AUGUST 2017 _ http://www.popularmechanics.co.za 13
APPS SEEM TO BE STEADILY FINDING THEIR WAY into
most aspects of farming. The technology is becom-
ing less of a barrier, according to one company
active in these developments. “If the farmer sees
the benefits of the app in terms of monitoring and
managing farming activities, he is generally very
enthusiastic about using it,” says Marius van der
Merwe of Stellenbosch-based Etse Electronics.
Relying on a 20-year background in the military,
space and agricultural environments, the company
has developed two products that illustrate the pro-
gress that’s being made.
TRACKED
Designed and developed as a simple tracking system,
Farmtrack has begun moving towards a complete
farm management solution. It is able to detect
missed rows during spraying, track tractors and
calculate productivity, among other things.
It consists of two parts:
A small device containing various sensors, such
as an accurate GPS module, installed on a tractor.
An intelligent monitoring system that collects
and analyses data, such as speed and position, in
real-time.
Data can be sent to any mobile device with
Internet access.
In a test case at a prominent local farm, it was
found that, before implementing the tracking sys-
tem, one in four drivers would miss approximately
one row per week, 17 tractors were needed for
spraying and large amounts of overtime were
logged. After implementation, missed rows were
cut to one a month, tractors were reduced to 15,
overtime was drastically reduced and spraying
time was slashed by 37 per cent.
FARMERS ARE DOING IT WITH APPS
Changing the face of traditional agriculture
COLLARED
The combating of livestock
theft and predator attacks
was the motivation behind
FarmRanger, a security
collar used on sheep, goats,
cattle and horses. Originally
developed in 1999 and
known as Celmax, the
product was recently
renamed FarmRanger.
Essentially, a GSM-enabled collar is fitted to one animal per herd, or more in
the case of bigger herds. It monitors the behaviour of the animal and, in so
doing, that of the entire herd. Behaviour flagged as abnormal sets off an alarm
and pushes information containing GPS location information to the farmer’s
mobile phone. Up to now, missed calls and text messages have been the default
alert method, but now a mobile app compatible with both Android and iOS has
been developed. Although partly aimed at minimising theft, the system – by
showing the herd’s latest location – allows a farmer to check where in a camp
the herd is currently grazing, or has settled for the night. It also shows a few
key system health metrics (GSM signal strength, battery level). The addition of a
GPS unit in the collar prompted the developers to provide a better interface
that, besides broadening the system capabilities, also provides a simple way for
users to manage multiple collars.
In the case of a collar alarm, the app generates an alert on the user’s mobile
phone. When a user opens their app, they see a basic visual summary of their
collars. They may then view a location map for a specific collar, along with
health metrics or historic events.
At present the app is in its final stages of development, with production
release scheduled for August and several trial groups providing positive feed-
back and suggestions on useful features. Functionality has been purposely kept
basic, with the focus on reliability rather than bells and whistles. Data cost is
expected to be a few MB a month, as the app has been designed specifically for
low bandwidth and low data use. The location map is the element that requires
the most bandwidth, but once that has been cached, GPRS data quality is fine.
To find out more, email [email protected] or visit farmranger.co.za