Microsoft FarmBeats

Product Description

The FarmBeats project is an IoT Platform for data-driven agriculture. It uses several unique solutions including low-cost sensors, drones, and vision and machine learning algorithms to help increase farm productivity and reduce costs.

Target SDGs

SDG 2: Zero Hunger

SDG 1: No Poverty

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

Microsoft, DJI and Slantrange

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors include RML Farmer - Krishi Mitr.

Regions

Worldwide

Manufacturing/Building Method

The solution uses components already available in the market: sensors, drones, cloud systems.

Intellectural Property Type

User Provision Model

Unknown

Distributions to Date Status

Pilot projects in the US and India.

Potential pilot projects in DRC, China and New Zealand.

Telecommunication service required

TVWS using the Adaptrum ACRS 2 radios

Device(s) required

Soil sensors, TYE ballons, drones, computer, TV white space transmitter, mobile phone

Level of connection service needed

TV white space radio connection

Permanent network connectivity required (Y/N)

Usage rate (%)

N/A

Additional features required

N/A

Two way communication (Y/N)

Yes

Literacy support (Y(specify) / N)

Languages available

English

Operating system and version

N/A

Power requirements

Four 12V-44Ah batteries connected in parallel

eAgriculture application

Enable data driven decisions to help improve agricultural yield, lower overall costs, and reduce the environmental impact of agricultural production

Design Specifications

The solution includes soil sensors, video streaming balloons, drones, local farm computers and the Microsoft Azure network.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

Unknown

Replacement Components

N/A

Lifecycle

N/A

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

“Availability: The platform should have negligible downtime.

Capacity: It should support sensors with widely varying requirements: pH sensors reporting few bytes of data to drones sending gigabytes of video.
Cloud Connectivity: Several farming applications, such as crop cycle prediction, seeding suggestions, farming practice advisory, etc. rely on long term data analytics.
Data Freshness: Stale sensor data from the farm can make applications suggest incorrect courses of action to the farmer.” (Vanish, D. et al)

Vetted Performance Status

FarmBeats supports high bandwidth sensors using TVWS, a long range technology. It uses a weather-aware solar-powered IoT base station, and an intelligent Gateway that ensure that services are available in the Cloud and offline. It also incorporates path-planning algorithms that extend drone battery life. (Vanish, D. et al)

Safety

N/A

Complementary Technical Systems

N/A

Academic Research and References

Vasish, D. et al: FarmBeats: An IoT Platform for Data-Driven Agriculture.

Lawless, Joe (2018): “Microsoft and the Future of AI“. MICCSR Case Studies. 12

Kapetanovic, Z. et al (2017): “Experiences Deploying an Always-on Farm Network”. GetMobile: Mobile Computing and Communications archive. Volume 21 Issue 2, June 2017. Pages 16-21

“FarmBeats: AI, Edge & IoT for Agriculture.” 2016. Microsoft Research. June 17, 2016. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/farmbeats-iot-agriculture/

“Thethings.IO – Agriculture IoT Solution Success Case.” 2019. TheThings. July 7, 2019. https://thethings.io/iot-agriculture/

“Goal 2.” n.d. Sdgs.Un.Org. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2

“Microsoft Planetary Computer.” n.d. Microsoft.Com. Accessed May 30, 2024. https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/

N.d. Microsoft.Com. Accessed May 30, 2024. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FarmBeats-webpage-1.pdf

Compliance with regulations

The solution uses unlicensed, long-range TV white space radio spectrum using FCC certified Adaptrum ACRS radios.

Evaluation methods

Academic research done in two farms of the US

Other Information

Chandra, R. “FarmBeats: AI & IoT for Agriculture: enabling affordable data-driven farming”

Implemented by

Penn State HESE

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