SENSE-T

Sense-T is the next generation of sensing for viticulture and agriculture applications. 

The availability of information is central to every decision we make. This is particularly true for Primary Industries such as viticulture and agriculture where millions of dollars are lost every year to disease or poor crop management due to the lack of reliable environmental intelligence information.

Current environmental sensing information is extremely variable with some areas monitored by an individual farmer who has deployed his own suite of sensors while others rely on instinct or publicly available information such as the local weather station. The installation and management costs to install and maintain an existing suite of sensors is high and in many cases prohibitive to the average farming business. In such deployments, the data is often limited by sensor availability, deployment strategies and cost.

Sense-T is a world-first economy-wide intelligent sensor network that integrates different data sources to provide business, governments and communities with the tools to make better decisions. Initially, Sense-T is developing a Low-Cost Environmental Sensor System (LCESS) for applications in viticulture and agriculture which will enable farmers to make critical decisions about the management of their crops. The LCESS system is a wireless network allowing for easy deployment and maintenance of a high-density network of sensors.

A field trial of the LCESS was deployed in selected vineyards and dairy farms in Tasmania in late 2013 using a prototype sensor system.