Massachusetts, USA
June 2016
A Fresher Look at the IoT.
New England is home to scenic coastlines, vibrant foliage, thousands of small farms, and (someday) the ultimate tomato.
That’s because Analog Devices (ADI) is partnering with New England tomato farmers to develop technology that will help them harvest tastier, more abundant, and more sustainably grown tomatoes than ever before.
Video: http://bcove.me/8vgvbqlv
By leveraging our technical expertise in sensing, measuring, and interpreting the world around us, and our deep knowledge of the IoT ecosystem, Analog Devices is building a complete sensor-to-cloud solution that will empower farmers to make better decisions throughout the growing cycle, ultimately improving quality, economic, and environmental outcomes.
Welcome to the Internet of Tomatoes – and a deliciously powerful example of what Smart Agriculture can mean to products, people, and the future.
Red. Ripe. Revolutionary.
The process started with collaboration, as ADI engineers met with local farmers to better understand the art of tomato-growing; discuss a tomato’s ideal flavor profile, shape, aroma, sugar, acid and lycopene content; and listen to the challenges farmers face in making the most of their harvest.
Based on those insights, we developed a platform-based sensing, processing and communications solution that can precisely measure environmental data – humidity, temperature and ambient sunlight – which contribute to growing a delicious tomato.
Placed among the tomato plants at various locations throughout the farm, this solution will monitor the growing environment and keep tomato farmers apprised of real-time conditions and trends (taking sensory information from the field, relaying that content to a cloud application, and providing rich information back to farmers on handheld devices).
All told, this will provide a precise, always-on look at conditions that affect tomato quality, flavor, yield, potential for disease, and more – fresh from the vine, sent through the air, stored in the cloud. It will allow farmers to make interventions to improve outcomes and optimize flavors (i.e. to water more or less, make amendments to soil, and even determine the ideal time to harvest).
Moving forward, this aggregated information will also build a sharable database of insight that can help other farmers with their future harvests, and further the cause of delivering the “perfect” tomato.
From Seed to Signal. From Sensor to Cloud.
By integrating the hardware solution with a cloud-based IoT application from ThingWorx™, Analog Devices is developing a complete solution that will be accessible and easy to use from end to end.
This solution delivers reliable and precise information to farmers, while withstanding long-term exposure to the environment (thanks to highly rugged and accurate sensors); lasts several seasons without battery replacement (owing to its highly reliable, low-power processing); and will give farmers anytime, anywhere access to their crops (through cloud-integrated communications). In addition, apps and dashboards built on ThingWorx (armed with data from ADI’s precision sensing) can help farmers better understand and implement improvements.
The result: a healthier, fresher, tastier tomato. Farmed with care and skill. Supported with technology. But the benefits go – and grow – far beyond.
Better Tomatoes. A Better Tomorrow.
Smart Agriculture can positively impact the planet in immeasurable ways: improving yields of crops of all kinds, decreasing dependence on pesticides, reducing operational costs, optimizing water usage, and ensuring better land management and crop rotation.
Analog Devices’ ability to deliver complete sensing solutions to customers – from small New England farms to growers in the developing world – means extending the value and possibilities of IoT in truly transformative ways.
In short, the more sensory information we are able to extract, analyze and share from our world, the more we will be able to feed our world.
Ahead of What’s Possible
At Analog Devices, our technologies play a critical role in bridging the physical and digital worlds, enabling the Internet of Things, and empowering smarter cities, factories, energy grids, agricultural practices, health care systems and more.
Working together with customers, we continue to apply our knowledge of the signal chain and IoT ecosystem to create solutions, at the system level, that solve the toughest challenges.
Our innovations, expertise and drive to always be Ahead of What’s Possible mean Analog Devices can implement – not just theorize – greater possibilities for today’s interconnected world. We consider problems at a big picture level, and implement holistic, system-level technologies to address them. And the more we learn, unlock opportunities, and apply these solutions, the more our customers – and their customers – succeed.
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