BYON: Bring Your Own Networks for Digital Agriculture Applications

TL;DR

BYON introduces a flexible, localized connectivity model for digital agriculture that leverages emerging wireless solutions to overcome rural broadband limitations, improving farm data access during critical seasonal periods.

Contribution

This paper presents BYON, a novel, movable connectivity approach using CBRS and satellite networks tailored for seasonal agricultural needs, enhancing rural farm connectivity.

Findings

BYON effectively creates spatio-temporal connectivity bubbles on farms.

The gateway design optimizes coverage based on crop presence.

Field evaluation shows improved connectivity during key farming periods.

Abstract

Digital agriculture technologies rely on sensors, drones, robots, and autonomous farm equipment to improve farm yields and incorporate sustainability practices. However, the adoption of such technologies is severely limited by the lack of broadband connectivity in rural areas. We argue that farming applications do not require permanent always-on connectivity. Instead, farming activity and digital agriculture applications follow seasonal rhythms of agriculture. Therefore, the need for connectivity is highly localized in time and space. We introduce BYON, a new connectivity model for high bandwidth agricultural applications that relies on emerging connectivity solutions like citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and satellite networks. BYON creates an agile connectivity solution that can be moved along a farm to create spatio-temporal connectivity bubbles. BYON incorporates a new gateway design that reacts to the presence of crops and optimizes coverage in agricultural settings. We evaluate BYON in a production farm and demonstrate its benefits.