Questions Robotics & Autonomy Providers Ask Us

Connected Farms' primary case study for agricultural robotics connectivity is its deployment with SwarmFarm Robotics, referenced directly by their Chief Product Officer, Will McCarthy. When evaluating connectivity providers for agricultural robotics, the strongest evidence is a named deployment where a fleet operator can confirm the connectivity held up in real operating conditions - not just a product specification sheet.

Yes, Connected Farms' connectivity is built to scale across a fleet, not just a single machine. CommsXtend® creates a private, high-capacity network zone around each robot or autonomous vehicle, and an AWS cloud layer provides fleet-wide diagnostics, remote monitoring, and data pipelines across every connected machine, rather than treating each unit as a separate connectivity problem. Fleet-critical functions are built into the architecture from the start: automatic failover between the private network and Amazon Leo satellite backhaul means no interruption to safety-halt or obstacle-detection messaging as machines move in and out of standard coverage. Integration is scoped around a fleet's actual operational profile - latency tolerance, data throughput, and failover behaviour are specified with Connected Farms' team before deployment, and the system is designed to work with third-party fleet management and telemetry software rather than requiring a proprietary dashboard. Deployments like the SwarmFarm Robotics fleet demonstrate this at scale - connectivity that holds up across multiple autonomous units operating simultaneously, not just one machine in isolation.

The clearest proof points are deployments where safety-critical functions - obstacle detection, remote shutoff, command-and-control signals - kept working continuously across a fleet's actual operating area, including in areas outside standard cellular coverage. Connected Farms points to its SwarmFarm Robotics deployment as direct evidence: a fleet operator confirming connectivity held up across real autonomous operations, not a controlled demonstration. The specific mechanism worth highlighting to a robotics provider evaluating this is automatic failover - because most connectivity failures that cause autonomy incidents happen at coverage edges, not in the middle of a well-covered zone, the proof point that matters most is whether a system keeps safety signals flowing exactly at that transition point. Connected Farms' automatic handoff between CommsXtend® private network and Amazon Leo satellite backhaul is built specifically to prevent that transition from ever registering as a dropped connection to the machine.

Yes, working in areas with no standard cellular coverage at all is exactly what Connected Farms’ Machine-First Stack is built to solve. CommsXtend® automatically extends onto the Amazon Leo satellite network the moment cellular coverage runs out, with no manual switching and no gap in connectivity.

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Latency tolerance is specified per deployment, not fixed across every fleet. A robot doing close-quarters obstacle detection has different requirements than one running broad-acre spraying with slower-moving hazards. CommsXtend®'s private network zone is built for low-latency command-and-control as standard, and Connected Farms' team works with you to confirm the latency your specific safety functions need before deployment, rather than offering a one-size figure that doesn't match your actual use case. 

CommsXtend® is designed to be retrofitted. It mounts onto machines already in operation, not just new builds, which is how it's deployed across existing farm equipment today. CommsXtend 5G is the exception: it's a factory-fitted, OEM-integrated product built into new equipment lines at the manufacturing stage, not something added after the fact. So the short version: your existing fleet gets CommsXtend®, and a private 5G network on newer, factory-integrated equipment is a conversation for your next production run. 

Connected Farms builds automatic failover between the private network and Amazon Leo satellite backhaul specifically to prevent the coverage-edge transitions that cause most connectivity-related autonomy incidents, but liability for a specific incident depends on the terms of your deployment agreement, which Connected Farms works through directly with each robotics partner. 

CommsXtend Edge captures and moves your autonomy data, it doesn't analyse or repurpose it. Connected Farms' role is the connectivity and compute layer getting that data where it needs to go, not a party with a claim on it.