Booth 2068 in the Parkland Pavilion.

http://agri-trade.com/

http://www.mccookfarmandranchexpo.net/

Northern Ag Expo Website

Intelligent Agricultural Solutions’ Bobby Volesky was recently interviewed by KFGO’s Ag Director Shawna Olson for a piece discussing the IAS Wireless Blockage Monitor. Volesky discussed the system’s benefits, availability, pricing and future development plans.

To listen to the interview, please visit KFGO’s website.

For more information about the IAS Wireless Blockage Monitor, contact info@intelligentag.com

These new capabilities allow the system to monitor the flow of different product types on a single seeder, allowing IAS customers with double shoot configurations on their air seeders to monitor both seed and fertilizer simultaneously.

The improvements go beyond simply connecting a fertilizer run to the existing blockage ECU – they allow IAS customers to run separate blockage profiles for seed and fertilizer at the same time. As a result, IAS customers benefit from blockage monitoring alerts tailored to the flow rate of each product in the seeder – accurately diagnosing partial blockages on both seed and fertilizer anywhere in the system.

Both seed and fertilizer runs are represented separately on the iPad display, allowing the user to quickly see whether a seed or fertilizer run has been blocked.

“This is a great additional feature for the Wireless Blockage Monitor,” said Bobby Volesky, IAS product manager. “Delivering reliable blockage alerts on both seed and fertilizer really adds to the value and versatility of the product. It gives our customers with double-shoot configurations a superior monitoring solution with more reliability and lower costs than other systems on the market.”

The new functionality will be released as an update to the Wireless Blockage Monitor application on the Apple App Store at the end of February.

About IAS

Intelligent Agricultural Solutions is a joint venture formed in 2011 by Barry Batcheller of Appareo Systems and Howard Dahl of Amity Technology. IAS combines Amity’s agricultural experience with the aerospace innovations and technologies of Appareo.

IAS was formed to bring new high-technology, low-cost ag electronics to an ever more competitive marketplace. IAS draws on both Amity’s and Appareo’s talented engineers, product designers and sales teams.

IAS is based in Fargo, ND.

For more information, contact:

Bobby Volesky
IAS Product Manager
Office: (701) 356-9222
Cell: (701) 630-4117
bvolesky@intelligentag.com

FARGO, ND (9/22/11) – Intelligent Agricultural Solutions (IAS) is pleased to formally announce its latest product, the Wireless Blockage Monitor for air seeding implements.

The Wireless Blockage Monitor delivers a reliable, accurate system for detecting blockages at any location within air seeding implements. Using acoustic sensors installed in-line at the manifold, the system “listens” to seed and fertilizer flowing through the system as they bounce off a small stainless steel membrane similar to a stethoscope. These sound pulses are converted into digital signals and transmitted wirelessly to an Apple iPad mounted in the cab of the tractor. IAS’s iPad app then displays a graphical representation of the system, instantly alerting the operator to any blocked run. The use of wires – the most common source of failure in existing systems – is drastically reduced and results in a much more robust, reliable system.

A key benefit of the Wireless Blockage Monitor is its ability to detect blockages anywhere in the seeder, something that other monitoring systems struggle to do. Most systems rely on optical sensors that “watch” seed flowing through the system and cannot detect a blockage until seed has actually piled up in front of the sensor, often minutes after the initial blockage has occurred. Additionally, because these optical sensors must have an unobstructed view of the product moving past the sensor, they are especially vulnerable to being coated in dust or fertilizer residue, significantly reducing their effectiveness. Because the Wireless Blockage Monitor uses a patent-pending method involving sound and force instead of sight to detect the presence of seed moving through the seeder, the system is much more reliable in the tough conditions encountered by today’s farmers.

Instead of relying on a purpose-built, costly display like other systems, IAS’s use of the iPad gives the customer a flexible platform useful both in and out of the tractor. With the Wireless Blockage Monitor, operators can not only watch their seeder, they can also use the iPad for other applications like checking commodity prices, weather and keeping in touch with family and friends. As IAS and other companies continue to develop software applications for the iPad, farmers will have a truly versatile, multi-use platform for a fraction of the price of current ag-specific displays.

The Wireless Blockage Monitor is designed to be installed on a large range of air seeders, both current and past models, and will be available to purchase through IAS and its dealers this fall.

