Hoping to help reap productivity and agricultural modernization, three former students of Philippine Science High School – Central Visayas Campus (PSHS-CVisC) got the patent for their smart farming invention during high school.

Through the Multi-Purpose Interconnected Transceiver Apparatus (MITs), McSteven Melicor, Christian James Fantonial, and Elram Espra had the first patent obtained by PSHS-CVisC.  Mr. Benito Baje, their research adviser, guided and helped them throughout the process.

MITs was from the group’s earlier research project titled “Creating the Ideal Environment for Plant Growth” and could help users assess real-time weather and atmospheric conditions such as temperature, humidity, heat index, altitude and air.

The invention’s best feature is the fact that it does not require internet connection to operate.  Thus, MITs can drive technology adoption, eventually economic growth, in rural areas where the internet accessibility is low and connectivity is intermittent.

Equipped with a global positioning system (GPS), the apparatus of this system gathers and shows information transmitted from different devices for tracking the weather conditions in a specific environment and finding the location of at least one user.

Weather monitoring technology can help farmers decide better on pesticide application, irrigation, and prevention of diseases, leading to lower input costs and higher crop yields.

MITs uses an Android application enabled by Bluetooth for additional display of data.

PSHS-CVisC has a total of 15 pending intellectual property (IP) applications at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).  Of this, five are patents, four are utility models and six are industrial designs.

 

(Aries N. Oliveros, Executive Assistant)