Wireless: interactions with agriculture and environment in developing and emerging regions

Wireless: interactions with agriculture & environment in developing and emerging regions Simone Sala Researcher at Columbia University CICR, MIT-IBM NSRC, University of Milan DISAA Practitioner in between the above March 21, 2013 International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) – Trieste, Italy School on Applications of Open Spectrum and White Spaces Technologies

Index 1. Why should we care about Agriculture and Environment as Wireless people? 2. How can we tackle the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus?

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? Driving forces & Technology right in the middle MarketDemocracy Sustainability Local Global Short-termLong-term Technology

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? Driving forces & Technology right in the middle MarketDemocracy Sustainability Local Global Short-termLong-term Technology

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? Driving forces & Technology right in the middle MarketDemocracy Sustainability Local Global Short-termLong-term Technology Everyone --------

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? Driving forces & Technology right in the middle MarketDemocracy Sustainability Local Global Short-termLong-term Technology

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? (1) Telecoms – Energy nexus

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? (1) Telecoms – Energy nexus • Higher mobile telecom costs in developing & emerging regions…  Partly due to > costs of power supply to support continuity of service

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? (2) Energy – Climate nexus • Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions primary cause of global warming • Most of emissions comes from burning fossil fuels – Agriculture as a top contributor too

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? (3) Climate – Telecoms nexus • Precipitation (especially heavy rainfall) affect satelite telecommunications – Rain fade signal absorption by air moisture and by wetness on antenna surfaces • Extreme events affect mobile telecommunications infrastructures

Why should we care about Agriculture/Environment as ICT people?? (4) The whole WEF + climate nexus Water Climate EnergyFood • Increasing water, food & energy demand: +30/50% between 2010-2013 (World Economic Forum, 2011)

How can we tackle the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus? TVWS & Energy/Climate TVWS makes a difference in terms of: • Power consumption: low input & output power – Works at low frequencies compared to other wireless networks – Emerging TVWS protocols tend to minimize protocol overhead (hence > energy efficiency!) • Weather susceptibility – TVWS is not affected by moisture in the air and by wetness on antenna surfaces

How can we tackle the WEF nexus? Finding Wireless’ place Record data and information Transform data and information into knowledge Broadcast & Communicate Information and Knowledge Observation Analysis & Strategic Planning Implementation & Management Capacity Building & Networking Wireless can help

How can we tackle the WEF nexus? Wireless & climate change Wireless can be a catalyzer for: • Awareness raising on global/local climate issues – Dissemination of climate change awareness messages via low/high tech • Monitoring of climate parameters and natural resources – Smartphone, sensors, remote sensing integration as a two-way channel for monitoring • Climate change Mitigation – Track impact of carbon sequestration initiatives • Adaptation to climate change – Dissemination of short-term information, knowledge sharing

How can we tackle the WEF nexus? Wireless & improved water distribution systems • IXEM Lab’s Water Mole – Goal: recognize pipe damages or fluid leakages – Strategy: A wireless sensor measures liquid pressure over time/frequency through a distribution network http://www.ixem.polito.it/

How can we tackle the WEF nexus? Wireless & improved agri-food systems • Many applications! Greenhouse control Animal feed control Precision Farming Weather Agro-ecological Monitoring Wireless Traceability Food packaging Animal/crop identification Transportation

How can we tackle the WEF nexus? Wireless & improved agri-food systems • Pest monitoring & traceability system in Jamaica (Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, CARDI) • Problem: fall of hot pepper exports to US because of pests (20M$/year, 50'000 workers) • Solution: GPS-powered map of producers, provision of inspectors w/ portable devices to monitor production and track pest outbreaks http://goo.gl/t2L5OF

Thank you! Simone Sala • Web: www.simonesala.it • Twitter: @hereissimone Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, revisited