Assessment of a UWB Real Time Location System for Dairy Cows’ Monitoring

Abstract

In the field of precision livestock farming, many systems have been developed to identify the position of each cow of the herd individually in a specific environment. Challenges still exist in assessing the adequacy of the available systems to monitor individual animals in specific environments, and in the design of new systems. The main purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance of the SEWIO ultrawide-band (UWB) real time location system for the identification and localisation of cows during their activity in the barn through preliminary analyses in laboratory conditions. The objectives included the quantification of the errors performed by the system in laboratory conditions, and the assessment of the suitability of the system for real time monitoring of cows in dairy barns. The position of static and dynamic points was monitored in different experimental set-ups in the laboratory by the use of six anchors. Then, the errors related to a specific movement of the points were computed and statistical analyses were carried out. In detail, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied in order to assess the equality of the errors for each group of points in relation to their positions or typology, i.e., static or dynamic. In the post-hoc analysis, the errors were separated by Tukey’s honestly significant difference at p > 0.05. The results of the research quantify the errors related to a specific movement (i.e., static and dynamic points) and the position of the points (i.e., central area, perimeter of the investigated area). Based on the results, specific information is provided for the installation of the SEWIO in dairy barns as well as the monitoring of the animal behaviour in the resting area and the feeding area of the breeding environment. The SEWIO system could be a valuable support for farmers in herd management and for researchers in the analysis of animal behavioural activities.

Quantification of play behaviour in calves using automated ultra-wideband location data and its association with age, weaning and health status

“…The Ultra-wideband Sewio Leonardo iMU tracking sensors (Noldus, Wageningen, the Netherlands) 24 were attached to each individual calf via a collar with a counterweight to help to maintain the position of the sensors. These UWB sensors served as transmitters sending out blinks to the anchors to calculate the tag position 30 . UWB sensors were able to obtain the position of the calves by using the time difference of the arrival of the RF signals, which provides the distance between the reference point and the sensor 31 .…”

A Review on Information Technologies Applicable to Precision Dairy Farming: Focus on Behavior, Health Monitoring, and the Precise Feeding of Dairy Cows

“…In addition, D'Urso et al (2023) designed the SEWIO ultrawide-band (UWB) real-time location system for the identification and localization of cows in barns and in laboratory conditions. It has been reported that the SEWIO UWB system was useful for locating an animal's position in the barn and for measuring time spent in a specific area in the barn [28]. However, it is necessary to verify the usability of vocalizations in identifying individual cows' in-field conditions in future studies.…”