Devlog #01

Hi everyone! A few weeks ago I began work on my first real project, a off grid sensor network for farming studies to provide those who need in field sensors with a cost effective alternative to current options.

This system is sealed and designed to survive the cold of New York winters as that’s where the original inspiration for this system comes from. In NY (outside of the city) we have vast farmlands that struggle with nutrient and pH monitoring, Erosion, and invasive species. Sensors to monitor these factors are not cost effective for the farmers who are directly impacted by this so by making a cheaper alternative it can help unburden the cost factor associated with these systems.

The sensor network relies on LoRa to communicate long distances without the use of high power or WiFi making it the optimal choice for this project. currently the central node which houses a raspberry pi 5 and a Heltec V4 LoRa board flashed with meshtastic is constructed and shown in the photo. This node connects to various field sensors and transmit the data back to the host computer over a network of additional nodes.

The central node is watertight with two custom brackets and a modular board all custom designed to fit the box. Custom mounts hold the V4 Chip and Pi to keep them in a neat layout and replaceable if damaged. Connected to the V4 is a SMA plug, sealed with TVU, which attaches to a 928mHZ antenna.

The external sensors cover a wide array of applications and are designed to be modular with a interchangeable sensor head allowing for quick adaptations to the use case. Drawings for these can be found in the repo. Current sensors include soil pH, Ground moisture, and sun exposure.

Future plans for this project include a weather station attached to the main node as well as a software panel that aggregates all the data for easy reading.

Thank you for being a part of my first project, happy building!