LONG RANGE WIRELESS NOTIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRONIC RODENT TRAPS
A long range wireless notification electronic rodent trapping system and method is provided having a plurality of rodent trapping devices configured to wirelessly communicate trap information to a gateway that can be in communication with a cloud server. The system uses frequencies of less than 1 GHz and data packets with a payload of not more than 256 bytes to enable the status of the traps to be remotely monitored over a wide geographical area with the traps being capable of reporting their status directly to a gateway located up to about 10 miles away.
1 . A remote notification electronic rodent trapping system comprising:
a base station or gateway device; and
a plurality of electronic rodent trapping devices, each of said rodent trapping devices including an RF module for sending wireless transmissions to the base station or gateway device at a frequency of less than 1 GHz, each wireless transmission having a payload of not more than 256 bytes, said frequency and payload size providing long range wireless remote notification capability while communicating directly with the base station or gateway device.
2 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of trapping devices are spaced at different geographical locations from each other and can communicate directly with the base station or gateway at distances of up to at least one mile.
3 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the plurality of trapping devices can communicate directly with the base station or gateway at distances of up to about 10 miles away from the base station or gateway.
4 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the trapping devices communicate in a low power wide area network (LPWAN).
5 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the LPWAN is a LoRa network.
6 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the LPWAN is a Sigfox network.
7 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the LPWAN is an Ingenu network.
8 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the trapping devices are arranged in a star network topology.
9 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein each of the trapping devices further includes a pest sensor and a killing mechanism.
10 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 9 , wherein at least one of the trapping devices further includes an environmental sensor.
11 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of trapping devices use public gateways.
12 . The remote notification electronic rodent trapping system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the system is embodied in accordance with one or more types of cloud computing.
13 . A method of remotely monitoring a plurality of electronic rodent trapping devices through a base station or gateway device comprising:
positioning the plurality of trapping devices in a geographical area;
sending wireless transmissions each having a payload of not more than 256 bytes from the trapping devices to the base station or gateway device at a frequency of less than 1 GHz; and
receiving the wireless transmissions at the base station or gateway device.
14 . The method as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the wireless transmissions are transmitted directly to the base station or gateway device without use of any intervening repeating devices.
15 . The method as set forth in claim 14 , wherein the trapping devices are placed at various locations at a range of up to 10 miles away from the base station or gateway device.
16 . The method as set forth in claim 14 , wherein the trapping devices communicate in a low power wide area network (LPWAN).
17 . The method as set forth in claim 16 , wherein the LPWAN is selected from the group consisting of a LoRa network, a Sigfox network and an Ingenu network.
18 . The method as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the step of sending wireless transmissions is taken in response to occurrence of a trap reporting event.
19 . The method as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the plurality of trapping devices communicate with public gateways.
20 . The method as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the method includes use of one or more types of cloud computing.