How Researchers at the OCRC - Winchester and uoGuelph Consolidated Field Research Data and Eliminated Power Failures

Researchers: Dr. Joshua Nasielski (University of Guelph, Northern and Eastern Ontario Agronomy Research Group) & Ian DeSchiffart (University of Guelph, OCRC - Winchester)

Industry: Agricultural Research / Agronomy

Application: Seed trial monitoring

Overview: Reliable and Sensor Compatible

Researchers at OCRC - Winchester site faced high equipment costs and reliability issues with traditional data loggers, specifically regarding battery corrosion and the inability to centralize diverse sensor data. By deploying Apidae Systems’ pilot data logger, the team successfully consolidated air, microclimate, and soil measurements into a single unit, maintained 100% battery uptime via solar power, and achieved data accuracy consistent with established weather stations.

The Challenge: Fragmented Data and Hardware Fatigue

For the research team at OCRC - Winchester, the goal was complex but critical: relating specific soil seedbed conditions to the germination and emergence rates of seeds applied via drone.

To capture the necessary environmental data, the team relied on industry-standard loggers. While these devices provided good data, they presented significant operational friction:

High Costs & Limited Ports: The team had to deploy a "fleet" of expensive loggers just to monitor one site because existing units couldn't support a wide mix of sensors (e.g., combining cameras, air temperature, and soil moisture).
Hardware Vulnerability: Previous units suffered from battery corrosion due to moisture ingress, leading to dead units and data gaps.
Fragmented Workflow: Managing multiple loggers meant managing multiple data streams and physical installations, increasing the labor required for field setup.

"If we want soil moisture and temperature, [competitor loggers] are great... but to get anything more, like attaching a camera or having air temperature and humidity on the same logger? Forget about that."

— Dr. Joshua Nasielski, Researcher

The Solution: Sensor Agnostic And Integrated Logger

Apidae Systems provided a pilot data logger designed to act as a central hub for the research site. Unlike proprietary systems that lock users into specific sensors, the Apidae solution focused on flexibility and durability.

Key Features Deployed:

High-Capacity Sensor Ports: The ability to run air temperature, humidity, soil temperature, and soil moisture sensors from a single logger.
Solar-Assisted Power: Integrated solar charging to maintain battery levels indefinitely during the field season.
Universal Compatibility: The sensor agnostic design allowed the team to potentially reuse older, functional sensors that had outlived their original proprietary loggers.

"The biggest change is that we were able to do everything on one data logger. I was impressed with that—you could have quite a few sensors collecting data." — Ian DeSchiffart, Research Technician

The Results: Worry Free Data, Made Simple

The pilot deployment at the Winchester site demonstrated that high-fidelity research data doesn't require complex, multi-unit setups.

Verified Data Accuracy: The team validated the Apidae logger's air temperature and humidity readings against a nearby weather station, finding strong agreement between the datasets.
Zero Power Failures: While previous units struggled with battery drain and corrosion, the Apidae logger's battery never dropped below full thanks to active solar charging.
Simplified Infrastructure: The team successfully consolidated measurements that previously required multiple devices onto a single unit, streamlining the physical deployment and data retrieval process.

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