Project Overview
An Australian agritech company required a battery-powered environmental sensor network for large-scale vineyards. InnovChip designed and developed a complete LoRaWAN-based sensor node with multi-parameter sensing, solar harvesting, and cloud dashboard integration.
Client
Industry: Australian Agritech Company (Melbourne)
Project Duration: 10 weeks
Budget: AUD 42,000
Industry
Smart Agriculture / Environmental Monitoring
Challenge
- Each sensor node must operate for 3+ years on a single battery charge in the field
- Range requirement: reliable communication at 3km+ in rural terrain
- Multi-parameter sensing: temperature, humidity, soil moisture, solar radiation, wind speed, and rainfall
- Must survive outdoor conditions: -10°C to 55°C, high humidity, dust, and direct sunlight
- IP67 enclosure required
- Low maintenance — no field recalibration for at least 12 months
- Data integration with The Things Network (TTN) and custom cloud backend
- Production volume: 5,000 units initially
Solution
- MCU: STM32WL5 (Cortex-M4 with integrated LoRa transceiver) — single-chip solution
- Sensors:
- Sensirion SHT40 (temperature/humidity)
- Soil moisture: capacitive probe with proprietary calibration
- Solar radiation: silicon photodiode with cosine corrector
- Anemometer: ultrasonic (no moving parts)
- Rain gauge: tipping bucket with magnetic reed switch
- Power: 4,000mAh Li-SOCl₂ primary battery + 1W solar panel for trickle charging
- Radio: LoRaWAN Class A with ADR (Adaptive Data Rate) for optimized power
- Firmware: FreeRTOS with ultra-low-power sleep states (1.2μA in deep sleep)
- Enclosure: Custom IP67 rated with UV-stabilized polycarbonate, vented membrane for pressure equalization
- Cloud: TTN → AWS Lambda → InfluxDB + Grafana dashboard
Technical Details
| MCU + Radio | STM32WL55JC (single-chip LoRaWAN) |
| Frequency Band | AU915-928 MHz (AS923 variant) |
| Max TX Power | +22dBm (Class A) |
| RX Sensitivity | -139dBm @ SF12 |
| Range | 5km line-of-sight, 3km with moderate foliage |
| Sleep Current | 1.2μA |
| Avg. Current | 45μA (15-minute reporting interval) |
| Battery Life | 4.5 years (with solar assist, > 3.5 years without) |
| Data Rate | DR0-DR5 (adaptive) |
Result
- 300-node pilot deployed across 2 vineyards in Victoria, Australia
- Average range: 3.8km (exceeding 3km requirement)
- Battery life exceeded projections — after 14 months in field, battery voltage remained above 3.4V
- Sensor accuracy within ±2% for soil moisture after 12 months without recalibration
- Solar panel extended estimated battery life to 4.5 years
- Integration with TTN and custom dashboard completed in 2 days post-hardware delivery
- Full production documentation and test jigs for 5,000-unit manufacturing delivered