Leveraging Low-Power Wide Area Networks for Precision Farming: Limabora—A Smart Farming Case Using LoRa Modules, Gateway, TTN and Firebase in Kenya

Abstract

Over the last couple of years, the Internet of things (IoT) technology has dominated the headlines globally. A number of forums, conferences and seminars have been organised locally to inform and educate people, specifically the C-suite, about IoT and the opportunities it brings concerning digital transformation for better business. In this regard, @iLabAfrica, an ICT and Innovation Research Centre based in Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya, set up a lab in 2016 to foster industry-led research and innovation in the area of IoT. The lab has implemented a number of IoT projects that address various sectors including agriculture. A noteworthy project is the Limabora—a remote farm monitoring system project, an ongoing collaborative effort between @iLabAfrica, IBM Kenya, Oregon State University and Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO), which leverages on IoT technology and data analytics to facilitate precision farming. This is meant to address the fear of food insecurity that has been raised by the interchanging flood and drought plagues that have subsequently affected the remote regions in Kenya. ‘Lima’ and ‘Bora’ are both Swahili words that mean ‘to farm’ and ‘well/good/better’ in English, respectively. The real value of IoT lies in the data and the insights that can be derived from it through various analytics algorithms. The big data revolution has provided novel ways that large amounts of data can be analysed to derive meaningful insights in various fields, including agriculture. This paper provides a detailed account of smart farming—a remote farm monitoring system project, which has proven reproducible outcomes towards ensuring food security and the realisation of development goals in Africa.