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InnovatIon

electronics for you Mar ch 2010 11 1w w w . e f y M a g . c o M

Vanisha Joseph

Mobile, the new ReMote!n G, dvd y o agr aum, d vr cr fum rur id m . i frmr c um /ff frm y c ug m

Reaching your doctor, book-

ing movie tickets or paying

credit card bills, everything is

just a simple matter with your mobile

phone. A new feather in this cap is the

mobile being used as a remote control

to control pumps in rural areas. Nano

Ganesh, a mobile phone based ap-

plication developed by Ossian Agro

Automation (a company working on

rural automation since 14 years), al-

lows farmers to switch on/control their

pumpsets by pressing a few keys on

their mobile.

The farmer can monitor and check

availability of the power at the pump,

switch the pump on/off and acknowl-

edge on/off status of the water pump

from any place. One of its kinds, NanoGanesh is specially designed to be

robust to perform efciently in the

rural atmosphere where problems like

voltage uctuations, shock hazards,

open wiring and marshy terrain are

common, says Santosh Ostwal, CEO,

Ossian Agro Automation.

Nano Ganesh is made of four

stages: regulated 5V and 12V DC

power supply, DTMF decoder circuit

to the MIC inputs of the mobile head-

set. That is the innovative technology

behind Nano Ganesh, says Ostwal.

Protection from harsh rural envi-

ronment. Further, Nano Ganesh over-

comes harsh rural conditions in India.

It can perform over a wide range of

supply voltages. Nano Ganesh per-

forms perfectly with voltage tolerances

of 50 per cent, i.e., it is protected to

sustain the voltage level of 3-phase

500 volts and it can perform perfectly

even if the voltage level goes down to

3-phase 250 volts, explains Ostwal.

Nano Ganesh is also protected

against uctuations in electricity. Usu-

ally, when pumps get started, there is

an electrical back hammer effect in the

electrical system that resets the auto-

mation systems in most of the cases.

In Nano Ganesh, special relay logicsand optical isolations at proper stages

make the system free of back-bounce

effects. Special relay logics or bounce-

back-free technology is a must when

the load is heavy and inductive as all

on/off commands or status are lost as

soon as switching of the load happens.

To avoid this, we decided to drive

the relays through optical isolators,

which isolate the ground paths of the

microcontrollers and driving relays,

ensuring that the bouncing electromo-

tive force (EMF) doesnt reach the UC

circuitry. This can also be achieved by

interlocking driver relays with hold-

on techniques used in the electrical

contactor and starter system. But, this

makes the system bulky and power-

hungry. Relay logics are more sturdy

and robust, says Ostwal.

Anti-theft mechanism. Ossian Agro

also took measures to protect Nano

Ganesh. It put in place an anti-theft sys-tem in a few models. We use mobiles

and optical isolators, tone generators to

provide power supply or pump on/off

status, and output stages of relay and

logics.

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After the deployment of Nano Ganesh,

a preset code is given to the farmer to

switch on/off the pumpset. To switch

it on, the farmer has to call up the

mobile attached to the starter panel of

the pump. The mobile attached to the

starter panel conrms the availabil-

ity of power/electricity supply in the

pumpset location by a long beep follow-

ing which the farmer can dial the preset

code to switch on the pump. After dial-

ling the code, the farmer (user) has to

conrm the function by a feedback tone

and then cut the call. For switching off

the pumpset, the same process has tobe repeated, of course, with a different

preset code to switch off the pump.

To make this system more acces-

sible to the farmer fraternity, Ossian

Agro deploys basic phones. But what

is the underlying technology powering

Nano Ganesh? As a technical idea, it is

very simple to play within the labora-

tory but proving it techno-commer-

cially on the elds in the Indian rural

conditions didnt come easy.

DTMF power. All that Nano

Ganesh needs is a low-cost wire-

less connectivity with voice trans-

mission and DTMF transmission

available in most handsets. We

tap the DTMF information by a

headset jack pin and convert it

into the desired digital signals with

the help of DTMF decoders and

multiplexing units to control the

pumpset. Also, we had to feed in

low-frequency oscillations corre-sponding to the load on/off statusOn-site deployment of Nano Ganesh

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InnovatIon

112 Mar ch 2010 electronics for you w w w . e f y M a g . c o M

with auto dialing facility to run the

anti-theft system. The auto dialer of the

mobile is triggered automatically by a

relay and sensor mechanism. On sens-

ing a theft threat, an alert call is given to

a prestored number automatically. We

are trying to tie up with mobile phonecompanies to get mobile handset with

such modications, says Ostwal.

Long life. A long life span makes

Nano Ganesh a worthwhile invest-

ment for the pennywise farmer. It

is life-tested in the hazardous areas

using specially developed simulation

standards/ techniques by Ossian Agro

Automation. The predicted life-span of

the gadget is ve years, says Ostwal.

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But what sweat went behind this inno-

vation? It took almost four years to es-

tablish and convert Nano Ganesh into a

techno-commercial successful unit, rec-

ollects Ostwal, who attributes the suc-

cess to the four-member strong R&D

team. The R&D for Nano Ganesh is

based on the closed-loop system. Ideas

in mind would rst be tried in the lab

and then tested on the eld for some

days with a local farmer as a user for

the feedback. On the eld, we had to

wait for a long time for the power sup-

ply to come, many times spending thewhole night in dense bushes near the

water zones, says Ostwal.

Further, the path wasnt easy. Field

challenges were hard nuts to crack. It

was difcult to get the system func-

tioning in wet areas. There are lizards

and rats in the panels. Further, 440V

3-phase wiring is very open and sus-

ceptible to shock hazards. Sparks in the

starters of higher-HP motors could cre-

ate a nuisance to automation systems.

Voltage range is also extreme, i.e.,

single-phase 120V to 250V, or 3-phase

250V to 500V, says Ostwal.

Ossian Agro Automation had to

take great care in designing the basic

transformer to withstand high stresses

at high voltage conditions. Transient

protectors like MOV and RFI lters

were used in the primary side of the

transformer. The capacitors we used

could withstand high voltages. We also

chose ICs that had tolerance levels of 5-

12 volts and introduced 0.1F disk ca-

pacitors at places in the circuits. Over-

all, the circuit was designed in such a

way that the load current extracted wasthe lowest, reducing the heat generated

by the system, says Ostwal.

i fuur!

Looking ahead, Ostwal believes Nano

Ganesh technology could be used in

controlling any electrical appliance.

Street lights and neon signboards,

fountains and waterfalls, air-condi-

tioners, industrial heaters or security

systemsNano Ganesh technology

can be the remote to control them all,

says Ostwal. Thus it is only a matter

of time before mobiles become remote

controls for life management. A mobile

unlocking your door or opening your

garage might just be on its way!

The author is a business correspondent at EFY

Bengaluru

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