Etteplan’s smart farming IoT solution runner-up in Tele2 IoT Challenge

Etteplan has developed a solution, which brings IoT (Internet of Things) into farming, making fields to talk and tell when they need water and fertilizers. This enables farmers to increase their productivity in an easy and cost efficient way. The Etteplan Smart Fields system, developed by Marcus Carlberg and his team from the Etteplan Gothenburg office, won the second prize in the prestigious Tele2 IoT Challenge, where there were 135 participants from 28 countries.

The system measures humidity, temperature and acidity of land. A low energy transceiver is used to send data from the field in a reliable and cost efficient manner. Transceivers can be placed on different fields to give the farmer an overview of the condition of the fields. Data is transferred from the transceiver to the user interface on an hourly basis via the LoRa network (Long Range), a long range, low power wireless platform.

The competition started in January, when Tele2 IoT decided to let participants experiment with its new LPWA network (Low-Power Wide-Area) in Greater Gothenburg to come up with new innovations. Tele2 IOT Challenge is a competition where teams develop an IoT-solution using the LPWA network, built on the LoRa technology. The major benefits of the network is that IoT-related entities can survive for several years on the same battery and the hardware required is relatively inexpensive, which opens up new applications not previously possible on mobile devices.

“This prize is a great proof of Etteplan’s established position and expertise in the growing IoT market. For our customers the future is about getting things connected with innovative products to achieve improved efficiency” says Mikael Vatn, SVP, Central and Western Europe.