An IOTA-Powered Smart Water Meter For Irrigation Is Being Tested in Germany
Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen (LLH) is developing and testing a new water meter testing system in the Federal State of Hessen, Germany. Project IOTAqua uses the Tangle to measure the exact amount of water dispensed during an irrigation cycle.
The IOTAqua
In an update authored by Ralph Scheyer–a consulting Horticulturist, on Nov 16, 2020, IOTAqua is part of the state’s concerted effort to conserve water and energy to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The initiative, funded by the Integrated Climate Protection Plan Hesse 2025’ (IKSP), integrates Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in irrigation. The result is cost savings, efficiency, and smart water metering in agriculture. over half of Germany’s landmass is used in agriculture; earning the country billions of Euros every year.
Whenever water consumption is documented, it makes it easier to analyze “the different needs and different cultures” allowing designers to come up with fitting irrigation solutions.
Security and Reliability of the IOTA Network
The MIOTA token is for billing purposes and to track general efficiency. The primary layer will safeguard data, keeping it secure without compromising the privacy of subscribing farmers and creating a decentralized interface.
A big part of this network will be the integration of Lorenz’s “1000 Series” control valves and their LoRa radio module in the initial infrastructure.
LoRa is a standard and a wireless networking protocol developed by Semtech. The module’s housing is designed and constructed by Lorenz. IOTAqua’s LoRa sensors will be installed in three strategic locations in Hessen.
Commenting on their integration of IOTA, Ralph said:
“The biggest challenge is to guarantee the legal security of the data while leaving the data sovereignty with the farmer. Since the data from the water meter is also used by the irrigation association for billing purposes or by the authorities to document the resources used, it must not be possible to change them. I think with the DLT data protocol IOTA we have found an interesting option to offer a decentralized data interface that can meet these criteria. ”
Early this month, the IOTA Foundation was chosen by a Japanese tech firm to spearhead the development of an advanced data storage project as per a BTCManager report.
