Prepare for the Sunset of 3G
Half a year from now, the mobile communication in the United States will face a significant change. After nearly two decades in service, the UMTS standard, better known as 3G, phases out. Monitoring networks relying on 3G/2G communication technology will fall silent then. For owners of older systems, OTT HydroMet offers an attractive update to 4G technology.
Irrigation sensors, plant health monitoring, and weather stations are fundamental elements of modern farming. They give farmers insights into the condition of their plants and which measures they should take. Data is being transmitted via various communication technologies, depending on factors as the size of the field, the number of the installed sensors, the distance between those, and the region. While on smaller acres farmers often rely on radio technology, a bigger distance between sensors requires internet communication.
Updating a pioneering system
Around the world, OTT HydroMet's ADCON systems stand out as reliable, flexible, cost-efficient, and easy-to-use agricultural meteorology monitoring solutions. More than 20 years ago, ADCON pioneered complete monitoring solutions combining sensors, telemetry units and gateways. A typical setup comprises:
Sensors on the field: Irrigation sensors, plant health sensors, weather sensors, etc
Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU): fully integrated units including datalogger, cell modem and battery in an extremely compact and robust aluminum case
Gateway: Base Station for ADCON Wireless Sensor Networks handling up to 1000 RTU's
ADCON systems communicate through various technologies: radio, 2G/3G or 4G/LTE. Facing the sunset of the 3G technology, users have to update their systems to 4G in order to maintain data transmission from RTU to the gateway.
3G phases out in the U.S. first, Canada and Europe follow
The first country to abandon 3G will be the United States. Network operator AT&T will shut down 3G end of February 2022. T-Mobile will follow in April 2022, Verizon and Sprint will keep their 3G networks until the end of 2022. Other countries like Canada and European states will follow in the upcoming months and years, too. Find a detailed overview here.
Get ready for 4G with a 50% discount
Users of older ADCON systems can update their RTU's and gateways at special conditions now. OTT HydroMet offers an attractive discount of 50% when updating to the latest Series 6 of RTU and the A850 Telemetry Gateway.
Doing so, you can keep the pole set and all your sensors unchanged. The only thing to update, is a new RTU of the Series 6 (A760; A764; A765 4G (Series 6) and a Data SIM-Card CAT N1/NB1 – supported by your local 4G Network provider (Band 2; 3;4;5;8;12;13;20 and 28 are possible). After your A850 Telemetry Gateway got the latest Firmware update, you are ready to start.
Don't miss your opportunity to get your monitoring network ready for the future. To get your quote or ask technical questions, reach out to our experts.
Photo: Tim Matras / Unsplash
AdconagricultureRemote CommunicationTelemetry
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