Five Generation 3 Sentinel poles operate in a 30-rai working rice field at Takhria, Ranot district, with the Nong Ai Thaen large-plot rice group. A second plot was instrumented in June 2026; the record covers foundation, erection, cabinet wiring and first readings.
Working installation
Generation 3 Sentinel beside a working paddy at Ranot. Photograph awaiting supply — the artboard export is not a usable source.
02 Field Trial & Validation What is installed, tested and learned.
03 Rice Knowledge Base How variety, stage, region and season shape interpretation.
Why this site
The conditions are difficult by design.
Acidic soil
The probe must return reliable readings in the soil actually farmed at the site.
Real flood season
Cabinets, foundations and service access are tested against real field water.
Afternoon shade
Coconut-palm shade reduces solar input and tests the station's energy balance.
Working farm
The plots remain under normal farm management throughout the season.
Installation record
From staged hardware to an instrumented plot.
01 · Equipment arrival
Poles and service modules staged before installation. Photograph awaiting supply — the artboard export is not a usable source. 02 · Foundation preparation
Anchor-base work recorded in the actual paddy soil. Photograph awaiting supply — the artboard export is not a usable source.
01Stage the system Confirm poles, cabinets, sensors and mounting hardware before work begins.
02Prepare the foundation Place and document the anchor position in the working plot.
03Erect and connect Install the pole, service cabinets, power system, sensors and cameras.
04Record first operation Confirm the station can produce and retain its first field readings.
Controlled comparison
The station is tested against the same field, season and farming conditions.
A Sentinel plot is paired with a control plot in the same field. Each plot is at least one rai.
Paired study design
Sentinel plotInstrumented field record Continuous measurements and documented management.
Control plotTraditional management Observed under the same local conditions and season.
01Two seasons
Wet-season and dry-season crops are both required because one season is not enough to establish a result.
02Three soil depths
Soil moisture is recorded at 5, 15 and 30 cm to follow conditions through the root zone.
03Laboratory reference
Field readings are checked against gravimetric measurements of the same soil before being used as evidence.
Why this design protects the result
Like-for-like plots isolate the effect of the tested system.
Same field Local conditions
Same season Growing calendar
Checked sensor Reference measurement
Seasonal testing and reporting
The schedule changes with the crop and the season.
15 minSensor readings Soil, water and atmospheric measurements
7 daysField inspection On-site verification and maintenance check
Day · week · monthReporting Summary, detailed and comparative reports
Six study windows across the rice cycle
01 Land preparation Baseline soil and water
02 Seedling Establishment and early pests
03 Tillering Water, nutrients and shoot growth
04 Booting Crop condition before heading
05 Heading Flowering, humidity and disease risk
06 Ripening Drainage and harvest readiness
Regional timing
Wet- and dry-season months differ across Thailand. The schedule follows the regional crop calendar rather than forcing every site into one national timetable.
What the field exposed
The poles were not consuming too much power. They were receiving too little.
Measured computer draw was 2.1-2.7 W. Limited solar exposure - especially coconut-palm shade - caused the energy shortfall.
Observed condition
A working pole beside coconut palms and field water. Photograph awaiting supply — the artboard export is not a usable source.
2.1-2.7 W
Measured edge-computer draw Approximately 15–20 Wh per day. It was not the main cause of the outages.
Afternoon
Delayed recovery One pole recovered only after sufficient energy arrived later in the day.
Every other day
Intermittent operation Another pole operated on alternating days under shade from coconut palms.
Field visit
Manual recovery Some poles had been dark long enough to require a person to walk out to them.
Field conclusion
Improve energy capture, independence and service visibility.
Field-to-design loop
Generation 4 answers what Generation 3 revealed.
01 Raise the service zone Cabinets move to 1,945–3,230 mm—above the 1,900 mm design flood level.
02 Split energy storage One battery becomes two slim 50 Ah LiFePO4 packs behind their own service door.
03 Separate solar control One charge controller becomes two independent MPPT controllers with telemetry.
04 Make faults visible Independent energy paths and health reporting make a single charging problem easier to identify.
Why the distinction matters
Generation 3 provides the operating evidence. Generation 4 must be validated separately after deployment.
Defined research area
Four regions. Twelve provinces. Three sites per province.
01North
Chiang Rai
Chiang Mai
Nan
02Northeast
Amnat Charoen
Ubon Ratchathani
Roi Et
03Central
Suphan Buri
Pathum Thani
Phichit
04South
Songkhla
Phatthalung
Nakhon Si Thammarat
Site-level status
Deployment is tracked site by site.
Each location is marked planned, preparing, installed, active or complete. Inclusion in the research area does not mean installation is complete.
Current result status
The first season is under way. Outcomes remain unpublished.
01 Completed Installation Five Generation 3 poles installed at Ranot.
02 Under way First season Field evidence is currently being collected.
03 Pending Second season Required before an outcome comparison.
04 Pending Analysis Paired plots and seasonal evidence compared.
05 Pending Publication Results released after documented approval.
Publication boundary
No proposal target or single-season observation is presented as a validated outcome.
Continue through Research & Knowledge
The field supplies evidence. Rice knowledge gives it meaning.
Continue into the variety profiles, regional calendars and bidirectional knowledge layer used to interpret each field record.