1. Livestock Management System
Peter Tucker, Leslie Grace Parker, James Foulkes, Rebecca Curtis, Mariflor Caronan
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I. INTRODUCTION
In 2010, the U.S. consumed approximately 26.4 billion pounds of beef putting the
retail equivalent value of the entire beef cattle industry around 74 billion U.S. dollars. Along with
beef production, comes the loss of profit due to factors such as bovine respiratory disease and
other illnesses. Traditional ways of monitoring a herd of cattle does not suffice for early
detection of a developing ailment. The focus of this Research Undergraduate Experience (REU)
project is to develop a wireless monitoring system that will ensure the cattle producer an
accurate data of different vital signs significant to identify emerging signs of sickness and cattle
tracking to prevent diseases from spreading.
Several researches have been done in the past by universities and private
organizations. With the help of multiple wireless sensors marketed for animal monitoring,
researches generally focused on the following categories:
A. Temperature
One sensory device used to measure the cow’s temperature is called a FeverTag which is a
tympanic thermometer device pinned to the ear with a probe inserted in the lower ear canal.
This device flashes an indicator light when the temperature is greater than a set temperature
such as 103.6°F [8]. Another sensory device used commercially is the CorTemp bolus, a large
pill-like device, placed in a second stomach near the heart called the reticulum to measure core
body temperature [1].

2. B. Heart Rate
Not only has the bolus been used to measure core body temperature, but it has also been
used to measure heart rate. The bolus has been designed to identify the beginning of each
pulse using a small waterproof microphone so that the times between consecutive pulses can
be determined and then converted into a pulse rate [6]. Heart rate has also been previously
monitored using a polar heart belt which acquires an animal’s heart vector using a standard set
of electrodes, which makes it impractical for long term usage [1].
C. Respiration
One device that has been used to measure cattle respiration utilizes a thermistor attached to
a nose stud in the animal’s nostril. The temperature of the thermistor increases with respect to
the ambient temperature as the animal exhales. The respiration rate can then be calculated by
recording the number of times per minute the temperature rises and falls [7].
D. Tracking Unit Locations
The most common methods of guiding and tracking remote systems are based on the idea of
triangulation. Triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring
the time difference of arrival of a signal to three different receivers. Currently the most common
usage of a triangulation like technology is in GPS systems that determine a position based on
information from multiple satellites.
II. Wireless Livestock Monitoring
System
In order to offer farmers an efficient method of managing their livestock from the comfort of
their homes, this project aims to employ a low power wireless system of networks to relay health
and location data from the herd of cattle back to the farmer’s workstation. Where a farmer may
have difficulty managing the herd 24 hours a day, a wireless network of sensors would be able
to track and monitor the well-being of each cattle continually and report all data back to a central
PC. Proposed sensors would monitor pulse and respiration, humidity and location information in
order to alert the farmers of any abnormalities such as: cattle leaving the specified grazing
areas, early signs of illnesses, drastic change in body temperature or heart rate, dehydration,
and many others concerns related to the well-being of cattle.
A. Sensor Selection

3. i. Cattle Temperature
Numerous temperature sensors are available for animal use. For this project, a waterproof
programmable resolution 1-wire digital thermometer is used to measure the cattle’s core
temperature. It is inserted into the cow’s ear canal in such a way that is not harmful to the
animal. Temperature readings will be taken every hour and sent to memory.
ii. Location’s Humidity
After reviewing different sensors that measures outdoor temperature, a digital relative
humidity and temperature sensor was chosen. Besides the sensor being inexpensive, it offers
relative humidity measurements. The sensor uses a calibration-coefficient to give a calibrated
digital signal that makes the interpretation of data easier. It transmits 16 bits of relative humidity
data and 16 bits of temperature data both binary represented. A program is created to convert
these binary numbers to decimal values for the farmer’s use. The sensors measures 15.1 x 7.7
x 25.1 mm that makes it suited for the project’s purpose of minimizing each access point’s size.
It is also comprised with low power consumption and longer transmission distance which helps
ensure lengthier data transmission eliminating the frequent battery change.
Every data transmission is encrypted in a data log, which is accessible for health references.
It can be used to compare with the cattle’s recorded data if unusual high temperature patterns is
noticed as cattles tend to record higher temperature readings affected by the surrounding’s
temperature.
iii. Pulse and Respiration
The leading cause of illness in cattle is respiratory diseases which is generally first detected
by high core temperatures, analyzed by their blood oxygen levels and respiration. The cattle’s
heart rate and respiration readings were taken from a pulse oximeter. The reflective blood
sensor was clamped on the cow’s ear where there is a high degree of superficial vasculature.
The reflective sensor provides an estimation of blood flow by measuring the dynamic
attenuation of visual or infrared light by the blood volume present in tissue.
B. Communication Links
i. Ear Tag
ii. AccessPoint
iii. Base Station
The base station consists of a non-programmable Xbee that is plugged in to the farmer’s
personal computer via USB. Its primary purpose is to: receive, prioritize and store the
transmitted data from the access points; dispatch the information to the central PC which is then
utilized by LabVIEW and established in the outer interface for the cattle owner to view.

4. C. Power Supply for Ear Tags
D. Software Integration
The graphic user interface serves as the simplified version of all the gathered data from each
access point and ear tag. Due to less complex structuring, compared to writing lines of codes,
LabVIEW was chosen to create the interface where the farmer could access the herd’s vital
signs and location. It is comprised of a front panel and a block diagram panel, each displaying
different functions in different forms. The front panel provides buttons, LED indicators, box
containers and tabs while in the block diagram represents the objects as a schematic diagram.
Unlike softwares such as Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studios, LabVIEW uses picture icons to
represent a list of commands and functions rather than entering words as functions. However, it
provides similar functions as every programming language has. Each function is connected with
different colored strings differentiating array, boolean, string and numerical data being
transferred. This helps to track the type of data coming in and out of individual stages of the
interface.
PUT LABVIEW SNAPSHOT (block diagram)
From the ear tags to the access points to the Xbee, the relayed data is interpreted in LabVIEW.
Individual information in specific memory banks are picked up using the VISA function, which is
simulated through out the schematic diagram and utilized.
To monitor the cattle herd, four tabs are available for viewing presenting the position of each
cattle on the field, a table of temperature, heart and pulse rate, GPS and a weather forecaster.
An alarm is also set-up to alert the farmer if any cattle is out of the fence and if one has high
temperature. In addition, a text box is provided for the user’s input and comments in events of
unsual behavior for future reference.
III. Discussion
IV. Result
V. Conclusion
VI. Future Direction