[CEATEC 2014] It is said that in developed countries, for every single carrot that one consumes, another one is thrown away – such is the level of food wastage in those parts of the world, while one in eight people go to be hungry each night – at least according to the United Nations, as what I saw on a poster at the Makuhari Messe convention center. Having said that, with the threat of global farming and the like, it might be better to start living a more sustainable lifestyle. How about indulging in a little bit of farming in your own backyard, or even on the balcony of an apartment? Not having green fingers is no longer an excuse as technology makes it easier to start planting – and making sure those plants are well taken care of. ALPS has developed a new wireless communication module for environmental sensing that comes complete with a solar panel to help further this cause.
This little sensor was placed in a closed environment (for display purposes, I would presume) and it has the ability to detect the following parameters – pressure, temperature, humidity levels, illuminance, and water depth. All of those are crucial to the different kinds of plants, and depending on the plant which you intend to grow, you can respond accordingly based on what is missing – or to cut down on what is too much, of course.
Since it is solar powered, you need not have to worry too much about it every running out of juice as it can run perpetually – unless the monsoon season arrives (for those living in areas with a monsoon), and the sky is dark and overcast all the time, of course. It does look to carry some energy efficient circuitry within, and hopefully there will be some sort of Wi-Fi connectivity thrown into the mix in the future so that you can worry about your plants remotely when you’re halfway across the world when on work or leisure.
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