Here’s something I’ve never thought about before: an artificially intelligent flower. No, I’m not talking about robotic flowers that communicate with you or receive and transmit your data. I’m saying it’s possible to grow a beautiful garden using solar powered wireless sensors where flowers know just how to respond to maintain their health and beauty. 

Two companies have actually decided to do just that and explore this phenomenon a little more closely. Multi-Tech Systems, Inc. and Technolution have developed the new “Sense2Grow platform.” It leverages the power of the LoRaWAN protocol to receive growing conditions reports and has the potential to produce data that will manage and monitor business processes for many industrial scenarios, in this case, agriculture.  

The Sense2Grow system allows customers to own their data as opposed to the sensor data being forwarded to third parties; it can also be examined in the Sense2Grow web dashboard.

One of the biggest rose greenhouses in the Netherlands, Porta Nova, which grows the beautiful Red Naomi rose, is currently using the new Sense2Grow platform for its research.

“The new Sense2Grow system has provided us with a complete IoT chain: sensor nodes, communication to cloud, central data storage, central device management, data presentation, even installation support,” said Leon Dukker, Porta Nova’s managing director. “We now have access to all the information we need in the format we choose. Our sensor data is presented to us via colored heat maps - it’s an ideal format for us to review this kind of information.”

Hopefully the Sense2Grow platform will catch on and become a prolific form of tech used by many local growers to give them the data they need to run their businesses more smoothly. This can also help them enhance their crops and overcome natural adversities like droughts or floods.    

This really brings new meaning to the phrase “green thumb,” as IoT being applied to agriculture can help with irrigation and soil management, ensuring the plants get all their needs met to blossom to their full potential.

For more information, please visit https://www.multitech.com/.