The growth in world population is placing increased demands on agricultural production. Now that “intelligent” and connected equipment is becoming available on the market, answers to these needs are now within reach, while at the same time addressing environmental concerns. Real-time analysis of land and crops, the use of drones and geolocation systems, the implementation of software in agricultural equipment and greenhouse cultivation, have led to new operational methods and the development of new devices, to augment the capabilities of the wider network.
Alexandre Lagrange, industrial product manager at Souriau-Sunbank, expands: “The agricultural equipment market is currently undergoing a major transformation. Agriculture is more and more globalised, but despite its intensive development, it is learning to be more judicious (as with integrated farming) and aware of ecological concerns. It is in this transformation that smart agriculture is relevant because it allows the analysis of needs, the optimisation of crops and the improvement of yields, for example in the area of lighting for greenhouse crops (indoor cultivation) which is now a booming market”.
It has been this need to continuously increase production and productivity that has led to the development of lamps which are increasingly intelligent and sophisticated. With new technologies, such as horticultural LED bulbs that can provide variable spectra depending on the plant’s growth stage and consume less energy, agricultural lighting has seen an increase in activity, and encouraging results in terms of sustainable cultivation. Another example of resource adjustment are intelligent irrigation systems, capable of carefully calibrating the amount of water required. Intelligent sensors are distributed and precisely geolocated in the fields to detect and report soil quality. The connector requirements for these indoor or outdoor applications nevertheless have common characteristics. Souriau-Sunbank’s industrial connectors, such as the UTS and UTL ranges (designed and qualified to the UL1977 and IEC61984 standards),are ideal for these environments. These products are resistant to extreme temperature variations, from -40 degrees Celsius to +105 degrees Celsius, bad weather (IP68 and IP69K) and UV (no mechanical alteration confirmed after 5 years of exposure).
For more information on the UTS and UTL ranges, click the relevant link.
