Unmanned smart farm now a reality at Xinbang cooperative
A drone works on the smart farm of Tushibao cooperative under the control of a central platform.
Fifth-generation mobile networks are making unmanned smart farm a reality at Tushibao Cooperative in Xinbang Town of Songjiang District.
Several drones and unmanned machines tend to an empty rice paddy in an orderly manner at the cooperative.
The secret of this farm lies in a joint force of multiple technologies, including high-efficiency cloud platform, agricultural data surveying and modeling, and farm facility digitalization, powered by Shanghai Mobile and BeiDou navigation satellite system.
"Rural areas in the south of the Huangpu River in Songjiang are facing an increasingly aging population. In addition, they are in urgent need of improving its fine management farming skills. Shanghai Mobile therefore joined hands with the Songjiang Agriculture Commission and Tushibao Cooperative to create a pilot 5G smart farm," said Zhu Chunhui, deputy manager of Shanghai Mobile's Songjiang branch.
A high-quality 5G agricultural exclusive network was built at Tushibao Cooperative. Relying on BeiDou 5G high-precision positioning system, space data about the farm was collected to help create a digital model for drones and unmanned machines to rely on.
"Since the launch of the project, the efficiency of the cooperative has improved significantly. Power cost of fertilizer spreading has been saved by 20 percent. The labor shortage has also been greatly solved," said He Yangyang, chief of Tushibao Cooperative.
The smart farm transformation project was started four years ago, when He launched his entrepreneurship in the suburban district. While starting to use drones to protect plants, he actively sought cooperation with Shanghai Mobile.
"In the next step, Shanghai Mobile will keep on cultivating its 'digital central platform' to manage farmers, farmlands and agricultural machines," said Zhu with Shanghai Mobile's Songjiang branch.
