Electrified Smart Agriculture for Precision Farming
Connected Machinery, Drones and Greenhouses
Driving Sustainable Productivity across the Food Supply Chain
The agricultural sector is a key part of the All‑Electric Society. One focus area is replacing combustion‑engine machines with electrified tractors, agribots and other agricultural machinery. However, the electrification of agricultural equipment is far more complex than for passenger cars: for example, a “small” tractor with a rated power of 100 kW may need around 240 kWh of battery capacity for a six‑hour workday without intermediate charging. Such a battery would be large and heavy, and at current pack prices for off‑road vehicles, this significantly increases system cost.
In this context, electrified smart agriculture and precision agriculture aim to increase agricultural productivity and crop yield while reducing environmental impacts. By combining efficient electric drives, sensors, connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI), modern farming practices can improve crop management, reduce input waste and lower operating costs across the entire food production supply chain.
Challenges & Pain Points
The Complexity of Electrifying Heavy Machinery
The Power Gap
Electrifying heavy machinery like tractors requires massive battery capacities (~240 kWh for 6 hours). Managing this weight and cost while maintaining power density is a key engineering hurdle.
Environmental Resilience
Agricultural electronics must operate reliably under extreme conditions—dust, vibration, and fluctuating temperatures.
Real-Time Intelligence
Moving from cloud-based to Edge-AI-driven processing is crucial for autonomous agribots to react in real-time without latency or constant connectivity.
Key Applications & Use Cases
Connected Machinery & Agribots
Modern agribots automate labor-intensive tasks like seeding and weeding. By replacing hydraulic systems with high-precision electric drives, manufacturers achieve better dynamic control and significantly lower maintenance costs.
Despite the higher development effort, fully electric machinery can be worthwhile - not only because of reduced CO₂ and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Electric systems provide more dynamic control and higher precision than mechanical or hydraulic systems. With integrated sensors for torque, motor speed and position, electric drives are significantly more accurate. This enables a higher degree of automation, more precise crop management and lower operating costs.
Maintenance costs are also lower because there are fewer wearing parts, which supports reducing costs over the lifetime of the machine. Taken together, these factors make electric powertrains and intelligent control a strong foundation for sustainable agriculture and modern agricultural systems.
The precision of electric drive systems, combined with affordable sensors and powerful controllers, has turned robots and drones into practical tools for precision farming. Agricultural robots already perform tasks such as seeding, fertilising, weeding and harvesting. These autonomous systems reduce labour time, minimise soil compaction and support more sustainable agriculture - while at the same time improving productivity and lowering operating costs.
By integrating edge computing and AI, these agribots can adapt to field conditions in real time, enabling site‑specific farming practices that increase yields and reduce chemical use. This is part of the ongoing agricultural revolution driven by semiconductors and digital technologies.
Focus Technologies: Motor Control, Battery Management Systems (BMS), Power Conversion.
Precision in Action
Autonomous systems not only reduce soil compaction but also lower operating costs through high-precision field work.
- Versatility: Used for livestock monitoring, pesticide application, and wildlife protection (e.g., fawn rescue).
- Market Growth: The agricultural drone market is projected to reach $12.7 billion by 2030.
- Edge AI: Enables local processing of large data volumes for highly responsive autonomous movements.
Precision Drones & Remote Sensing
Drones provide the data backbone for precision agriculture. Equipped with multispectral sensors, they monitor crop health and soil moisture, enabling targeted interventions that reduce pesticide and fertilizer use.
Accordion Drones have become a central technology in precision agriculture. Mordor Intelligence says the agricultural drone market will more than double. It will grow from 5.40 billion US dollars in 2025 to 12.70 billion in 2030. The primary application is field mapping: high‑resolution cameras and multispectral sensors deliver data on soil quality, disease pressure and nutrient status.
What tasks do drones perform in agriculture?
Drones support a wide range of farm technologies and tasks that previously required manual work:
- Monitoring crops for disease, water stress and nutrient needs
- Applying crop protection agents more accurately
- Locating fawns and wildlife before mowing
- Monitoring livestock and infrastructure
By enabling fast, targeted interventions, drones help increase yields, reduce input waste and support sustainable agriculture.
