Customer: Nicotra

Category:  Industrial

Summary description: control irrigation devices with radio communication and mesh network

Type of activity: electronic design, firmware development, prototyping, production

Customer brief

To design an electronic card capable of controlling water distribution groups, for irrigation purposes. The information on the use of the device and its authorizations, must travel long distances wirelessly in areas without public network infrastructure.

Product description

The device is based on a 800 MHz radio transmission technology and is using custom protocol. Maximum attention was paid to the simplification of the installation phase. The typical system is composed of hundreds of nodes scattered in wide areas and it is therefore imperative that the installation does not take into account the needs of the network. Each node is in fact able to carry out the data collection functionality, but also serves as a repeater for other data nodes. The very low power consumption, necessary to ensure that the battery can last up to 10 years without maintenance, is also ensured by a GPS synchronization system that allows to turn on the devices in unison, creating specific transmission moments that alternate when the network is totally silent.

Specification and technological peculiarities

Design of the transmission protocol with GPS synchronization.