Proof of Concept / Prototype

At the moment I am preparing to build a prototype for the sensor and receiver stations.

Although later builds may change based on power consumption, etc., to start with the system will be built with the following (mostly because I have them on hand and they are small)

The first prototype will have minimal sensors, etc., so we can experiment with wireless range and battery life

Ground Sensor

• Digispark
• ESP8266 (later, may look at using just this using the gcc kit. But I want to get a working overall system first)
• Power control circuitry, to turn on/off the ESP8266 when not needed to conserve power
• 1.5V to 5V converter
• Small solar cell scavenged from a garden light
• Charging circuitry
• An LDR, used for scheduling attempts to send data to Repeater
• DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensor
• Various scavenged plastic / metal structure (look into 3D printing / fabrication of better design later)

Repeater Station

• Arduino (Micro/etc)
• ESP8266
• DHT-11 (humidity & temperature)
• Larger solar cell, battery & charging circuitry
• A serial connection to a wireless router to connect to my home network, to simulate the long shot back to the farm

Home Base

• A PC running Linux with a database to log everything