Focus Technologies: High-speed Connectivity, GNSS, Image Processing.
Solutions:
Smart Greenhouses & Vertical Farming
Optimizing horticultural lighting and climate control is the key to maximizing yield. Intelligent LED drivers and spectral sensors allow for customized "light recipes" that accelerate growth cycles.
- LED Precision: Using specialized spectra (e.g., Hyper-Red, Deep Blue) and sensors (PAR sensors) to optimize plant growth.
- Centralized Power Supply: Moving power supplies outside the cultivation area reduces waste heat, lowering HVAC cooling costs.
- Sensor Fusion: Combining temperature, humidity, and gas sensors to create optimal growth environments.
In smart horticulture and vertical farming, natural light is supplemented or fully replaced with artificial lighting to increase crop yield and shorten growth cycles, enabling multiple harvests per year. Horticultural lighting systems use specialised LEDs tailored to the spectrum needs of each plant type. With additional spectral sensors, the emitted light spectrum can be measured and adjusted in real time.
The choice of optics is also important to avoid light waste and minimise negative environmental impacts outside the greenhouse. When integrated into precision agriculture strategies, smart lighting becomes a powerful lever to increase yields and improve food production efficiency.
HVAC is often the second‑largest energy consumer in greenhouses and barns. Selecting energy‑efficient components such as variable‑speed drives for ventilation and irrigation pumps can significantly cut energy use and operating costs. The goal is to optimise plant and livestock well‑being while reducing energy consumption and reducing costs.
The climate and irrigation control of a smart greenhouse or barn combines temperature, humidity, soil moisture and gas‑sensor data. Modern control algorithms coordinate lighting, HVAC and irrigation to create optimal conditions while saving energy – a practical expression of electrified smart agriculture in daily operations.
Focus Technologies: LED Drivers, Environmental Sensors, Wireless Mesh Networks.
Solutions: Horticulture LED and sensor solutions from ams OSRAM
Scalable Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture
As a leading distributor, EBV provides the essential building blocks for the next generation of farm technologies.
Analog & Power
High-efficiency power electronics (48V, 96V, and above) for battery management (BMS) and motor control to extend operating times.
Embedded Processing
From low-power MCUs for lighting to high-end NPUs and GPUs for Edge AI and Machine Vision in autonomous robots.
Connectivity & Peripherals
Secure communication modules and robust sensors (GPS, soil moisture, gas sensors) for the connected farm.
Technology–Application Matrix
| Application | Technology Segments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Analog & Power |
Connectivity & Peripherals |
Embedded Processing |
|
| Agribots & Drones | Si/GaN Power Devices, Motor Control, BMS | GNSS, 5G/LPWAN, ToF/LiDAR Sensors | Edge AI, MCUs/MPUs, AI Accelerators |
| Smart Greenhouse | LED Drivers, Spectral Sensors, HVAC Control | Wireless Mesh Networks, Environmental Sensors | MCUs for Lighting Control (DALI/DMX/RDM) |
| Energy Storage | BMS Controllers, Cell Balancing, Power Switches | - | Battery Passport ICs (2027+) |
From LEDs to Time-of-Flight – Semiconductor Technology for Smart Agriculture
As a leading semiconductor distributor, we offer complete system solutions that include high-power LED, power electronics, controllers, security, authentication, wireless connectivity and sensors. At EBV Elektronik, you’ll find the right components and systems to drive the transformation of agriculture - backed by our expertise.
Frequently Asked Questions:
GaN-based components offer benefits for both long- and short-range sensor systems. Long-range LiDAR requires extremely short pulses in the nanosecond range with very high peak currents – often hundreds of amperes – for long range and high resolution. GaN devices enable such short pulses due to switching speeds nearly 100 times faster than silicon MOSFETs.
Time-of-flight (ToF) systems, on the other hand, demand compactness, high resolution and precision at shorter ranges. While they require smaller pulse currents (typically under 10 A), they must operate at very high frequencies – tens to hundreds of MHz. GaN enables miniaturisation, monolithic integration, and cost efficiency.