Smart Industry No.1 2022

The network architecture of Silvanet
source ©: Dryad Networks
“If you can reduce power consumption
you can reduce the
capacity of the super-capacitors,
which would also drive down the
price. Super-capacitors are not yet
commoditised, and so selecting
the right components is definitely
something where Avnet Silica has
the competency to advise us on selecting
which may perform better,
have better availability, or a better
price.”
Dryad’s use of the parts is also a
little unconventional in that supercapacitors
are more widely used
to provide enough energy to enable
systems that have suddenly
lost mains power to do an orderly
shutdown.
“There's lots of specific things that
we need to do to charge the super-capacitors
from the solar cell,
so we need charging circuits that
actually do that and that is a bit
more challenging because it's not
the standard way of doing things,”
Brinkschulte adds.
Avnet Silica is also helping Dryad
understand current supply constraints
for various parts, caused
by supply-chain issues ranging
source ©: Avnet Silica
from the pandemic through to
factory fires. It has been trying to
ensure that Dryad chooses components
that will be available in
enough volume to allow it to roll
out Wildfire Sensors and Gateways
in volume.
“When you move to your go-tomarket
strategy and try to roll
out your network and the quantity
goes up, you need to have the
microcontrollers and other parts
delivered on time,” says Ingo Seehagen,
senior field application engineer
at Avnet Silica.
From Tree
to Tree
The network
architecture of
Silvanet
When you roll
out your network,
you need
to have your
parts delivered
on time.
Ingo Seehagen
Senior field application
engineer at Avnet Silica
Dryad’s Vision
According to Brinkschulte, wildfire
sensing is just the first application
of the Dryad networking technology.
“This is a generic IoT communications
infrastructure for the forest.
There are tons of applications that
forestry can benefit from once our
infrastructure is in place. Soil moisture
is one of them, tree growth,
sap flow, anti-logging alerts using
sound detection, and emergency
communication for forest workers.”
Forestry equipment maker Stihl is
one of Dryad’s backers. “We create
an IoT network infrastructure that
digitises the forestry industry, and
I guess that's of strategic interest
to them,” says Brinkschulte.
The deal also gives Dryad access to
Stihl’s electronics manufacturing
services, and all the tacit knowledge
and expertise it has in making
rugged electronics for use in
challenging environments.
“That is an advantage for us because
if the mothership uses them,
and the baby uses it as well, that
means they give us good attention.”
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