Automation for Queensland’s agribusiness sector
Queensland’s agribusiness and primary industries operate across large, distributed environments with seasonal pressures, remote infrastructure, and limited on-site engineering resources. Control system reliability and telemetry coverage are critical - a pump station that fails during planting season or a conveyor that stops during harvest has immediate and measurable consequences.
Beetle Engineering works across sugar cane farming and irrigation, grain handling and storage, rural water infrastructure, and cogeneration and biomass energy. Our work spans new automation installations, upgrades to aging control systems, and ongoing fault support for operations that cannot afford extended downtime.
Sugar cane farming and irrigation automation
Irrigation scheduling and pump station automation across sugar cane farms requires control systems that can manage large numbers of pumps and valves across distributed sites, respond to soil moisture and weather inputs, and report back to a central system without requiring continuous operator attention.
We program PLC and RTU-based irrigation control systems, integrate soil moisture and flow instrumentation, and develop SCADA and telemetry systems that give farm managers visibility across their entire irrigation network. For pump station automation, we handle motor control, pressure and flow monitoring, fault detection, and remote start/stop via telemetry link.
Grain handling and storage
Grain silo management and conveyor control requires sequenced operation across multiple pieces of equipment - conveyors, bucket elevators, diverter gates, and aeration fans - with interlocks that protect grain quality and equipment integrity.
We program PLC-based grain handling control systems that manage intake, transfer, and aeration sequences, integrate with weighbridge and moisture monitoring systems, and provide operators with clear HMI visibility of silo levels and system status. Aeration control systems that respond to grain temperature and humidity readings are a standard part of our grain storage automation work.
Rural water and irrigation infrastructure
Rural water schemes and irrigation infrastructure commonly use SCADAPack RTUs at pump stations and distribution points, communicating back to a central SCADA system via radio or cellular telemetry. These systems need to operate reliably in remote environments with variable power supply and limited connectivity.
We program and commission SCADAPack RTUs, configure telemetry communications, and develop SCADA systems for rural water and irrigation networks. For existing installations, we provide fault diagnosis and configuration support where the original programming needs to be modified or the communication infrastructure upgraded.
Cogeneration and biomass energy
Sugar mill cogeneration plant - burning bagasse to generate steam and electricity - requires integrated control across boiler combustion, steam turbines, alternators, and grid connection equipment. Control system faults on cogeneration plant affect both mill operations and power export, making reliability and fast fault response essential during the crushing season.
We work on cogeneration control systems covering boiler combustion management, turbine speed and load control, alternator synchronisation and protection, and grid export metering and reporting. Our work spans fault diagnosis, control system modifications, and commissioning support for new or upgraded biomass energy plant.