The beginnings

Camnexus-IoT and Cambridge University bringing low-power IoT network to Brazil to empower agrifood producers

Taking advantage of a solar hydroponic greenhouse developed under the BRIDGE project, the new pilot will develop and install an adapted version of the solar greenhouse in a scholar community of Santa Catarina, in partnership with the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG).

BRIDGE-TESC is an international collaboration project for sustainable development involving the University of Cambridge in the UK, University of the South of Santa Catarina (UNISUL) and Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil; and Camnexus in the UK. The project is co-funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) of the University of Cambridge.

Currently, two Camnexus-IoT gateways and sensor networks have been installed in Brazil at UFSC, Florianopolis, and the second at UNISUL, Tubarao.

Second Camnexus-IoT LoRa gateway installed in Brazil.

Brazil, July 2019. As part of the collaboration between University of Cambridge and Camnexus, a second network was installed and is in operation in the city of Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina state. In partnership with Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), the gateway will provide LoRa network to the campus and city in a radius of up to 5km.

Soon after the installation, a preliminary test done at the food court at the UFSC Event Centre demonstrated good connectivity even though it was in a concrete enclosure with many people around and situated more than 1 kilometre from the FEESC building.

In addition to the Camnexus and University of Cambridge team, the installation had valuable help from the Technician of the Department of Automation and Systems (DAS) Gabriel Manoel, in addition to Beto from FEESC.

Camnexus in the news of UFSC: installation of LoRa gateway and workshop delivered to researchers, July 2019.

Installation of the second antena and Camnexus IoT LoRaWAN gateway in Santa Catarina, Brazil. July, 2019.

Installation team at UFCS, Florianopolis, Brazil, July 2019.

Camnexus- IoT network in Brazil improving farming productivity.

Camnexus-IoT Meteo + Water quality. This terminal monitors in real-time the internal climate of the greenhouse and the water quality for the hydroponic operations. Equipment installed in Brazil.

Tubarao, June 2019. Partnering Cambridge University C-EENRG, under the umbrella of the Global Challenges Research Fund, Camnexus is supporting decision making process of key productive sectors in Brazil by providing reliable and low power infrastructure for real-time monitoring. The installation was done during June 2019 in Santa Catarina, Brazil. A team of Camnexus went to Brazil to perform the installation, setup and training of the network to the new users.

Currently the hydroponic farm greenhouse at Tubarao is being monitored remotely, using a two-sensors node network. During the five weeks of operation, the pilot in Tubarao is providing real-time data of the greenhouse's internal climate, in-feed water quality and nutrients, and irrigation water level. Data processing and alerts have helped improvement of practices in the daily operation with impact in savings and productivity of the hydroponic farm.

Installation and commissioning of Camnexus-IoT Meteo + Water quality for hydroponic greenhouse.

High participation in Camnexus IoT Workshops for undergrads, PhDs, academics and industrial partners (ACATE IoT cluster) at UFSC and UNISUL

Santa Catarina, July 2019. Excellent turnover in a series of IoT workshops and training delivered by Camnexus to university members, industries and hydroponic greenhouse users. A total of four workshops and training were delivered by Camnexus and University of Cambridge team, where more than 70 people attended.

INSTALLATION TRAINING AT HYDROPONIC GREENHOUSE, UNISUL. TUBARAO, JUNE 2019.
At 200 km from the capital of Santa Catarina, Camnexus delivered its first training and meeting session in the city of Tubarao, home to UNISUL, university. There, Camnexus trained the team in charge of the solar hydroponic greenhouse, who are the key users of the first Camnexus-IoT network (10th June 2019). The participants included Prof Celso Albuquerque, responsible for the hydroponic greenhouse, Prof Juliano Cesconeto, and the students Rafael Durante (electrical engineering) and Romulo Moya (student of agronomy).

