Progress 09/01/20 to 04/30/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The total addressable market in the United States and Canada for this research includes 2 million horse owners, 2.1 million farm and ranch owners, 84,000 sheep owners, 3,000 goat owners, 42 million garden owners, and 68,000 Canadian cattle owners making the total addressable market 46,255,000 individual owners. There are over 2 million farms and ranches in the U.S. with an average farm size of 441 acres. Of these, 34% are cattle and dairy operations. (USDA 2017) Our discovery and research show that 90% of livestock managers check their electric fences weekly, if not daily. While our primary focus isthe U.S., we believe the Electric Fence Alarm System (EFAS) will provide similar benefits for international livestock ranchers, orchard managers, and horse owners. The market for EFAS extends far beyond the United States, which represents only 16% of worldelectric fence usage. Global distribution potential is significant. The beef industry is growing as our population grows. In 1965 the world produced 84 million tons of meat compared to 330 million tons in 2017. Worldwide, 570 million family farms produce 80% of our food. (FAOSTAT 2017) We plan to reach the U.S. livestock market through a network of over 20,000 identified hardware and farm/ranch retailers. To facilitate the market entry we have partnered with Farm Innovators Inc. to distribute our products to the farm and ranch store space. Farm Innovators Inc. operates a 20 person sales team and sells in 85% of all U.S. farm and ranch retailers. We are currently working South African Electric Fence Installers Association to export the new technology to South Africa. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our Insulights team took this opportunity to expand our knowledge and understanding of the goals of the Electric Fence Alarm System (EFAS). We fully immersed ourselves so we could understand all the components of our technology. In addition toworking side by side with our researchers we continued our customer discovery during thePhase I research so we could betterunderstand the needs of the small and mid-sized farmers. We are confident that our professional developmenthas expanded to include the not only the technology of our product but also the terminology and day to day businessof the engineering field of study. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have not shared our research with our target market or communities that will benefit from our Phase I accomplishments. We do not have a finished product available and therefore will develop proposed timelines for production, manufacturing and marketing prior to introduction. Through our customer discovery we have established a great interest in this technology but we do not want to advance into commercialization until we are ready. We have a version 1 Insulightin the market now which has show great success. We don't want to disrupt the sales of this version of the product by enticing customers to wait for the new Electric Fence Alarm System technology following our proposed Phase II research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the SBIR phase I project, Syracuse Universityworked closely with Insulights.com andhave achieved the well-defined tasks and work plans. The proposed project primary goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of a commercial prototype of an Electric Fence Alarm System (EFAS) for detecting fence voltage and status. The Phase I project goal has two essential components: 1) modify and improve the Flashing System (FS) for fence voltage monitoring, and 2) develop a Mobile-Based User Notification System (UNS). Our Phase I project accomplishments and results have proved the feasibility to develop such prototypes by addressing and identifying critical issues, which has formed the foundation and showed potential for a successful commercialization plan for phase II. During the Phase I research, we have successfully achieved the following technical objectives: 1. Generated a threshold point at 3000 Voltage. The flashing systemredesign has been completed by adding a resistance to control the LED flashing process, in which the device will be flashing as long as the fence's voltage is equal or higher than the threshold voltage at 3000 V. This threshold point is an essential success that increases the stability and the reliability of EFAS. Moreover, this threshold voltage works as the primary trigger to the second component that is a Mobile-Based User Notification System (UNS). Such successful results in generating and testing the flashing system's threshold voltage will support the robustness and stability in the flashing LED on/off status in both lab environment and actual fields where the electric fence is installed. 2. Mobile-Based User Notification System (UNS).In the Phase I project, we have also developed the UNS prototype, which consists of two parts: 1) a hardware for short message service (SMS) communication, and 2) a Mobile-Based App for monitoring the status of the electronic fence. 2.1 SMS Communication System The developed notification system relies on SMS, where the notification system will send an SMS to the end-user (e.g., farmers, ranchers). The following three GSM/GPRS shields (Figure 3) were used and tested to perform the SMS-based between the EFAS and the end-user to achieve this task goal. 1) Adafruit FONA 3G Cellular Breakout (American version). 2) SainSmart Small GSM GPRS SIM900. 3) ARDUINO MKR GSM 1400. The target SMS communication system was developed and tested in the Phase 1 project. The results showed that the Arduino MKR GSM 1400 microcontroller is the best option for making regular and stable communication between the fence and end-users such as farmers or rangers. The Arduino MKR GSM 1400 microcontroller provides a high connectivity with both 4G and 3G networks, where the 3G network is the one that covers the highest percentage of the world's surface.In the Phase 2 project, the GSM/GPRS shields that support 5G will also be used. 2.2 Mobile-Based App. This objective was to develop a mobile-based app to help farmers and ranchers to monitor the fence in real-time anytime and anywhere. The beta version of the developed App shows significant performance for the primary services as follows: a) Register a new electric fence alarm system. b) Set up the phones that the system will communicate with them using the notification system. c) Check the fence status in real-time. Overall, the accomplishments from the Phase I project have demonstrated the feasibility anddelivered an outstanding expectation for the commercialization of the proposed project's success.
Publications
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