SOLAR TAG PROMISES TO LOWER THE BARRIER FOR ADOPTION OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE, SMART IRRIGATION

Sol Chip Comm (SCC) is an ultra-compact, maintenance-free, solar-powered tag that powers, controls, and wirelessly connects a wide variety of sensors to the cloud.

“With our LightBattery technology, Sol Chip is uniquely positioned to realize our vision of enabling billions of autonomous IoT devices for many different market sectors in a way that is cost effective and environmentally sustainable,” explains Shani Keysar, founder and CEO of Sol Chip. “Our new SCC device clearly demonstrates these qualities for precision agriculture and smart irrigation.”

SCC feeds real-time data from hundreds of agriculture-related sensors, including ones that monitor soil moisture, soil temperature, ambient temperature, air temperature, and nutrient levels into a precision agriculture application server. The data is then analyzed to help producers make data-driven adjustments that will optimize water and fertilizer and will improve crop yields.

Based on Sol Chip’s energy-harvesting technology, SCC is designed to operate continuously for more than 10 years with no maintenance requirements. As a wireless device, SCC eliminates the significant costs and time associated with deploying and maintaining wires to connect sensors. Its small size also makes the product easy to install and move.

According to the company, the device will significantly lower the barrier for the adoption of precision agriculture and smart irrigation.

“Precision agriculture is definitely the future of agriculture,” says Avi Schweitzer, CTO at Netafim. “Sol Chip has the right approach that will turn the promises of precision agriculture and smart irrigation into reality.”

Testing of the device is currently being done in greenhouses, open fields, and vineyards in Spain, China, Singapore, Argentina, and Israel. The company says it is very encouraged by the strong demand it is seeing for the new device and talks have begun with many VARs and system integrators that provide technology solutions for agriculture as well as some large irrigation-equipment vendors.

“The world's population is growing steadily, and technologies to improve food production with higher yields and lower inputs are needed. Streamlining food production with new technologies will also improve profitability, reduce operational costs, and lower the environmental impact of agriculture. Sol Chip is positioned to meet these challenges and offers a win-win solution for everyone involved,” explains Keysar.

An evaluation kit – which includes two SCC solar tags, two sensors, a wireless gateway, all the necessary accessories, access to third-party web server and support – is available for a limited-time promotion of $1,500. Learn more by visiting sol-chip.com.