The value of pollination in the world approaches $500 billion; however, only 15% of beehives are currently monitored.

Sateliot, the first company to operate a low-Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellite constellation with 5G standard, will deliver standard satellite connectivity for the Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to Beewaze’s beehive monitoring solutions to boost world food security, thanks to an agreement reached with S4IoT.

BeeWaze is a Chilean company born with the purpose of saving bees and strengthening global food security through online monitoring of beehives and pollination. Thanks to an alliance with S4IoT, more beekeepers and farmers can use BeeWaze’s solution.

Crisis in Food Security

The significant decrease in bee, butterfly, and other pollinator populations in recent decades directly threatens food security; around 87% of global crop production depends to a greater or lesser extent on pollination. The value of pollination in the world approaches $500 billion. However, only 15% of beehives are currently monitored.

According to studies by entities such as the FAO and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), pollination by vigorous beehives has a positive impact on crops: citrus, for example, can increase production by up to 40%, while blueberries and avocados can increase production by up to 90%.

BeeWaze, technology for productive and sustainable agriculture and beekeeping

BeeWaze technology allows beekeepers to monitor the temperature, weight, and humidity of beehives online, as well as the conditions and weather forecasts of the exact location where they are located. Likewise, during crop flowering, agricultural producers can monitor the pollination process with updated information on bee flow per minute and per day (pollination monitoring).

Thanks to this agreement, many beekeepers and rural producers with great agricultural potential but without internet access will benefit from Sateliot’s 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN); in this way, they can take advantage of online monitoring to know the status of their beehives. Farmers, for their part, can verify the activity of the beehives contracted to pollinate their crops, reducing time and costs dedicated to field visits.

More and better connection

Until now, connecting to legacy satellite operators involved high costs because it required buying additional hardware, such as antennas and signal receivers. Sateliot is the first satellite operator to leverage the 3GPP standard protocol, which is already the norm for any MNO or MVNO for their terrestrial cellular networks. This means any connected IoT device can seamlessly switch to the satellite when the cellular network is unavailable. Sateliot is easing the path by signing standard roaming agreements with the user’s current operators at a price very similar to that of regular mobile networks, and all that without the need for a second SIM card.

Jaume Sanpera, CEO of Sateliot, explains the impact of this technology on beehive monitoring:

“Our standard IoT connectivity of NTN can eliminate the burden of beehive monitoring in rural areas. We provide affordable and more reliable technology along with the commitment to help beekeepers save their bees, which are a very important part of our ecosystem and the basis of the food chain worldwide.”

Onofre Tamargo, CEO of S4IoT, highlights the benefits of the partnership: “We are happy to partner with Sateliot and provide a viable alternative for beekeepers to track beehives, thus avoiding the death of colonies by pesticides and intruders. This is further proof that technology can be good for agriculture and our food system.”