KNX On Farms
KNX systems are a great addition to help automate parts of farm life & help keep a constant environment for animals and plants. Being a hard-wired system, it is a reliable foundation to build upon, every device works independently but can also communicate with every other device, making it so there is no singular point of failure. With the addition of wireless, you can expand the system over large distances allowing you to monitor and control any aspect from a central location. Below is an example of a farm with solar energy, a greenhouse for food production, Barn for animals and Hay storage, Gates to control movement of animals & Weather station all hooked upto a central controller that allows you to set timers, manually control, Monitor / Graph and set up logical functions.
KNX Allows you to combine multiple functions to work with each other and set parameters on when certain things should happen. A great use for this is in a green house, if the temperature drops below a set threshold frost protection can kick in, if the soil is too dry the irrigation can turn on up to a threshold. Depending on the weather outside if it gets too warm either cooling systems or ventilation flaps turn on. If CO2 levels are too high Ventilation can turn on. All this combined allows for fully autonomous management along with data tracking that it graphs to establish averages or to track trends. Another example of these “Logical Functions” could be more complex uses; The Weather station Detects rain & High temperature; the outdoor Irrigation system gets turned off & Ventilation in the Barn and Greenhouse open but if the Wind Speed is above 100KPH it only opens the vents to 25%.
Monitoring
In-depth Monitoring allows to see and track multiple points from either a central controller or an app on your phone via remote access. This same controller can be used for anything in your home to anything connected to the system on your property, from functions such as lighting, Airconditioning, Underfloor heating, Blinds & Music in your home to Irrigation, Access control, Cameras, Solar monitoring, Weather conditions & more on the rest of the property.
Irrigation
KNX Irrigation systems work similar to other systems but allows for much more complex control and monitoring of individual zones. As a part of the KNX Protocol every device has the ability to communicate and interact with every other KNX Device, whether that’s the irrigation system communicating with the weather station or the solar monitoring and switching certain functions dependent on production.
In Conclusion, KNX is a perfect fit weather you’re trying to manage a large-scale farm with multiple premises and complex needs, or you are setting up an urban farm and need reliable precision, there are endless solutions to help achieve whatever you’re needing in a reliable and ever expandable way, as the protocol expands and new products are made they can easily be added into any existing KNX installation.
Examples of Projects using KNX for farming and self sufficiency:
Efden in Bucharest, Romania: KNX Projects
Greenspace Darling Park in Sydney, Australia: KNX Projects
IQ Greenhouse in Gdanska, Poland: KNX Projects
Self Sufficent Experimental farm in Valladolid, Spain: KNX Projects
