Solar node and gateway wireless system functions in record breaking polar vortex outbreak of February 2021

Abstract

Abstract Advances in environmental and agricultural management are increasingly enabled by unattended data acquisition using internet‐of‐things (IOT) approaches. These approaches combine advanced sensors and wireless data transmission to automatically convey field data to the internet. Users, either human or machine, then can access and act upon the data from nearly anywhere in the world. Particularly in the case of machines automatically acting on the data, robustness, reliability and accuracy of data are crucial to preventing unintended outcomes of machine operations and continued supply of key services. Low‐cost, low‐power, and solar‐powered systems are important to enable market entry of advanced decision support systems based on IOT data acquisition approaches. The polar vortex outbreak of February 2021 in the central United States provided an extreme test of such a node and gateway system for automatic data acquisition and telemetry to the internet over the cellular telephone network. The system, codesigned by USDA‐ARS and Acclima, performed admirably despite air temperatures reaching a minimum of −24 °C, temperatures < 0 °C for 8 d and < −7 °C for 6 d, two snowstorms, and overcast conditions. The six nodes, gateway, and 36 sensors continued to function reliably with a data transmission failure rate of <2 in 10,000 even though the Li‐ion batteries could not be recharged for 7 d due to temperatures <5 °C. The system reports geographic position of each node and gateway, model numbers and firmware versions of all equipment, including sensors, date, and time of sensor readings, and individual sensor elevations relative to a reference surface, affording data self‐identification for unfettered use by remote systems.