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Weather‑aware farming has improved poultry protection and now supports smarter patient recovery
What is our primary use case?
Our main use case for IoT aaS involves using a Weather Guard AI for our poultry farmers, who utilize this platform for IoT that helps them to have poultry intelligence in terms of rainfall, temperature, and it offers notifications and insights on what they are supposed to do in order for their farming activities not to be affected by daily changing weather patterns, whether it is moisture from rainfall or cold temperature and all that; it has a bearing on especially poultry farming because we also have a solution that we developed for poultry farmers.
The idea to use IoT aaS for poultry farming comes from the fact that IoT is very important in terms of safeguarding the workflows of farmers, especially in safeguarding the dangers associated with weather. Monitoring itself, processing of data, security of that data, platform and infrastructure, when you are using IoT aaS, helps you to actually set up the infrastructure, the data pipeline, and what we can only focus on is enhancing your product so that you deliver more value to the farmers. They specifically focus on activities that improve their technology, and they do not have to worry about designing hard-coded infrastructure, the platform, or the data pipelines; everything is set up for you.
Now from the internship that I am doing, we are actually implementing most of our workflows for our smart crutch that leverages ESP32 devices, which are Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi enabled, so it collects the telemetric data about the patients, and the whole system, the backend of IoT aaS is on the Supabase. It has been invaluable in terms of how we get our telemetric data and monitor how our clients are recovering, finding ways to improve on the products they have actually acquired from us.
What is most valuable?
IoT aaS offers device management platform and cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, and security as the best features. These are the most important features because this is where most people face challenges in trying to configure the device and planning the best solution for the problems the users face; IoT aaS is a platform that actually helps companies, it helps farmers, it helps anyone, even those who are not technically gifted or savvy, to actually use these devices because the whole infrastructure is abstracted. Our focus now is to improve on things that matter to us to enhance our productivity, increase profitability, among others.
IoT aaS device management platform helps us to fit our requirements for our product on that platform. It actually has suggestions on what is required to achieve our objectives, and the system monitors the devices. It has already set up pipelines for data, built-in security because security is the most fundamental aspect of these IoT devices, and you can see how the organization of workflows is perfectly arranged so that whatever use case you try to incorporate or integrate into your business, it is scalable and designed with security in mind. Sometimes we are also grateful because some of our workflows are offline first, so using IoT aaS offline first, the whole thing, the platform for cloud kicks in whenever connectivity has been restored, and we do not worry about how to wire the connectivity, the security aspects, everything is just in place.
What needs improvement?
IoT aaS is supposed to have smarter devices, especially when remotely operated; in agricultural setups, network challenges arise. Enhancing offline-first capabilities is important, so that telemetric data can be processed on the edge before transmission to the backend for analysis. Edge-first and offline-first should run parallel to cater to areas with intermittent connectivity.
I assigned a rating of eight because there is still some work needed for weather elements protection of components, offline-first architecture, and ease of use in high thermal zones so that it can function in plastic furnaces and high energy zones without interruptions in transmitting telemetric data to the cloud.
I think there is still need for work on AI governance, especially as AI powers our homes and is incorporated into livelihoods with many IoT devices interconnecting; there is a lot of personally identifiable information involved that needs protection. Designers and developers must ensure compliance with data privacy laws in jurisdictions where they operate.
For how long have I used the solution?
I can say it is now about the third year using IoT aaS, and it has been an invaluable experience in actually implementing IoT aaS in our workflows.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
When we implemented IoT aaS in our poultry farm management system application, we experienced a significant spike in the number of users trying to use our application. We also checked our reviews where people found it very helpful, especially the use cases of our global application. People in the tropics, who suffer from erratic weather patterns affecting poultry, have a platform which forewarns them; it has intelligence embedded to give notifications, reducing their losses. We have seen a dramatic upsurge in users and monitored how they are using the weather app, which has a positive impact.
From December last year up to mid this year, we have experienced a jump of around 40% in our user base; the pace has accelerated. We did not have that percentage of upsurge before, and we also see from our reviews that people send us messages on how to navigate and use the system properly.
How are customer service and support?
We mainly rely on AI chatbots within the platform for help, which provides assistance quickly without having to wait for anyone.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution; we migrated from Supabase because some aspects we needed were not covered there. Moving to AWS has facilitated our workflows effectively.
Before implementing IoT aaS, we hard coded many workflows in our mobile applications; we initially used phone sensors but have migrated to using IoT aaS due to the benefits they bring.
What was our ROI?
