A LoRa sensor network for monitoring pastured livestock location and activity1

Abstract

Precision technologies for confinement animal agricultural systems have increased rapidly over the past decade, though precision technology solutions for pastured livestock remain limited. There are a number of reasons for this limited expansion of technologies for pastured animals, including networking availability and reliability, power requirements, and expense, among others. The objective of this work was to demonstrate a rapidly deployable long-range radio (LoRa) based, low-cost sensor suite that can be used to track location and activity of pastured livestock. The sensor is comprised of an inexpensive Arduino-compatible microprocessor, a generic MPU-9250 motion sensor which contains a 3-axis accelerometer, 3 -axis magnetometer, and a 3-axis gyroscope, a generic GPS receiver, and a RFM95W generic LoRa radio. The microprocessor can be programmed flexibly using the open source Arduino IDE software to adjust the frequency of sampling, the data packet to send, and what conditions are needed to operate. The LoRa radio transmits to a Dragino LoRa gateway which can also be flexibly programmed through the Arduino IDE software to send data to local storage or, in cases where a web or cellular connection is available, to cloud storage. The sensor was powered using a USB cord connected to a 3350 mAh lithium-ion battery pack. The Dragino gateway was programmed to upload data to the ThingSpeak IoT application programming interface for data storage, handling, and visualization. Evaluations showed minimal benefit associated with reducing sampling frequency as a strategy to preserve battery life. Packet loss ranged from 40 to 60%. In a 3 day evaluation on pastured sheep, the sensor suite was able to report GPS locations, inertial sensor readings, and temperature. Preliminary demonstrations of our system are satisfactory to detect animal location based on GPS data in real-time. This system has clear utility as a lower-cost strategy to deploy flexible, useful precision technologies for pasture-based livestock species.

VTag: a semi-supervised pipeline for tracking pig activity with a single top-view camera

“…In addition to improving the algorithm, adding information by wearable devices is also helpful to increase the monitoring precision. The devices, including motion sensors, magnetometers, gyroscopes, and GPS receivers, have been widely used to monitor behavioral patterns in large farming environments (i.e., pastures and barns) ( Chapa et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Nikodem, 2021 ; Perisho and Hajnal, 2021 ; dos Reis et al, 2021 ). Specifically, with the use of tracking collar wore by pastured livestock, grazing behaviors were successfully identified for cattle ( Brennan et al, 2021 ) and sheep ( dos Reis et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The devices, including motion sensors, magnetometers, gyroscopes, and GPS receivers, have been widely used to monitor behavioral patterns in large farming environments (i.e., pastures and barns) ( Chapa et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Nikodem, 2021 ; Perisho and Hajnal, 2021 ; dos Reis et al, 2021 ). Specifically, with the use of tracking collar wore by pastured livestock, grazing behaviors were successfully identified for cattle ( Brennan et al, 2021 ) and sheep ( dos Reis et al, 2021 ). The spatial resolution for outdoor studies was further improved to centimeter-level by coupling sensor collars with signal receivers deployed around the farm ( Li et al, 2021 ).…”

ASAS–NANP Symposium: Mathematical Modeling in Animal Nutrition: Opportunities and challenges of confined and extensive precision livestock production

“…As technological costs have come down for GPS technology, many commercially available options have become available for producers interested in tracking livestock. These devices can transmit livestock location using satellite communication technology or by sending data via long-range radio or “LoRa” communication to base stations ( dos Reis et al, 2021 ). The availability of real-time GPS tracking opens many applications to livestock producers.…”

IoT Technologies for Livestock Management: A Review of Present Status, Opportunities, and Future Trends

“…• Show that in distributed and dynamic cyber physical environment where IoT devices are adopted across several domains, privacy and security issues are inevitable. [96] • The study highlighted the CPS that is driven by big data analytics, deep learning-assisted smart planning process, and decision-making cognitive algorithms as a digital technology.…”

“…IoT-based LoRa network demonstrates field ready, rapidly deployable, and flexible capacity to monitor pastured livestock activity (i.e., behaviour) and location identification in expansive environments [96] • This network removes the bottlenecks of networking access that facilitates regular animal contact.…”