Nano Ganesh is an irrigation automation system that allows farmers to use mobile phones to remotely control irrigation pumps. It is a hardware device that attaches to a starter/water pump set.
History
editThe development in India of various wireless remote controllers began in 1996. Santosh Ostwal, an electrical engineer founded Ossian Agro Automation in Pune.[1] The application initially supported basic mobile phones and later built-in GSM modules named Nano Ganesh GSM.[2] Approximately 60,000 farmers in India have been using Nano Ganesh since 2008.[3][4] In mid-2009, it was tested in Anand district in Gujarat in partnership with Tata Teleservices.[5][6] Later, it was enhanced to operate on any basic mobile phone. In 2014, Ossian further upgraded the technology as Nano Ganesh M2M to monitor the water level of overhead water tanks and remotely control the water pump as per the lower and overflow levels of water in the tanks.[7]
Usage
editIn some parts of India, farmers have to walk several kilometers to turn on the irrigation pumps that water their fields. With the electrical supply often erratic, they sometimes have no electricity when they reach the pump. Nano Ganesh allows them to remotely check the availability of electricity, and to remotely turn the pump on and off.[5] It helps the farmers to easily access the water pumps avoiding travel over difficult terrain, bad weather, and hazards.[8] It also means growers don't have to wake up in the middle of the night, which is often the time electricity is available, to go to their fields.[9]
Specifications
editThe application combines a modem with a basic mobile connection and a feature phone that attaches to the starter on the irrigation pump (Latest models do not eliminate the feature phone). Using the mobile phone, the farmer can switch on or off the water pump by text message or dialing assigned code numbers for on and off. It provides acknowledges the status of the power or pump by particular tone signals and texts.[2]
Another version is M2M based in which preset water levels in the overhead tanks are sensed by magnetic float sensors whose signals are passed to the GSM transmitter that sends wireless information on water levels to the mobile phone. This allows the water operator to avoid climbing up the overhead tanks to check water levels.[10] Another Nano Ganesh modem can alert the owner about an attempt to steal the modem, cable, or the pump.[11]
Recognition
edit- Grand Prize winner in Nokia's Calling All Innovators contest in emerging market category.[12][13]
- Nominated for the Global Mobile Awards announced by GSMA, London for the best mobile application in the world in Social-Economic category.[2]
- Winner of DST Lockheed-Martin IIGP 2011 program.[14]
- Laureate in the Economic Development category for 2011, by The Tech Awards at the Tech Museum at San Jose, CA, USA.[15]
- One of seven Information and Communication Tools for agriculture and rural development selected y United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO). (2015)[16]
- Demonstrated in the Innovation City in M4D section of Mobile World Congress organized by GSMA at Barcelona, Spain (2017).[17]
- One of fourteen digital initiatives recognized for empowering the low income population by UNESCO-Pearson.[18][19]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Mitra, Moinak; Mahanta, Vinod (27 March 2009). "Indian entrepreneurs winning global awards for breakthrough innovations". The Economic Times. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ a b c "Welcome To Our Website …". NanoGanesh.com. Ossian Group. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ "Nano Ganesh: How mobile phone tech helped 400,000 Maharashtra farmers water plants remotely". The Financial Express. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Khan, Ashwin (14 January 2018). "A new avatar". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ a b Ribeiro, John (23 July 2009). "Indian farmers use mobile phones to control irrigation". IDG News Service. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Pandit, Virendra (11 July 2009). "Soon farmers can control irrigation with a cell phone". Business Line. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ Pandit, Shiladitya (14 September 2015). "Nano Ganesh alerts to curb waste". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ "Nano Ganesh". Ossian Agro Automation website. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ Athavale, Dileep (7 February 2009). "A Nano to make farmers' life easier". Times of India. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ Industrial Automation (October 2015). "Mobile and wireless monitoring of water tanks in rural water supply systems" (PDF). Industrial Automation.
- ^ Agricultural machine-to-machine (Agri M2M): a platform for xpansion (Report). GSMA Intelligence. March 2015. pp. 15–16.
- ^ "Nano Ganesh named winner in Nokia's Global Calling All Innovators competition". Zee News. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ "Calling all Innovators - the winners!". Nokia website. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ http://www.indiainnovates.in/list-selected/2011/final_28thApril_winners.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "The Tech Awards, Presented by Applied Materials in Association with Santa Clara University, Will Honor 15 Laureates for Using Technology to Benefit Humanity". Applied Materials. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Ostwal, Santosh (2015). "Case Study 7: Nano Ganesh – a revolutionary ICT tool for farm irrigation". In Sylvester, Gerard (ed.). Success Stories on Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture and Rural Development (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok. pp. 79–94. ISBN 978-92-5-108774-9.
- ^ "A day in the life of rural communities: bringing M4D innovation to Mobile World Congress". Mobile for Development. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ "UNESCO and Pearson announce partnership to promote inclusive digital technology solutions for improved livelihoods". www.pearson.com. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ "Nano Ganesh: case study by UNESCO-Pearson Initiative for Literacy". unesdoc.unesco.org. Retrieved 8 October 2019.