/p>\n SensorPush<\/a> – Simple, wifi-based temperature and humidity sensor systems.<\/p>\n TandD<\/a> (Japan) – Wireless sensor systems – www.tandd.com<\/a><\/p>\n Vermont Energy Control Systems<\/a> – Ethernet based monitoring and controls. Based right in Ferrisburgh! – http:\/\/www.vecs.org\/ <\/a><\/p>\n Simpler Systems<\/strong> – If you don’t have wifi, cellular, or phone connectivity, these simple temperature switches will do the trick.\u00a0 Use them to control a 12 VDC circuit that lights a light, buzzes a buzzer, or dials a phone. NOTE: These are generally low current and low voltage systems.\u00a0 Check the specification to confirm that they will work for your application.<\/p>\n ThermAlarm – ThermAlarm<\/a> offers a series of sealed temperature driven alarm switch systems.<\/p>\n TempAlert – Winland makes a line of TempAlert products including a single output<\/a> min\/max and a dual output<\/a> min-max, and also have a low temperature, remote bulb EnviroAlert<\/a> setup for multi-zone coolers.<\/p>\n General Monitoring Supplies<\/strong><\/p>\n QA Supplies<\/a> (Norfolk, VA)- Postharvest supply company; offers several logging and monitoring systems – www.qasupplies.com, <\/a>800.472.7205.<\/p>\n Am I missing something? Please email me.<\/p>\n The Project<\/strong><\/p>\n This work was originally focused on monitoring winter crops in storage, but is relevant to many monitoring needs on farms.<\/p>\n Storage crops such as beets, cabbage, carrots, garlic, onions, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash can be stored for many months after harvest under specific storage conditions<\/a>. However, several distinct sets of conditions<\/a> are optimal for these crops, and achieving each condition requires careful control and monitoring of temperature and humidity. Meanwhile, high tunnels and greenhouses with early- or late-season crops are vulnerable to sudden and sever changes in temperature or power interruptions impacting heating systems.<\/p>\n In the Fall of 2013, supported by a Service Provider Grant through the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Fund<\/a>, UVM Extension began a pilot demonstration of winter crop storage room monitoring across Vermont with temperature and humidity sensors. When combined with a network gateway these sensors send data to the internet and ultimately farmer’s phones and computers.<\/p>\n This project has demonstrated monitoring and improving storage conditions and product quality of approximately 423 tons of winter storage crops at 9 farms annually through-out Vermont. The estimated value of these storage crops was $910,000 annually. In addition to reporting the temperature and humidity of the rooms, these monitoring systems provide notification of the participating farmers about abnormal conditions reflecting control problems, open doors and failing or inoperative equipment. Perhaps most notably, the systems in the field increase the confidence of growers to pursue expanded winter crop storage as a season and marketing extension mechanism in response to increased local demand for local produce.<\/p>\n We have also been able to better understand the performance of storage systems which generally include refrigeration and heating equipment that use electricity and other fuels.\u00a0 In partnership with Efficiency Vermont<\/a>, the team reviewed energy consumption of the systems and using focused auditing provided upgrade recommendations for each site.<\/p>\n Monitoring Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n Remote monitoring of cold storage spaces using the internet involves the sensing of conditions, transmitting that data to a gateway or logging device, transmitting that data again to a server or cloud service, and then retrieving that data on a web enabled device. Notifications can also be part of this, i.e. \u201cpushing\u201d an alert to the user when predefined thresholds are exceeded.<\/p>\n A typical system is shown in the schematic below (click for better detail).<\/p>\n As shown in the schematic, monitoring systems typically include sensors, a data aggregator (network gateway), internet connectivity, data server (usually a subscription), and an application or website to access data.<\/p>\n In practice, there are many different ways to build these systems. Some sensors send data to the gateway with wireless communication.\u00a0 Others use wired connections.\u00a0 Some monitoring systems are simple switches that turn an alarm on.\u00a0 Others can be used to control system based on the sensed conditions. Wireless communication can be challenging through metal materials such as those commonly used in cooler box construction.\u00a0 Some wireless sensors have remote antennae which allow the sending probe to remain in the cooler while the antenna is routed outside for improved communication reliability with the gateway.<\/p>\n Wired systems were chosen for multiple installations in this project because we were able to find a relatively inexpensive option and because we had struggled with wireless communication previously.\u00a0 The majority of the monitoring systems used in this project were from Mojyle<\/a>.\u00a0 At the time this project was conducted the installed system costs were approximately $800.\u00a0 $185 for a network gateway (iMonKit\u00a0 Lite), $356 for sensors (typically 4 sensors @ $89 each, one for each storage zone) and $60 (annual) for web portal access. Installation labor is estimated at $200 (4 hours of ethernet cable routing and connector attachment).\u00a0 These costs don’t include troubleshooting time which was quite high in the case of the pilot project.<\/p>\n![\"This](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cwcallah\/files\/2015\/03\/WLSPG-Monitoring-network-schematic-300x225.jpg\")
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![\"This](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cwcallah\/files\/2015\/03\/WLSPG-Typical-Gateway-Setup-Picture-with-labels-300x225.jpg\")
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