Research platform for cattle virtual fences

Abstract

Prior work in virtual fences has proposed different schemes to keep cattle confined within a remotely configured perimeter. These techniques share a common pattern that consists in placing an electronic device in the animal capable of applying a stimulation when it approaches the pre-established limits. The method of stimulation most widely used is electric shocks. This work proposes a solution compatible with animal welfare, which avoids electric shocks, based only on sound and tactile stimuli (using a buzzer and a vibrating motor, respectively). For this, a system was developed consisting in an electronic device that is placed on the animal's neck, and has the capacity to stimulate and send information wirelessly; a central server that is able to receive, process and store that information; and a graphical user interface, where the animal's location can be visualized and several parameters can be configured to evaluate different virtual confinement techniques. Preliminary tests performed on animals suggest that the stimuli used is aversive, so it is inferred that they could achieve their goal after a period of training. The research on the effectiveness of the proposed confinement techniques using our platform should be carried out in a next stage.