From inventing machinery products to the development of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), technology has played a vital role in reshaping farming and our way of harvesting our food. UWB(Ultra-wideband) in agriculture has become a center of curiosity for many people. By integrating it into farming practices, we can enhance our precision in farming, improve our crop management, optimize the use of resources, boost our efficiency and sustainability in the agriculture sector.
This approach will improve the decision-making efficiency of a farmer, such as when to plant, irrigate, and harvest, based on real-time information that is coming from their field. UWB technology enables accurate and reliable positioning and tracking of various assets, such as machinery, livestock, and even individual plants for further use.
What is UWB?
It is a wireless communication technology that operates on a high-frequency range between 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. It has the capability to transmit large amounts of data over short distances. Not only that, but it also has minimal interference between communication and extremely low power consumption.
A UWB-based technology works TOF(time-of-flight) and AOA(Angle-of-arrival) to calculate the real-time location of other UWB-enabled devices in a range of 10 cm.
First, the UWB transmitter sends billions of radio pulses at a broad range of frequencies starting from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, and then the receiver will respond to the transmitter after identifying similar frequencies. The receiver will convert these pulses into data to use this generated data to process the real-time operations.
5 Ways to Apply UWB in Agriculture
Using UWB in agricultural advancement has now become a reality term for farmers to be more efficient and will help them to increase the yield of their fields and also improve the overall profits.
1. Farm Mapping with UWB
2. Real-Time Location System in UWB
3. Precision Farming with UWB
4. Security Applications in UWB
5. Improvements in Wireless Communications
1. Farm Mapping with UWB: Farm mapping, or you can say yield mapping, UWB can help in improving and providing new capabilities of yield mapping. This technology was already established among farmers in the form of yield mapping equipment. For example, Prime-time + RTK from Deere & Company. This mapping technique has been around for many years but in recent times, the yield mapping technique generally requires multiple passes from the sensors or instruments.
In some cases, it may take two weeks or more to collect all the data that is required to locate from that field. New data sources have been available to improve yield management and mapping capabilities, which will help farmers by providing new opportunities than ever before.
For example, weather stations can be used as a new source of determining the field data. In addition, industry experts are using satellite imagery techniques that combine the boundaries of the field which include crop sensing from satellites to improve yield mapping.
2. Real-Time Location System in UWB: RLTS in UWB provides the leverage to compare the measurement of actual and predicted crop growth in real-time by providing access to information on the field at a specific geographical location.
RLTS provides the advantage of improved access to digital information about their field for better decision-making rather than depending on guesswork.
It can help in tracking the precise location of farming equipment such as tractor, harvester, and plow. This enables farmers to optimize their equipment usage, reduce fuel consumption, and minimize soil infertility.
UWB-equipped drones or vehicles can help to create highly detailed crop maps by accurately tracking their positions. This data will help in monitoring crop health, identifying irrigation needs, and detecting areas where to use pest control.
3. Precision Farming with UWB: UWB in agriculture relates to precision agriculture which utilizes RTK-GPS (Global Navigation Satellite System Real-Time Kinematic). UWB offers the possibility of extending precision farming to higher bandwidth and even into the VHF (very-high frequency) spectrum of 150 MHz, it frees up space for new applications while maintaining backward compatibility with current technology.
It uses multiple base stations that can share data with each other through a wireless link between the base station and with connected smart devices (smartphone, tablet) in a vehicle traveling around the field. It allows sharing of real-time locations, and it also helps to reduce the cost by sharing base stations through all the connected areas.
UWB can help in improving livestock management for precision farming by improving animal welfare, they can attach tags to them. So, they can monitor their location, movements, and health status in real time. Tags provide leverage for the farmers to find out the live locations of animals.
4. Security Applications in UWB: UWB can help agriculture by improving its security in various aspects. For example, UWB tags embedded within farm equipment are able to provide the precise location of tagged items, location information of tractors, and location tracking of any animal which will help the owners track the movement pattern of animals.
They offer nearly unlimited battery while maintaining an accurate timing signal.
5. Improvement in wireless communications: UWB wireless communication in agriculture has a tremendous application, as a farmer it will help to establish the communication between farmers and tagged items such as tractors and harvesters. This technology is helping farmers as it is cost-efficient while providing precision in the framing sector.
It enables the GPS-like features in outdoor conditions to operate at higher frequencies above 1 GHz. UWB performs precision agriculture with great benefit better than GPS because GPS does not perform well in indoor or underground conditions due to blockage from concrete materials.
UWB is going to revolutionize the current shape of agriculture and help farmers monitor their fields, harvest their fields, process payments, manage inventory, and manage the production system. In addition, UWB will also enhance safety through the better management of equipment and livestock to improve their profitability in this process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1) What are the advantages of UWB?
1. It operates efficiently on low power, which will help UWB-enabled devices to save their battery life.
2. It provides fast data transferring rate and stable communication between two UWB-supported devices.
3. It has a large bandwidth which operates from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz, which stabilizes the communication and prevents the connection from interference.
Q2) What are some common applications of UWB?
UWB technology offers a wide range of applications in various sectors:
1. Local Tracking is used for precise location tracking of people and objects in real-time. It can be used in various applications such as asset tracking, inventory management, navigation systems, and emergency support systems.
2. Healthcare can be used in the healthcare sector by remotely monitoring patients' conditions and location tracking of medical equipment.
3. Automotive Radar System can help to improve vehicle safety which can be used to avoid collisions, blind spot detection, automatic car parking systems, etc.
Q3) How fast is UWB compared with other wireless communication technologies?
It is capable of sharing data at very high transfer rates, it is much faster than other wireless communication technologies. It can transmit data at a speed of gigabit per second (Gbps), which is much faster than most Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies. Likewise, it can be a better option for applications that require high data transfer rates over short distances.
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