“The Wireless Blockage Monitor is a significant step forward in the agriculture marketplace,” said Barry Batcheller, president of IAS. “Not only is the system significantly easier to install and maintain than other all-run systems, it’s also very accurate and reliable. It’s an exciting product to bring to market and foreshadows a series of exciting innovations that we’ll be introducing over the next few years.”

About IAS

Intelligent Agricultural Solutions is a joint venture formed in 2011 by Barry Batcheller of Appareo Systems and Howard Dahl of Amity Technology. IAS combines Amity’s agricultural experience with the aerospace innovations and technologies of Appareo.

IAS was formed to bring new high-technology, low-cost ag electronics to an ever more competitive marketplace. IAS draws on both Amity’s and Appareo’s talented engineers, product designers and sales teams.

IAS is based in Fargo, ND.

The new company is called Intelligent Agricultural Solutions (IAS) and has been formed to bring new high-technology, low-cost ag electronics to an ever more competitive marketplace. IAS draws on both Amity and Appareo’s talented engineers, product designers and sales teams.

Both Dahl and Batcheller bring a lifetime of experience to IAS. Dahl is the grandson of E.G. Melroe, founder of the Melroe Company which developed the iconic Bobcat loader. Dahl’s father Eugene and uncle Les Melroe took over Steiger Tractor in 1970, later selling the company to Case Corporation in 1986. Dahl and his brother Brian founded Concord, Inc. which quickly became the nation’s leading manufacturer of air seeding equipment. In addition to their success in the U.S., Concord also fared especially well in the former Soviet Union, selling more than 500 Concord Air Drills into that market. In 1996, a portion of Concord was sold to Case Corporation and the Dahl brothers used the remaining company assets to launch Amity Technology, a leader in sugar beet harvesting equipment and air seeding equipment. Amity also owns Concord Environmental Equipment which produces the world’s leading soil sampling equipment. Additionally, the Dahl brothers were partners in Wil-Rich LLC, a manufacturer of tillage equipment in Wahpeton, ND. In January 2011 Amity acquired Wil-Rich and formed a joint venture with AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) for the development of the air seeding equipment and tillage markets.

Batcheller, a native of New York State, graduated from North Dakota State University in 1978 and was soon working as an electrical engineer for Steiger Tractor in Fargo. While at Steiger, Batcheller created an electronics engineering group which he later spun out to form ITS Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Steiger Tractor.  Batcheller left ITS following Steiger’s acquisition by CaseIH in 1986 and founded Phoenix International Corporation.  Phoenix International designs and manufactures ruggedized electronics primarily for the agriculture and construction industries.  In 1999, the John Deere Company (NYSE:DE) acquired Phoenix International and Batcheller became Deere’s Director of Technology Growth, scouring the globe for innovative products and concepts to add to Deere’s portfolio. Upon leaving Deere, Batcheller founded Appareo Systems, LLC a rapidly growing firm specializing in the design and manufacture of low-cost, lightweight electronics for the aviation industry. Now employing more than 50 people at its Fargo headquarters, and named the fastest growing privately held engineering company in the US in 2010 by INC magazine, Appareo Systems has quickly become an industry leader in the design and manufacture of avionics used world-wide.

IAS will announce its first two products at the Big Iron farm show in West Fargo, ND this September 13-15th. Following Big Iron, IAS will introduce itself to the world market at Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany in November.

 For more information contact:
David Batcheller
info@intelligentag.com

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Agritechnica is the world’s largest exhibition for agricultural machinery and equipment and provides a great opportunity to interface with potential customers and suppliers from around the world.

“We’re excited to be attending Agritechnica and look forward to introducing IAS to the world market,” said Barry Batcheller, IAS President. “There’s no better event to interact with such a large and varied agriculture audience.”

For more information on Agritechnica, please visit the Agritechnica website.

Big Iron plays host to more than 800 exhibitors and upwards of 80,000 attendees and will be IAS’ first industry event since its recent launch.

“We’re thrilled to publicly launch IAS at this year’s Big Iron farm show,” said IAS president Barry Batcheller. “It’s especially appropriate that we’re able to introduce the company from right here in our own backyard. We’re looking forward to showing the industry what we’ve been working on.”

To learn more about Big Iron, please visit the Big Iron website.