Empowering Forest Rangers with Raspberry Pi-powered Customized HMI
In forest areas, there are abundant animal and plant resources. To prevent random logging and illegal occupation of forest land, identify forest pests and natural geological disasters, and prevent forest fire, timely action is needed, and hence forest intelligent information programs are usually deployed to effectively protect forest resources.
A software system integrator specializing in data security approached us with a request for a handheld, small screen, and open-source all-in-one HMI device used by forest rangers.
Through collaboration, together we provide a customized reTerminal that met the client’s requirements. This customized reTerminal is now being deployed in the forests of our partners’ end-users’, optimizing the allocation of manpower, material resources, and achieving efficient forest management.
Seeed Hardware: reTerminal, Raspberry Pi-based ODM service
Industry: Forest Monitoring
Solution Deployment: Indonesia
Background
Our partner is a software development and system integration company that places a high emphasis on information security. They required a handheld device with a small screen to be used in conjunction with their software for forest management by their end customers.
The device needed to be portable, have a screen, be open-source for easy development, support multiple communication protocols, and meet the stringent environmental requirements of forest, such as high/low temperatures and waterproofing.
Its main function is to empower forest rangers by allowing them issue commands to cameras deployed in the forest via the LoRa module. With the reTerminal, rangers can control the cameras to take photos and receive image transmissions, which are saved on the reTerminal’s SD card or eMMC for analysis back at the data center.
The Challenge
For a long time, forest monitoring has been carried out manually, and data collection even requires manual recording, which often leads to low efficiency in terms of data collection timeliness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness. In addition, the process also requires a significant investment of time and physical effort from the personnel. Therefore, the introduction of IoT devices in forest management is necessary to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data collection and transmission.
Furthermore, forest management places high demands on the performance and functionality of handheld devices. Since forest monitoring and management are usually carried out outdoors, the devices need to have waterproofing and stable operation in high and low temperatures to ensure normal operation in adverse weather conditions. Additionally, the high outdoor light intensity requires the handheld device to have a high-brightness screen for clear display of the content in sunlight. What’s more, the handheld device needs to have low power consumption to ensure long-term use.
These challenges need to be fully considered in the customized design of the reTerminal to ensure that the device can work properly in various extreme environments encountered during forest patrol.
The Solution
To meet the needs of our customers, we provide Raspberry Pi-based customization services for reTerminal.
The reTerminal is a 5-inch screen open-source all-in-one HMI powered by the Raspberry Pi CM4. Its small size, portability, and low power consumption make it suitable for some of our customers’ requirements. Based on this standard reTerminal, we offer customized services for it, which involves removing the buttons on the front panel and adjusting the front panel material to IP65 to meet the dust and waterproof requirements of harsh forest environments. In addition, the brightness of the reTerminal’s screen has been adjusted to 500Nit to meet the high visibility requirements in forest environments.
With the customized reTerminal, along with the customer’s own developed expansion board, forest rangers can issue photo-taking commands, adjust the photo-taking frequency, and collect and store image information for subsequent analysis in the forest.
The deployment diagram is as follows:
Why reTerminal?
- 5-inch HMI, providing a sufficient viewing area, allowing forest rangers to see image details more clearly.
- Open-source, modular design and customizable, customers can develop it according to their needs
- Portable and low power consumption, making it suitable for long-term outdoor use
Why Seeed Raspberry Pi Customization Service
- Decades of ODM service for open-source hardware platforms
- Raspberry Pi approved design partner
- Shenzhen-based supply chain, fast delivery
The Results
The pilot customized reTerminal is now used by forest rangers in Southeat Asia, facilitating their forest monitoring efficiency.
In addition, through this partnership, our reTerminal has been further expanding its IoT possibilities in the portable application, and our Raspberry Pi-based ODM service capability has been further enhanced to satisfy more demands in the future.
More Info
- Learn more about reTerminal
- Discuss your Raspberry Pi-based Customization Inquiry with us
View and Download Seeed Studio Raspberry Pi Series Catalog
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