Client
Pickberry Vineyard
Project
Accenture Remote Sensor Network
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Business Challenge
How
Accenture Helped
High Performance Delivered Executive Summary
To demonstrate the potential of Sensor Telemetry and how Remote Sensor
Network functions in a rugged, real-word environment, the Accenture Technology
Labs’ team launched a field test with Pickberry Vineyard
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While the Internet has truly revolutionized the way information is
gathered and disseminated globally, we have yet to reach the ultimate
destination on the information highway. Sensors have opened a new lane that
promises to extend the Internet’s capabilities to include all physical objects
and–potentially–all living things.
Business Challenge
The proliferation of sensors is part of a technological phenomenon that
Accenture calls Sensor Telemetry, which refers to the use of sensor
technologies and two way wireless communications to gather intelligence from
products, people and places, and transform it into value-added business
insights.
Accenture Technology Labs, Accenture’s technology research and
development organization, developed the Accenture Remote Sensor Network
prototype to demonstrate the far-reaching potential of Sensor Telemetry, and
then field-tested it with Pickberry Vineyard, a premium grape grower in
Northern California.
The Accenture Remote Sensor Network is a wireless mesh network of sensor
nodes that can be spread across any area (from a factory to a forest floor),
enabling organizations to gain unprecedented visibility and insight into
product conditions and operations.
How Accenture Helped
To
demonstrate how the Remote Sensor Network functions in a rugged, real-world
environment, the Accenture Technology Labs’ R&D team launched a field test
with Pickberry Vineyard. The test involved embedding a network of wireless
sensors across a 30 acre area to continuously sense humidity, wind, water, and
soil and air temperature.
Data gathered from the vineyard is relayed via a self-organizing wireless
network application, adapted from Millennial Net1 technology, to a base station
and transmitted back to the Labs via cellular uplink. Because the network is
self-organizing, it can be easily expanded by adding new nodes, with no
configuration work required.
Some of the challenges the Accenture team overcame during testing
included protecting the hardware from the elements and rodents, ensuring the
reliability of the communication link and, most importantly, building the right
insight applications needed to make data useful for decision-making.
Accenture developed a Web portal that provides users with dynamic
reports, alerts, and historical graphs. Users can also build customized reports
in Excel that are updated automatically through Web services. These intuitive
tools turn real-time data into actionable insight for Pickberry’s decision
makers and other concerned parties.
The Remote Sensor Network provides Pickberry with the ability to:
- Make calculated decisions—almost vine-by-vine—thanks to the
granular level of the data obtained in near real time. For example, Pickberry
can use the data to adjust watering schedules for a specific
area.
- Combine vineyard data with other data
sources. This enables Pickberry to manage operations and resources, such as
water usage, more scientifically. Live data on soil moisture and air humidity
can be correlated with weather forecast data to match estimated water demand
with well supply.
- Detect potentially devastating
events such as frost, disease and pests early on. Armed with insight provided
from sensor applications, Pickberry can take immediate action. These
capabilities lead to more effective crop management, lowering costs while
raising product quality.
The Accenture Remote Sensor Network was built using a reusable, scalable
software infrastructure that was piloted during this and other field tests and
can be easily adapted for other organizations looking to benefit from new
remote monitoring capabilities. The resulting Sensor Telemetry Accelerator or
“starter kit,” enables companies to build sensor-based applications using
sensors, mesh network nodes and off-the-shelf and proprietary software to
quickly deploy a remote monitoring application with minimal software
development investment.
High Performance
Delivered
Companies in almost any industry can use the
Sensor Telemetry Accelerator to achieve higher performance through:
- Improved safety and security.
- Heightened
product or asset interaction leading to improved utilization and
performance.
- Advanced predictive maintenance.
Utility companies could use Sensor Telemetry to help avert energy crises
by monitoring the structural integrity of high-voltage electrical towers.
Utilities could then redeploy manpower normally used for manual preventive
maintenance inspections. Oil concerns could automatically monitor pipeline
corrosion.
Government agencies could use sensors for a range of activities from
monitoring street light outages to detecting insect infestations before they
spread.
Manufacturers could use insight gained from sensors to predict mechanical
failures and potentially prevent disasters, reducing costly downtime and
eliminating the need for routine manual checks. Moreover, insight on product
usage could be used to improve quality, generate new or additional products, or
be sold to third parties.
Transport companies are already making use of sensors and wireless
networks to determine the location of freight and its surrounding environment
in real time. This is particularly critical in transporting hazardous or
sensitive materials, or in tracking commodities that fluctuate in price from
day to day.
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