BRIDGE-TESC WORKSHOP TO PRINT PROJECT COORDINATORS, UFSC. FLORIANOPOLIS, JUNE 2019.
A second workshop was held at UFSC, Florianopolis delivered by Camnexus and UCam to introduce BRIDGE-TESC project to the coordinators of PRINT Project, where her director Prof Cristiane Derani led the presentation. More than 30 researchers and academics participated in such event. Camnexus thanks to Prof Cristiane Derani, to the coordinators of the PRINT project, to Prof Dr Alvaro Lezana, General Director of the Rectors Cabinet, to prof Lincoln Fernandes, secretary of International Affairs, and specially to Prof Dr Ubaldo Balthazar, Rector of UFSC, for their warm institutional welcome to their University.

IOT WORKSHOP TO ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS AT UFSC. FLORIANOPOLIS, JUNE - JULY, 2019.
Two IoT workshops, including a hands-on training was delivered at UFSC, Florianopolis on the 27th of June and 2nd of July. The hands-on workshop was delivered at the Department of Automation Systems (DAS) Industrial Automation Laboratory (LAI) of the CTC (Centro Tecnológico da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina). The workshop, which was supported by the coordinators and teachers of the Print Project: Industry 4.0, covered theoretical aspects of IoT, as well as having practice in the configuration and use of LoRa devices. More than 35 researchers, academics and industrial representative of the IoT cluster from the Association of Technology of Santa Catarina (ACATE) attended the workshop.
It is expected that in the future several research works will originate in the use of such equipment. As result of the workshop, important partnerships and project interests are under conversation to use the IoT network of Camnexus involving two UFSC PRINT projects, including Industry 4.0, with professors Dr Ricardo Rabelo, Dr Carlos Montez and prof Max Hering de Queiroz to support IoT developments with students and researchers of DAS at UFSC; and the second PRINT thematic area is Environmental Sustainability, including applications projects in renewable energies, the NEXUS food-water-energy, and mobility.

IOT WORKSHOP TO ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS AT UNISUL. TUBARAO, JULY, 2019.
A final IoT workshop was delivered at UNISUL, aiming at engineering students and academics of such university. The workshop was organised by prof Baltazar de Andrade Guerra, prof Celso Albuquerque and prof Francisco Duarte de Olivera, coordinator of Electrical Engineering at UNISUL.
More than 60 students and academics attended to the workshop. The workshop covered introduction to BRIDGE-TESC, the paradigm of IoT, and its impact on sustainability and the SDGs, IoT technologies, and introduction to the new Camnexus-IoT network installed at UNISUL.

CAMNEXUS-IOT BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY.

Florianopolis, June - July 2019. Camnexus met with key industrial associations and stakeholder in Brazil to support IoT and enabling technologies development and further connect industry with academia. The team of Camnexus and the University of Cambridge held several meetings with industry associations looking for strengthening the position of UK technologies in Brazil, and to support further collaboration to promote sustainable development and productivity improvement of key economics sector of Santa Catarina, Brazil. This motivation, which starts with BRIDGE-TESC, aims to improve connectivity, and decision making process using real-time data through a low-power technologies and capability building. Among the meetings that the BRIDGE-TESC team had it was included:
- meeting with the Secretary of Innovation of UFSC, SINOVA, where Camnexus discussed the opportunities in technology transfer and innovation, and the role of UFSC at the Santa Catarina entrepreneurial ecosystem.
- Industry - academia meeting with ACATE IoT Cluster representatives (Association of Technology of Santa Catarina) Mr Fabiano Wigger, Mr Hamilton Avinco, and DAS - UFSC professors Ricardo Rabelo, Carlos Montez and Richard Demo.
- Invitation to ACATE's LinkLab Open Day where Camnexus could meet with other IoT companies and corporates.
- Meeting SEBRAE - UFSC at SEBRAE Santa Catarina (Support Service to the Brazilian SMEs) with Mr Anacleto Angelo Ortigara, and general director of rector's cabinet Prof Dr Alvaro Lezana.

CAMNEXUS-IOT SELECTED AS ONE OF THE #FUTURE20 TECH FOR GOOD COMPANIES IN THE UK