PRECISION FARMING

Red Ant Agri has developed precision farming equipment and controllers to assist with the precise application of solid and water based chemicals and nutrients on a full Variable Rate Application (VRA) basis. The Red Ant Smart Nodes as they are known all operate using the same principals. We have an IoT Portal into which prescription or rate maps can be imported or within which such maps can be created and edited. The IoT portal then also contains all the relevant calibration and setup information for the specific node. Application instructions are set up in the form of Smart Node Configurations which are then pushed to an Operator. The Operator uses his or her Operator ID to log into the Red Ant Android Application on a smart phone and connects this device to the relevant Smart Node via Bluetooth. The Android device then acts as the Graphical User Interface (GUI), the processing unit, the temporary memory and the communications hub (Wi-Fi, GSM, Bluetooth and GPS) for the system. The IoT portal is cloud based and besides the storing of application data we also log as applied data and if the android device can connect to the internet in the field during application it will also provide real time feedback on its location and settings while applying the selected product.

Red Ant Nodes can also be supplied with onboard Active GNSS modules which make use of Active GNSS Antennas and circuit boards to improve GPS accuracy from the typical 3m to 8m range associated with smart phones to sum meter accuracy. These modules are also RTK ready and we envisage offering this solution during the next year or so.