Page 45: of Marine News Magazine (January 2020)

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Credit: AdobeStock © Merek in the temperature and moisture of that grain. When grain Time is Money begins to spoil, it will begin to heat up and develop areas If time is money, then a barge load of grain exhibiting of spoilage known as ‘hotspots.’ These areas can become so spoilage warning signals is a perfect example of when get- hot that they can actually ignite. Zafar adds, “By monitor- ting that grain to market quickly is job one. With mul- ing the behavior of the temperature and moisture levels we tiple loaded barges in a ? eet situation, barge loads can be can help grain managers make informed decisions about prioritized with regard to the urgency to get one or more when to ventilate, gas or mix their grain-actions which to market, sooner than another. All of this can be han- stop spoilage.” dled from afar, using technology that leverages the cloud.

To meet accessibility and scalability demands, the spear Hence, an idle loaded barge can be monitored from the does not require a gateway, meshes with other spears, and of? ce, miles away.

comes with a rechargeable multi-year battery. This means Pricing models for this new technology can vary. For ex- that the spear is designed to be simple to use and cost ef- ample, currently there are options for both one time pur- fective. It is an all-in-one unit which can be installed and chases as well as subscription/rental models. The Cellular working in under 30-seconds. As many as 20 spears can SensorSpear and TeleSense App work together to provide communicate together in a meshed network, via just one grain handlers an innovative and functional way to moni- cellular data connection. tor their grain. And, not a moment too late. www.telesense.com 45 www.marinelink.com MN