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Sensor checklist matrix — Demory farm

Purpose: First-class planning matrix for long-range field sensing on SITE_FARM (Demory) (~120 ac , off-grid-first ) . Rows are classes — not committed SKUs or map coordinates (validate in pilot ) .**

Canonical architecture: Farm sensor architecture — Demory farm site.

Comparison: LoRaWAN vs Wi‑Fi HaLow vs Meshtastic — Demory farm sensor layer.

Sources (vendors / protocol): Demory farm sensor layer — official and operator-grade source cluster.

Legend

Column Meaning
Msg pattern Typical uplink cadence / class (sparse = min–hourly)
Range role How the radio behaves across ~120 ac (star / mesh / IP segment )**
GW dep Gateway / NS / AP dependency (H = high )**
Offline Usable local truth without WAN (Y / partial / N )**
Integ Typical integration (MQTT → broker → HA / farmOS / TSDB )**
Env Enclosure / weather hardening assumption
Maint Ops burden (L / M / H )**
Pilot P = good pilot candidate ; N = defer
Phase 0 = instrument / learn ; 1 = pilot ; 2 = scale

Matrix

Use case Device / class Protocol Msg pattern Power Range role GW dep Offline Integ Env Maint Pilot Phase Notes / open questions
Soil moisture / temp / salinity LoRaWAN soil probe (vendor ecosystem) LoRaWAN Sparse (15m–1h) Solar + batt Star to GW H Y MQTT via NS IP6x vendor M P 0–1 Verify depth / soil type ; Decentlab / Dragino-class captures in source cluster
Soil EC LoRaWAN EC-capable probe LoRaWAN Sparse Solar + batt Star to GW H Y MQTT IP65+ M P 1 Calibration drift ; temperature compensation
Weather station LoRaWAN met pack LoRaWAN 10m–1h Solar + batt Star / taller mast H Y MQTT Mast + surge M P 0–1 Wind / icing on ridge — unvalidated here
Rainfall Tipping bucket → LoRaWAN encoder LoRaWAN Event + heartbeat Batt Star to GW H Y MQTT Funnel clog risk L–M P 0 Manual as SoR for total season ?
Tank / pond level Ultrasonic / pressure → LoRaWAN LoRaWAN 15m–1h Solar + batt Star to GW H Partial MQTT Condensation M P 1 Local sight / float for welfare truth per dependency map
Gate / fence line Open-closed sensor, LoRaWAN LoRaWAN Event Batt Star to GW H Y MQTT Outdoor L P 1 Not sole proof of stock containment
Pump / irrigation state VFD / pressure / flow → gateway LoRaWAN or wired 1–5m Wired or solar Star M Y MQTT / Modbus bridge Wet location M–H P 1–2 Safety interlocks local — not WAN .
Site power / solar telemetry Inverter / BMS → IP or LoRaWAN bridge Mixed 1–5m N/A Barn concentrator M Y MQTT Indoor / combiner M P 1 Align with Victron / solar captures in RF index
Microclimate (temp/RH) LoRaWAN sensor LoRaWAN 15–60m Batt Star H Y MQTT Radiation shield L P 0 Placement vs grazing damage
Perimeter / presence (animal) Only if justified LoRaWAN / camera on HaLow Event / stream Solar / PoE Star or IP segment H Partial MQTT / RTSP Harsh H N 2 High false positive risk ; defer without use case
Infra health (enclosure temp, water in box) LoRaWAN or Meshtastic LoRa / mesh 15–60m Batt Mesh or star M Y MQTT IP65 L P 0 Gateway box condensation
Meshtastic environmental Meshtastic + sensor module Mesh 5–30m Solar + batt Multi-hop M Y MQTT bridge Field M P 0–1 Firmware churn ; map health
HaLow IP sensor / bridge 802.11ah CPE HaLow App-dependent PoE / solar Point-to-point / segment M–H Y MQTT / IP Outdoor CPE H N 1–2 Use when IP throughput wins over LoRa
Starlink (WAN only) Starlink CPE — N/A AC / site power N/A — N/A — Outdoor M N — Not a sensor radio — egress only .

How to use

  1. Pick one RF family per pilot until stop rules pass (Mesh strategy) .
  2. Pair each row with SoR rules (Telemetry SoR) .
  3. Reconcile with degraded modes (Sensor degraded modes — Demory) .