DRIPS

The Netherlands’ Small and Medium Enterprises Innovation (MIT) program rewarded the consortium of Fleet, FactoryLab and Disdrometrics with a grant to conduct a world-first trial to connect data from irrigation systems on the ground to nanosatellites in orbit. The Digital Rain IoT Platform via satellite (DRIPs) proposal will aim to transform agriculture through real-time tracking of weather and irrigation systems, creating potential cost savings of 10 per cent or more per year, per hectare of land.

DRIPs will create a local sensor network that will communicate with low orbiting nanosatellites though a local gateway. In regions where communication infrastructure is lacking, the system will help crop growers continuously monitor nutrients, temperature, humidity and precipitation on a low bandwidth frequency.

In DRIPS Disdrometrics will develop a sensor that can connect everywhere in the world
without having to deal with local providers, it is a one stop shop.