Micro-Climate Monitoring and Big Container Farming

Two more oldies from late college (and back before I used my camera frequently like a proper citizen). Both are related projects, one targeting micro climate monitoring for vineyards and the other improved plant management for outdoor marijuana farms.

The microclimate monitoring used the LoRa low power/long range wireless protocol to distribute micro-weather stations throughout the vineyard. With 3 lithium AA batteries and the modified Arduino (Moteino), we were looking at a few years of monitoring time. We would monitor temperature, humidity and leaf wetness for informing farmers of plant condition and disease prevention. This bringing significantly more resolution than the standard weather station that covered many acres. 

The enclosure was essentially a Stevenson screen formed from vacuum molded baffles. This was an awesome project, but I think between building a business, managing software, hardware, and manufactured components, it was a lot to take on at once. 

The second project was an idea from a marijauna farmer that we developed. There was some initial interest and we sold a few, but ultimately did not get sufficient traction. The idea was to get the planter off the ground to protect it from pests, to isolate it from the other plants to prevent wildlife from taking down the full trellising system, and to make plant management simpler and allow for rotating the plant for more equal growth. 

Build photos

3 axis machined mold tool 

Laser cut vacuum molding table

Formed and assembled parts

Stevenson screen testing

And a mockup for simulation and software development. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the Python output that I wrote (or the more complete program the CS team put together), but it was a heat map interpolating between the sensors. 

Weld fixture setup 

Weld fixture use

Milled feet, later painted red for safety