back to article Cisco Jasper IoT bod: Smart home? Nah. Farm pest control – that's a cool use case

Macario Namie, head of IoT strategy at Cisco Jasper, has been working in the connected device space "before it was known as IoT” and was with Jasper for nine years before it was acquired by the networking borg in 2016 for $1.4bn (£1.1bn). The outfit began as a machine-to-machine wireless comms specialist, Jasper Wireless, …

  1. 2460 Something
    Coat

    if the sensors pick up enough activity, they release pheromones

    This feels like it was developed for the porn industry, coming to a dogging spot near you....

  2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    He has a point

    While I can get away with room thermostats, smart valves, etc without the need for a central controller in the house, it is difficult to get even something as trivial as automated watering (when you are away from home) done without a proper controller.

    That will be my next IoT project - automated watering of the garden at both my main and my summer home based on actual soil moisture content measurement.

    1. Vulch

      Re: He has a point

      Must dig out the soil moisture sensors I bought back in the autumn. Planning to use them with Wemos D1 Minis to deal with greenhouse watering and pumping water between rain butts. Cut down Arduino type things with onboard wifi so they can talk to each other.

      1. Sandgroper

        Re: He has a point

        Marry the Wemos D1 with a Lorawan Modem, such as a $8 RFM95, and you break the dependancy of close proximity to a WiFi access point. Instead of being concerned about 10s of meters from the gateway, you are dealing with kilometres from the gateway.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: He has a point

      " automated watering of the garden"

      Remember to build in an independent fail-safe mechanism that limits the time for which water can flow. Otherwise a controller fault could waste a lot of water.

      I suspect that any such device needs approval by the local water authority if connected to the mains supply.

      1. Sandgroper

        Re: He has a point

        You would not require approval in Australia from the local water authority provided you adhere to any local day/time restrictions dealing in areas prone to drought. A typical failsafe is to use two values in series driven by different controller outputs. You could do this with a master value and value on each spur.

    3. Bob Rocket

      Re: He has a point

      I understand the automatic watering controller based on soil moisture content sensors part of the project but I fail to understand where the internet comes into the equation.

      That is just Autonomous Things not Internet of Things

      (unless it is a £1300 Rentokil one that phones a bloke who comes round with a watering can)

      1. Mark 85

        Re: He has a point

        I understand the automatic watering controller based on soil moisture content sensors part of the project but I fail to understand where the internet comes into the equation.

        What I see in my area from talking to orchard owners when buying fruit is that the watering stuff has no access to the Internet but only to the LAN. It records watering times, has alarms say if a valve was on to water a specific tree but the sensor either fails to read moisture or valve fails to close, etc. While these owners are pretty sharp on things, some of the LAN stuff they leave up to a specific contracting company who's specialty is this.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I was hoping for the

    laser cannon equipped scarecrow with sensors, tracked vehicle support and maybe a missile launcher at the top barn :)

    1. cantankerous swineherd

      Re: I was hoping for the

      would it stop cats crapping on what I laughingly call my lawn?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I was hoping for the

        Sound like it might just work, although it may also burn up the lawn. For cats a proximity sensor that triggers a light spray of citrus-themed water will chase them off without harming the curious cat.

        " the humble Amazon Kindle in 2006 and 2007 that started the whole IoT craze"

        What was this then? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_VII

        There's probably more cases of prior art of a handheld/Internet connected device than a Kindle. The era prior to smartphones/pads merely forced you to fill up on web content/apps, then sync them to your mobile device for portable use. For me IoT is Raspberry Pi and other tiny connected devices like microPython or Arduinos with cell and wifi capabilities. Embedded devices, but Internet connected/connectable as well, no? IoT hairbrush? Not so much, although being wireless and connected it does qualify, I just refuse to accept that. :P

        IoT devices should do multiple things, and do them well enough to displace their unconnected cousins.

      2. Pedigree-Pete
        Thumb Up

        Re: I was hoping for the

        Nope, for that you need a dog or 2. PP

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