Over the past decade farming technology has taken a giant leap forward. Precision agriculture has become the industry standard, and manufacturers are constantly pushing to help farmers improve profit margins with new innovations. When it was released in 2010, our Recon Wireless Blockage and Flow Monitor raised the bar for precision seeding systems. Adam Reich, Intelligent Ag’s Technical Manager for mechanical engineering, says his team took a new approach to precision seeding.
“When we came onto the blockage monitoring scene, they had been out there for a few decades,” Adam said. “Everything was heavily patented around electronic eyes for blockage monitor technology, so we wanted to try something that hadn’t been used before. During a brainstorming session somebody had the idea to grab a stethoscope and see if we could transmit some sound through it. We hooked it up to a microphone and found that we got interesting data. As you increase your flow rate you can see it go up. We thought ‘Wow, there might really be something here.’”
The idea of using acoustic technology was not only unique in the marketplace, but it also helped alleviate issues common with competitive blockage monitors that use electronic optical sensors. “A big thing we were trying to fix was that other blockage monitors had wires all over the place. Every single sensor had wires going to it. It was a common source of issues where wires would break, or rats would chew through them. Things would corrode, or they’d get a little unhooked. So we set out to do something that was more or less wireless,” Adam said. “The big advantage is we don’t have many wires. We only have power and ground coming to it. It also allows the system to be really durable and less susceptible to interference from dirt, which can affect the accuracy of optical sensors.”
Adam says the simplicity and reliability of the system has been a big reason for its success. “One thing we always say is ‘Farmers just want to farm,’” he said. “We’re proud that we’ve developed a product that farmers can trust. They know they don’t have to worry about it working when they need it to.”
View the video below to hear what growers have to say about the difference between using wired or wireless blockage monitors for air seeders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJmhout1jwA&feature=youtu.be
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