The Cowtech project aims to extend the IoT paradigm to rural areas with an important vocation for animal husbandry, in particular to those areas with a high percentage of dairy cattle.
Therefore, Cowtech’s goal will be pursued through the development of an automated system prototype based on a wireless network infrastructure and wearable sensors that allow for monitoring the behavior of dairy cows in order to improve their well-being and performance in the production and reproduction.
How we monitor
Our technology guarantees:
- Communications between the animal’s wearable devices and the collection infrastructure;
- Exchange of information between AMI (Animal Machine Interface) and ASU (Agricultural Side Unit);
- Collection of information from the ASUs to the Cloud;
- Fast and secure one-way communication;
- Use of the ISM 868 Mhz band;
- Use of low-power sensors for long and reliable operation (6LowPAN).
The network
The expected high number of devices in a LoWPAN makes automatic network configuration and statelessness highly desirable. And for this, IPv6 is a ready-to-use solution;
The large number of devices expected, especially in large-scale environments, raises the need for a large address space, well satisfied by IPv6;
Given the limited packet size of LoWPANs, the IPv6 address format allows for IEEE 802.15.4 addresses to be subsumed if highly desired;
Improvement of interconnectivity Simple mesh between gateways in large environments or single PAN coordinator in a star topology in a simple or single site development scenario;
Radio localization algorithm for stable applications combined with GPSS information in outdoor farms when the animals should graze;
Augmented reality to show the status of animals and the action of digital reports, prescriptions, nutrition, etc. via smartphone, tablet or smart glasses.
What we monitor
- Environmental parameters (temperature, pressure, humidity, brightness);
- Body temperatures;
- Animal activity;
- Rumination;
- Pedometer;
- Gait;
- Postures;
- Eating behavior;
- Animal welfare;
- Lameness;
- State of pregnancy and labor;
- Animal inspiration;
- Positioning (GPS and / or RADIO).
What results
- Improvement of reproduction rates;
- Early recognition of animal discomfort;
- Pregnancy and births under control;
- Optimization of the food flow;
- Production improvement.