We have actually seen about a 60% reduction in outsourcing costs for experts and consultants in our product lineup and service provision; that is a significant reduction in costs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of pricing, I believe it is currently affordable, not pricey. These IoT devices, which form part of the ecosystem, need more power; while Bluetooth Low Energy and some Wi-Fi enabled modules consume less power, we need more battery power as well as integration with solar for real-time charging. We should incorporate 3D printed casings to protect devices from different weather elements and high thermal zones to prevent component damage.
In terms of pricing, setup cost, and licensing, we did not encounter significant costs compared to alternatives or traditional IoT implementations; we do not worry about hosting aspects or provisioning resources ourselves. Previously, systems required separate authentication providers for identity access management, leading to higher costs. However, with IoT aaS, it is a bundled service that caters for almost everything, managing the hardware on the cloud with proper dashboards for data analysis.
What other advice do I have?
Scaling up production was very easy for us; as mentioned, we experienced a number of people using our platform.
My advice is that IoT aaS is the future as most computing is now in the cloud; implementing IoT devices is invaluable for energy sustainability. Systems offer good connectivity and built-in data pipelines and security stacks, allowing for flexibility in scalability. Pricing is elastic, catering to fluctuating user demands without necessitating significant investments in infrastructure. I assigned an overall review rating of eight to this solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Remote monitoring has transformed structural and soil health data into rapid, visual insights
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for IoT aaS includes structural health monitoring and plant monitoring, specifically soil health monitoring. In addition to my main use case for IoT aaS, I would add that a similar case has also existed for monitoring of cracks and leaks in ferromagnetic pipelines used in process industries.
What is most valuable?
In my experience, the best features IoT aaS offers are that monitoring can be done at any time from any place. IoT aaS's flexibility has helped my team by allowing monitoring at any time, from any place, which is the best feature I have noticed.
I would add that data visualization is also very important when using IoT aaS, as we receive very segregated data on IoT-based platforms we have used such as ThingSpeak or Blynk. We can control the sense input and means from our dashboard as well as control the devices that are operating if they have some actuation mechanism.
Since implementing IoT aaS, it has positively impacted my organization by enabling us to develop two different node cases for two different scenarios, and we have even received patents for those, both in India and abroad. IoT aaS has contributed to obtaining those patents by speeding up the development of the solution I have developed. If we did not have this, it would take a very long duration of time to take data. For example, in the case of a pipeline measurement, a person used to go over a 60-meter tall pipeline to take the data, which then came back for analysis on the system. Now, this complete mechanism of around one week has been minimized to minutes, as we get direct data from the node to the cloud-based server without any delay, which can simultaneously be visualized in a very specific manner.
What needs improvement?
IoT aaS can be improved further. My domain is related to drones, and we can use this for structural health monitoring of drones or even bigger UAVs, where IoT aaS has been used in a significant manner.
All these domains, such as connectivity, device compatibility, or software features, need enhancement. If we look at soil health monitoring, the current situation in India shows that many villages are not completely Wi-Fi enabled, which becomes a challenge for farmers to deploy this in a commercial manner. IoT aaS-based nodes face difficulty in data transmission when there is no internet, making it hard to gather data after edge computing, leading to practical challenges in remote areas or villages in India.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IoT aaS since 2022.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, IoT aaS is stable, as I have had a much better experience with it compared to the wireless technology-based communication mechanisms I used earlier for gathering data from the source node to the sink.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
IoT aaS is scalable and can easily handle more devices or bigger projects.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before choosing IoT aaS, I evaluated other options and found that I had tried wireless technologies such as RF-based solutions for my use.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment. For my use cases, a sensor node or robot needed a lot of maintenance previously, but switching to an IoT-based sensor node and getting data directly on my system has reduced the time and effort, as well as the manpower involved. I have also saved on the machinery and machining costs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Initially, I found the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IoT aaS to be somewhat higher, as I have financed some of it from my own pocket and felt it was costlier at my end.
What other advice do I have?
Earlier sensor nodes were stationary and faced the biggest challenge in data transfer and visualization on the same platform. However, IoT aaS has been a significant advancement for technologists, as it allows fetching data from sensor nodes at any time, from anywhere, enabling simultaneous data visualization and segregation, which enhances decision-making capability, especially in cases such as emergency services where response time is critical.
I haven't given a perfect score because there are some challenges, particularly regarding device compatibility, connectivity, and software features, where improvements are needed. These domains still have room for growth at the top, which is why I have chosen a rating of eight out of ten.
IoT aaS's accuracy and reliability of AI capabilities have been consistent for me, as we have conducted numerous experiments in both of our cases, and the output has shown continuous changes in relation to the environment of the sensor node or edge computing device.
My advice for others looking into using IoT aaS is that this is a wonderful platform that reduces your time, effort, and machining costs while also positively impacting pricing. I rate IoT aaS eight out of ten.