It’s all about timing with each growing season. With IR2005G for Remote Crop Monitoring, farmers gain real-time visibility into their fields — knowing exactly when the soil is drying out or when the pump has stopped working. That timely insight can save an entire yield. The thing is, most farms sit on fields far from dependable communication lines. Networks drop, sensors lose connection, and the data that should guide daily decisions never makes it to the screen in time.
That is where the Horizon IR2005G Indoor Router fills in the gap: an industrial-grade compact 5G CBRS router for those places that just won’t stay connected. Whether that’s from the irrigation site miles away from the control centre across hundreds of hectares of cropland, it keeps sensors, pumps, and cameras talking to each other. All these are part of the quiet shift in farming where connectivity is no longer a luxury but the base of each decision.
The struggle for reliable farm connectivity
While a factory can run fibre through every wall, a field cannot. Wide spaces, metal machinery, and shifting weather make wireless coverage unpredictable. Traditional 3G or Wi-Fi networks drop under heavy interference or distance. When that happens, moisture sensors stop reporting and automated valves lose timing. Even just a few hours offline can throw an irrigation schedule out of sync.
That’s a daily reality that many operators can relate to. And it is also the reason why a network solution needs to work just like farm equipment itself: tough, simple, and ready to run all year. The IR2005G was built around that idea: a rugged indoor LTE/5G gateway that does not blink when heat, dust, or voltage fluctuations show up.
What IR2005G brings into the field
Inside is an aluminium shell housing a multiband modem handling 5G and LTE on CBRS Band 48, which lets the farm or energy company manage its very own private LTE/5G network, entirely under local control. A dual-Network router design maintains a live backup channel should one network begin to fade. It also features Power-over-Ethernet, which means fewer cables and faster setup within pump sheds or control cabins.
It’s built to handle those sorts of workloads day in and day out, pulling in sensor data and streaming cameras, routing it all to local dashboards or the cloud. And with IR2005G integrating with Horizon’s Device Management Service, DMS, a technician miles away can check performance, push firmware, or adjust settings without ever having to leave the office.
Why it matters to agriculture
Each of the connected sensors generates small pieces of insight: soil moisture at a root zone, pressure in a water line, or temperature inside a greenhouse. Multiply that by hundreds of sensors, and you’ve got a real-time map of field conditions. In and of itself, this isn’t problematic; the challenge is how to move all that data in a reliable way. IR2005G keeps it steady when public networks go down.
To farmers on automated irrigation, the benefits are immediate: valves open only when soil dryness crosses a set point; pumps slow down as the target moisture returns. The system reacts within minutes, not hours. Water usage is lower; energy bills tumble, and crop health is improved because the decision has been based on live data, not on schedules that were written weeks in advance.
A closer look at core features
- Industrial build: The chassis and connectors are sealed against dust and humidity, ready for greenhouses, barns, or outdoor panels.
- Dual-Network redundancy: The multi-network support provides for instant failover between different carriers or network profiles.
- Private 5G CBRS Link: Communication is within a secure network in Band 48 and is not dependent on any public services.
- Edge Computing Support: Local processing trims latency and saves bandwidth by filtering data before it hits the cloud.
Flexible power: PoE or DC input allows crews to install the router where standard outlets do not exist.
Individually, each of these might sound routine; put together, they solve the constant connectivity puzzle that most farms face daily.
Turning Irrigation into Intelligence
A simple sensor reading will change an irrigation plan, but only if it shows up on time. That’s the reliability the IR2005G gives. The constant feedback of the soil probes to a central control system through a router enables pumps to start, stop, or adjust flow in real time, and instead of fixed schedules, watering responds directly to the crop’s needs. Over a season, those small adjustments add up: less wasted water, fewer breakdowns, and better yields.
Other farms link the router with either cameras or drones for visual observation. Equipped with high bandwidth and low latency, 5G HD footage or multispectral images travel in an instant to help agronomists spot issues before they spread.
Beyond the field
Many of the same features that have made IR2005G a great fit for agriculture extend to other industries, be it connecting automated machinery over private LTE in a warehouse or a manufacturing plant, or keeping data links from remote sites in energy or mining up and running. It’s a flexible backbone for any operation requiring secure, long-distance communication, thanks to its combination of Industrial IoT LTE Gateway and Private LTE Industrial Router capabilities.
Keep the operations running
While most routers throttle or reset when bad weather sets in or equipment loads surge, the IR2005G’s design is for continuity. Dual- Network redundancy keeps the data flowing, while firmware watchdogs and failover routines automatically restart the communication should a link falter. Its design minimises the need for on-site visits—a critical cost factor when a “site” might sit 200 km from the nearest service truck.
Another factor given equal priority is security: the router relies on encrypted communication and role-based access with rigid authentication for intrusion prevention. For industries relying on proprietary data or operational telemetry, that security is equally as important as the speed itself.
The bigger picture: Data-driven agriculture
With reliable connectivity, the farm becomes a data network: irrigation systems, drones, and weather sensors report to the same point, thus creating a digital twin of the field. From there, analytics software can predict when irrigation will be needed or when inefficiencies will arise. The IR2005G is the quiet enabler of that ecosystem, an unseen node turning isolated equipment into a connected, learning system.
Quick reference benefits
Capability practical impact
- Private 5G/LTE communication , Secure, interference-free operation
- Dual-Network redundancy Always-on connectivity
- Rugged, dust-proof build. Reliable performance outdoors
- Edge processing : Faster reactions, less data cost
- Horizon DMS integration , Centralised remote control
- Scalable network support grows with new sensors and systems
Frequently asked questions
Q1. Why use the IR2005G vs. a consumer router?
Consumer models are not designed for dealing with dust, heat, or vibration. The IR2005G Industrial 5G Modem Router just keeps on running under those conditions.
Q2. Does it operate without a public cellular provider?
Yes, an enterprise can deploy its private LTE/5G network using the CBRS Band 48.
Q3. Does it work with existing irrigation controllers?
Most do, since the router has standard industrial interfaces and protocols, so integration is rather easy.
Q4. What about data security?
System data is not exposed to public internet threats, since all of the traffic is encrypted and user access is role-controlled.
Q5. Can one router serve several fields?
Yes, given that the area covered by the signal can allow it. The distance will vary depending on the antenna placement and the networking design, but a single unit can handle multiple nodes.
Q6. How does Horizon DMS help in farming operations?
It allows IT personnel to use DMS and, in turn, monitor and update the routers remotely, which saves trips to far-flung fields for maintenance.
Q7. Does it work with older LTE equipment?
Of course, since it allows for LTE fallback, this means the already existing devices can connect up until the full adoption of 5G is realised.
Q8. Can it directly power sensors?
PoE output drives small IoT devices like cameras or gateways, reducing cabling.
Q9. Does the weather affect performance?
Equipped with an IP-rated enclosure, this model can operate consistently in rain or dust, or at high temperatures, since it has a wide temperature tolerance.
Q10. Apart from farming, to which other sectors does this model relate?
Manufacturing, logistics, utilities, and mining-anywhere reliable, private 5G connectivity is needed.
Final thoughts
Modern farming doesn’t stop at the fence line; it extends into the network cloud, where every crop has a story to tell through data. For that story to be accurate, the link has to stay alive. Horizon IR2005G does just that-quietly keeping the field online, the pumps working, and the decisions informed.
It goes much further than being a router, serving in many ways; it’s the assurance that indeed, the information will reach those in need, no matter how wide the field might stretch.
Learn more about IR2005G for Remote Crop Monitoring here.
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