International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks (May 2020)

A sensor-fusion-system for tracking sheep location and behaviour

  • Keni Ren,
  • Johannes Karlsson,
  • Markus Liuska,
  • Markku Hartikainen,
  • Inger Hansen,
  • Grete HM Jørgensen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1550147720921776
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16

Abstract

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The growing interest in precision livestock farming is prompted by a desire to understand the basic behavioural needs of the animals and optimize the contribution of each animal. The aim of this study was to develop a system that automatically generated individual animal behaviour and localization data in sheep. A sensor-fusion-system tracking individual sheep position and detecting sheep standing/lying behaviour was proposed. The mean error and standard deviation of sheep position performed by the ultra-wideband location system was 0.357 ± 0.254 m, and the sensitivity of the sheep standing and lying detection performed by infrared radiation cameras and three-dimenional computer vision technology were 98.16% and 100%, respectively. The proposed system was able to generate individual animal activity reports and the real-time detection was achieved. The system can increase the convenience for animal behaviour studies and monitoring of animal welfare in the production environment.