Newly released Onset HOBOnet gives growers greater visibility into field conditions with near real-time data from wireless sensors, alert notifications, and access via mobile devices.
Many high-value crops are sensitive to micro-climate variations such as temperature, rainfall, and soil moisture, which directly affect quality and profitability. Meanwhile, water and pesticides, which represent significant costs, are under greater scrutiny as governments and consumers place a higher priority on sustainability.
The HOBOnet™ Field Monitoring System can help growers and researchers address these issues. Now, whether managing fields and greenhouses or conducting studies on agriculture, climate, or ecology, HOBOnet makes it simpler and more affordable than ever to collect the data that drives insights and decisions.
The scalable, HOBOnet Field Monitoring System includes everything needed to capture near real-time outdoor or greenhouse data. Based on the HOBO® RX3000 Remote Monitoring Station and powerful cloud-based HOBOlink™ software for remote system management, HOBOnet features a suite of new wireless sensors covering a range of outdoor measurements.
The system connects the RX3000 and up to 50 wireless sensors in a mesh network in order to measure large areas once considered too costly or impractical to monitor. The HOBOnet Field Monitoring System provides access to data via any web browser, whether on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, so growers and researchers can get timely information whenever and wherever they need it.
“Data drives better understanding and decision-making, but the ability to get actionable data can be hindered by the cost and complexity of setting up and managing a monitoring system,” said Onset’s president, Jim Towey. “HOBOnet adds the scale, ease of access, and affordability provided by leading-edge wireless, cloud, and mobile technologies.”
HOBOnet Wireless Sensors
The HOBOnet Field Monitoring System features new wireless sensors for monitoring:
• Air temperature
• Humidity
• Rainfall
• Wind speed & direction
• Solar radiation, and PAR
• Soil moisture & temperature
These compact sensors include a built-in solar panel for battery charging and can be placed anywhere they’re needed, up to 1,500 feet apart, providing coverage for acres of land or groups of greenhouses.
With the simple push of a button, the sensors connect and create an intelligent wireless mesh network that provides an adaptive and highly-reliable communication path for data to stream back to the RX3000 Remote Monitoring Station and to HOBOlink running in the cloud. The system eliminates the need for traditional cable and wires that always get in the way and can get damaged in the field. Plus, HOBOnet operates at 900MHz, which optimises wireless communication through vegetation, and it allows for 50 wireless sensors to connect to the RX3000 and HOBOlink.
