Digi International Technologies Enable Solutions that Support Earth Day's Mission to Protect the Environment

MINNETONKA, Minn., April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of Earth Day 2016, Digi International®, (NASDAQ: DGII, www.digi.com), a leading global provider of mission-critical machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT connectivity products and services, today highlighted how its solutions have been implemented in ways that support the environmental movement. Earth Day 2016 takes place April 22.

Examples of Digi implementations that assist in the global environmental movement include:

Environmental conservation and monitoring

Okavango Delta Exploration: The Okavango Delta, located in Botswana in southwest Africa, is one of the last pristine wetland wilderness areas in the world. It's protected as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, but farther upstream, its water supply in Angola and Namibia is still susceptible to human interference. National Geographic's Okavango Expedition assembled a team of scientists and engineers to collect environmental data along the Okavango River to help make conservation efforts more effective and to ensure that the remote wildlife sanctuary can be enjoyed for generations to come. The team built a wireless sensor network with each node consisting of an Arduino, Digi XBee® and multiple sensors. Sensors collected water quality data (pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, etc.) then transmitted it over long distances via an XBee ZigBee network to continuously monitor the delta and detect even the smallest changes in water quality. In addition to the environmental data collected by the sensors, the solution gathers GPS location, research observations, and wildlife sightings, with the ultimate goal of preserving as many marine habitats as possible.

Amazon Rainforest: The goal of Tapirnet is to apply an economic value to the Amazon Rainforest by developing an automated and sustainable system to document wildlife in the Amazon. The location of this project is the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana in Peru. The main components of the system include cameras, a wireless communication network, and drones. Cameras are placed throughout the forest and connected via Digi XBee. Each node in the network relays its data to a sink node, which collects all of the sensor data. This sink node acts as an access point for the drone, which is programmed to perform a round trip, collect data from each of the sink nodes, and return for processing.

FogFinder: Currently in prototyping, scientists in Chile are designing systems to turn foggy air into a reliable water source for nearby residents. Fog catchers, fine mesh nets erected on foggy hillsides, capture droplets of water from fog, which are then stored in tanks. FogFinder features a new type of sensor called the "Liquid Water Flux Probe" to measure the availability of water at current and potential fog collector sites. Each sensor node, comprised of an Arduino Mega and Digi XBee module, measures the liquid water content and speed of the fog, and can be used to understand the optimal location and orientation for each of the collectors. Once the data is collected, it's sent over a cellular network where it is then analyzed to assess the performance of the fog collector.

Renewable and ecofriendly energy

Devergy: Devergy is a social utility company committed to providing an affordable, reliable and renewable source of energy to low-income people throughout Tanzania. The service is based on village-sized energy micro-grids, which provide solar power to households and small businesses; it allows the users to connect lights and appliances such as radios, TVs, and refrigerators. Devergy uses Digi XBee technology for the communication network in its solar micro-grids and smart meters, and is using Digi's ConnectPort X4 for its ZigBee to GPRS gateways. The technology behind Devergy's system allows the company to easily scale up as the needs of customers increase, and by using solar energy (instead of batteries or kerosene lamps), the amount of waste and pollution in a village decreases dramatically. Devergy is currently serving customers in approximately 12 villages, with the goal of serving 10,000 customers by the end of 2016.

New Sun Road: New Sun Road is a registered California Benefit Corporation committed to implementing solutions to climate change and global energy poverty by partnering with local operations in rural developing economies to design, build, and operate clean, renewable power systems. A recent effort centers on partnering with Ugandan green energy startup GRS Commodities to deliver reliable and clean power to the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, Uganda. The goal of the pilot system is to provide affordable and reliable solar powered electricity to businesses on Kitobo Island. As part of its solar grid network, Digi TransPort® WR11 XT enables a remote monitoring of the grid with a reliable connection to the global 3G network capable of withstanding the high operating temperatures of the network utility hub.

"We're extremely proud of the way our solutions are being implemented in socially responsible efforts across the globe," said Kevin Riley, chief operating officer, Digi International. "Wireless technologies can support Earth Day's mission by bringing sustainable communication capabilities to areas in ways that don't disturb existing ecosystems while also allowing insights into how to maintain those environments."

Digi provides wireless M2M connectivity that delivers the reliability, scalability, security, and bulletproof performance needed to build and deploy critical infrastructures in challenging environments. With Digi, companies can deploy and manage mission-critical wireless communications that work under some of the most demanding conditions imaginable. 

About Digi International 
Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) is a leading global provider of mission-critical machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and services. We help our customers create next-generation connected products and deploy and manage critical communications infrastructures in demanding environments with high levels of security, relentless reliability and bulletproof performance. Founded in 1985, we've helped our customers connect over 100 million things, and growing. For more information, visit Digi's website at www.digi.com, or call 877-912-3444 (U.S.) or 952-912-3444 (International).

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Davies Murphy Group, Inc.
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