Hardware Podcasts

#025: Powered by Sunlight, Fenced by Software: Inside Monil's Cattle Collar

Coredump Sessions · 5 Oct 2026 · 58m · Episode 26

What this episode covers

Torstein Nesse, co-founder and CEO of Monil, explains how his company builds solar-powered virtual fencing collars for livestock using Nordic nRF9160 and nRF52 chips alongside u-blox GNSS receivers. He details the low-power design challenges, the decision to use a dedicated GNSS module for performance, and the implementation of offline operation with buffered telemetry. The conversation covers a four-month network debugging challenge involving rural connectivity, the use of IMU sensors for animal behavior detection, and the business model combining hardware sales with subscriptions for farmer peace of mind.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Monil, Nordic Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, Energy Micro
Chips
nRF9160, nRF52, u-blox
Also
LTE-M, GNSS, IMU

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