Pennsylvania-based animal monitoring company Farm Jenny has turned to an embedded modem from NimbeLink for round-the-clock horse monitoring.

Farm Jenny’s inspiration for this product came from decades in the technology industry while owning a small horse farm. The company founders understood that with horses, owners want to know where their animals are and that they are healthy and well.

From the start, they knew they wanted to use an embedded modem as opposed to a module in their design to obtain data on the movement and condition of the horses. They needed technology that was easy to integrate and would reliably connect to the widest range of carriers, specifically in rural areas. For the first year they tried using a USB Cat-M modem but struggled with reliable connectivity as well as the certification status of the modem.

When Farm Jenny prepared for full-scale production, it needed a new method for cellular connectivity. The founding team had past experience with a module-down design and certification and did not want to repeat the costs, delays and experience of RF engineering and certifications. Instead, the company wanted an end-device certified option that could be adapted to its unique needs. Farm Jenny also needed the product to be a simple purchasing experience by offering a single product SKU with a wide range of carrier options.

Thus the company selected the NimbeLink Skywire NL-SW-LTE-QBG96. This embedded modem fitted its needs around connectivity, ease of implementation, buying experience and pace to market. This modem offers dual SIM construction, allowing for multiple carriers to be on the same device. Further, its use of LTE-M extends well into rural areas. The combined dual SIM and LTE-M features enabled the single SKU option for customers and simplified the experience.

NimbeLink worked closely with Farm Jenny to ensure the robustness of their design. Co-founder Rob Crouthamel said he “submitted a schematic review, which I thought was just a formality. Instead I received a very thorough review on the design with suggested changes.”

Farm Jenny is now in full production with the product and is expanding into cattle and other farm-based sensing. It provides the level of monitoring and peace of mind that horse owners desire with reliable connectivity. Farm Jenny is now developing other products based on the same Skywire family of embedded modems.

Skywire embedded modems reduce the cost, risks and timelines of IoT product development. With known-good RF engineering and validated software, Skywire lets users focus on the application and not engineering cellular radios. Standard connectivity provides flexibility to update and alternate radios for new geographies, carriers and technologies.

The embedded modems are end-device certified, meaning the end-product will not need to go through the complex process of carrier certification.