Semtech’s LoRa Technology Creates Smarter Farming Networks in Australia

This extension of LoRaWAN-based network coverage adds three million hectares to NNNCo’s publicly available smart agriculture network. Semtech Corporation announced that the National Narrowband Network Co (NNNCo), an Australian carrier, is deploying a publicly available network based on the LoRaWAN™ protocol that will leverage Semtech’s LoRa® devices and technology to build Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The network is being rolled out with Goanna Ag, a major Australian agriculture company, with the goal of bringing smarter irrigation management solutions to Australian cotton growers. The network, an extension of NNNCo’s existing LoRaWAN-based network coverage, covers an area of about three million hectares, stretching across Murrumbidgee irrigation area and the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Gwydir MacIntyre, Namoi, and Macquarie valleys. NNNCo plans to expand the LoRaWAN-based network throughout 2019. The network will be used to bring low-cost Cloud-connected sensors and data analytics to growers, combining soil moisture data via installed probes, local weather data and satellite imagery to optimize irrigation scheduling.