Premio Benefits:
1. BCO-1000 Edge Gateway and RCO-3000 Edge Computer supports Edyza’s high-density IoT sensor network to aggregate and process data points for real-time analytics.
2. Rugged fanless design provides the embedded computer the ability to operate with wide temperatures, wide voltage inputs, shock and vibration that are common for industrial agriculture.
3. Wireless sensor network can operate without cloud for remote edge deployments. 4G LTE network capability also allows more flexibility for applications.
Real-World Challenge
The industry of commercial agriculture plays by thin margins that rely on maximizing yield and driving a better return on investments. Technology has always been the de facto driver in improving growth through new innovations that capitalize on operating efficiency and providing deeper insights to manage quality control for commercial crops. Cultivation technologies are looking for new methods to reduce overall operating costs and facilitate future growth to stem fluctuating market prices from destabilizing business. By turning to new applications based on the Internet of Things (IoT), a company that delivers commercial cultivation solutions invested in Premio’s client Edyza, a pioneer in high-density wireless sensor technology to empower a digital transformation on agriculture technology.
Edyza’s High-Density Internet of Things (HD-IoT) sensors are capable of delivering precise data metrics that offer valuable information for monitoring plant health such as substrate moisture and electrical conductivity on a per plant basis. In addition, by measuring plant health and the growing environment for humidity, temperature, and vapor pressure deficit, Edyza’s low-power wireless sensor network generate the data needed for diagnostic machine learning and thus provide powerful insights for automation throughout entire growth stages. This technology can be utilized to automate fertigation, light scheduling, and irrigation cycles with precision for fully integrated and connected horticulture.
In order to bring this innovative IoT technology application into fruition, Edyza partnered with Premio, a premier global ODM/OEM provider in computing technology, to supply the underlying hardware platform capable of aggregating and augmenting the high-density sensor data into actionable results. Edyza required a robust edge computing system that enabled their wireless network technology and withstood the rigors of integrating into an industrial agricultural environment.
In this specific application, Premio introduced two edge computing products to fulfill the objectives for driving the HD-IoT sensor network. A BCO-1000 fanless mini PC was implemented as the IoT gateway for aggregating and communicating data received from Edyza’s sensors. For processing and analyzing the generated data, a RCO-3000 edge server was deployed to compute the data into measurable analytics to offer real-time remote monitoring of each sensor’s reading.
Premio’s Application Solution
When looking for the right computing platform to handle the large amount of wireless sensors, Edyza had to ensure that the computer was able to operate on the edge with sufficient performance. To incorporate this requirement, two edge computers are working in tandem to divide the duties of gathering and analyzing the data. This allows each edge computer to concentrate processing power and reduce overall latency throughout the network. Premio’s BCO-1000 fanless mini PC and RCO-3000 edge server are validated industrial PCs that were configured to work with Edyza’s high-density radio design thus giving way to receive multiple data streams from each installed sensor without skipping a beat. This is ultimately crucial for collecting and delivering data in real-time, especially as more workloads are moving to the edge and away from the cloud.
Another key requirement for Edyza’s network architecture was the ability to operate with and without cloud access for increased flexibility when deployed in varying locations. Premio provides this through its wide expandability for communication protocols such as Wireless wide area networks (LTE), WLAN (Wi-Fi), and WAN (Wired Ethernet). Through this flexibility, Edyza was able to offer either edge enabled or cloud based network structures according to each application’s necessities. By utilizing the BCO-1000 fanless mini PC as a gateway and utilizing LTE connectivity, a more lightweight setup could be achieved through relying on cloud computing for data processing. On the other hand, integrating RCO-3000 edge computers in the network can be enable self-sufficient independence from the cloud with the added ability to create modular redundancy for mission critical reliability through multiple edge computers.
In addition, Premio’s rugged and fanless design for both the BCO-1000 fanless mini PC and RCO-3000 edge computer gives the necessary industrial reliability to be integrated into harsh environments where standard and traditional computers will fail, causing detrimental downtime for commercial operations. With wide operating temperatures ranging from -40C to 70C, wide voltage input ranges of 9 to 48VDC, and shock and vibration levels of 50G and 5 Grms, Premio’s rugged embedded computers allow Edyza’s HD-IoT sensor network to be deployed in any given industrial application such as commercial agriculture, manufacturing automation, supply logistics and more.
Visit our 2019 Solutions Catalog to learn more about Premio products and services. Schedule a meeting with our solution experts at sales@premioinc.com or call us at 1-800-977-9646
