Satellite IoT: The Key to Precision Farming

By Majdi Atout, Senior Consultant, IoT, APPLIOT

As human beings, we have relied upon agriculture for thousands of years. As the source of our food production, it has evolved over centuries, taking in the latest available technologies throughout history. This sector is essential to our survival but only 12% of the world’s land is usable for farming and with agriculture, forestry and land use the source of 23% of greenhouse emissions, the way we farm today is under scrutiny.

In terms of global food production, farmers face many global challenges. They are coping with climate change, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. At the same time, they are having to meet rising demand for more food of higher quality and feed a massive population. Traditional farms often face inefficient resource usage, a shortage of labor and difficulty in the monitoring all of their assets.

Today, agriculture is no longer a case of living hand-to-mouth and simply producing enough for a family or a community. Though traditional farms are still prevalent, the rise of supermarket chains has seen farming evolve into agribusiness, where farming is intensive and consumes huge acreage in order to keep up productivity.

Industry 4.0 is also happening on the farm. Digitalization is enabling farms to become more operationally effective, efficient and profitable, enabling it to better cope with the pressures placed upon them. By taking advantage of innovation and advancements such as the cloud and IoT, farmers are better equipped to face the many challenges before them.

One of the primary enablers of agricultural digitalization is the satellite Internet of Things (IoT). It is an incredibly useful tool for the farming industry as it provides connectivity and data exchange for devices that are located in remote, rural hard-to-reach locations. Satellite technology, when plugged into IoT infrastructure gives farmers full advantage of those benefits that only satellite can offer – reach, scalability and cost effectiveness.

The satellite IoT market is currently on a significant growth path as businesses move further afield. The statistics fully back this up. According to Allied Market Research, the global market was valued at $1.3 billion in 2022, and is projected to reach $8.7 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 21.1% from 2023 to 2032.

Terrestrial networks cannot serve farms located in remote regions, as they are often located outside of the zones where coverage is available. Satellite IoT offers ubiquitous coverage and is unhindered by geography. Therefore, farms can deploy and also scale their IoT networks to areas where terrestrial connectivity simply cannot reach.

Plethora of applications

In agriculture, satellite IoT facilitates precision farming by delivering data on a host of different facets of the farming business such as soil moisture, weather patterns, and crop health from remote fields, empowering farmers to make informed decisions and maximize yields.

IoT enables farmers to prepare their fields at the correct time, to determine when to sow and to harvest their crops and deal with changing weather conditions. It also allows them to carefully monitor the machinery and vehicles used on the farms using predictive maintenance to troubleshoot issues with the machines before they even happen and saving a great deal of money in repairs and downtime.

For livestock farmers, IoT can be used to monitor their health. This is essential when every animal is very important. These health monitors can detect the first signs of problems in the animals. Devices attached to the tails of livestock can alert farmers as to when they are giving birth, enabling them to receive prompt assistance when required. It can even be used to help with breeding by determining when an animal is most fertile.

The farming community, and those that provide services to it has turned to satellite IoT. For example, in the US and Brazil farming machinery giant John Deere has issued an RFP to equip its farm machinery with satellite IoT connectivity and it demonstrates the power of the technology – they want to be connected anywhere and everywhere - and satellite allows that. The IoT connectivity enables a farm to promote efficiency of resources, automate their processes across production cycles, reduce waste, minimize environmental impact and improve animal welfare.

What to look for in a satellite IoT solution

A satellite solution with an open architecture will mean that integration of any device or existing network is possible, to enable seamless IoT connectivity. In today’s world, a multi-orbit approach to satellite services is required, so in addition to widebeam satellites, the ideal IoT solution will connect with GEO HTS and LEO satellites to provide a convenient and reliable solution.

The use of AI can help to provide a customizable IoT satellite solution that is tailored for any application, anywhere on the planet. A flexible software platform that easily integrates with IoT protocols and offers both fixed and mobile connectivity will give flexibility in terms of applications it is able to serve. A lightweight, small footprint terminal that is conformable with the surface it is mounted on and that is easy to install and operate is also essential.

Another consideration that many businesses look at today is the provision of a software- as-a-service option which enables the user to lower costs considerably and access software that features easy to use interfaces with clear and actionable data. The solution should also be able to support both low and high data rates.

IoT: Key to enhanced productivity

The introduction of IoT capabilities to a farm can completely transform daily operations, and it is being widely acknowledged that satellite IoT is the key to precision farming. Large farming equipment suppliers are already integrating IoT into their farm vehicles and equipment. The advancements made in this field will also make access to IoT services much cheaper and simpler, with easy integration into a farm’s existing network and as-a-service offerings, as well as terminals that feature integrated modems that are easy to install and will conform to different environments. The implementation of precision agriculture not only holds great benefit for the farmer but also for the farm’s environmental impact and sustainability reducing use of water, fertilizer and herbicides and fossil fuels.

Furthermore, IoT as a technology will evolve and deliver more capabilities. We are just scratching the surface of what is possible, and that is a very exciting prospect.