Red Ant Agri · AgriTech / Precision agriculture
SmartSpreader
The original brief was a bounded electronics task: use GPS to control a fertiliser spreader's dispensing rate. Over nine years and five major generations it has grown into a complete precision-agriculture platform. It is our longest client relationship and remains active.
- Client
- Red Ant Agri
- Relationship
- Since ~2016, active
- Generations
- 5 major, 10+ production runs
- Reach
- Multiple countries
- Latest run
- July 2025
The challenge
The client had a tractor-towed mechanical spreader whose dispensing rate drifted with ground conditions and tyre pressure, making precise application impossible. The first brief looked simple: derive ground speed from GPS and motorise the dispensing.
The full requirement was much broader: tree detection for orchard spreading, recording and reporting of deposition data, a field interface robust enough for daily farm use, and eventually the use of satellite and drone agronomy data to drive variable-rate maps across a whole orchard.
Each major decision, from a phone in place of an embedded interface to a single ESP32 in place of a multi-microcontroller stack, was driven by the client's commercial needs rather than our technical preferences. The product is in the field and we remain the engineering team behind it.
What we did
- 01
First prototype
We built the first electronic version, with a GPS speed reference, motor-driven paddles and ultrasonic tree detection. When the third-party web partner did not deliver the dashboard, we built a demonstration version ourselves to keep the project on schedule. Prototyping the surrounding system early has been standard BMEC practice since.
- 02
A simpler architecture
We replaced a Raspberry Pi and four microcontrollers with a single ESP32 and a phone. The phone handles GPS, connectivity, compute and the user interface, and removing the SIM card simplified deployment across borders.
- 03
The SmartNode platform
We developed an ESP32 board with 14 configurable I/O channels that can be used across spreaders, sprayers and other products without a new board design. It is now in use across multiple clients.
- 04
A precision-agriculture platform
Web app for agronomists to upload prescription maps, a mobile app that spreads the right rate in each orchard zone automatically, a live telemetry dashboard, remote diagnostics, and full offline operation in the field.
In practice
How we build.
Modelled, simulated and tested before production, then manufactured and assembled to the same standard.
BMEC laser-etching a stainless part (representative workshop footage).
More work
Other case studies.
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