High-tech herding: Exploring the use of IoT and UAV networks for improved health surveillance in dairy farm system

Abstract

The integration of IoT and UAVs in traditional farming has revolutionized operations, offering farmers increased output, better decision-making, and sustainability. This paper focuses on their use in dairy farming, aiming to enhance operational efficiency and health monitoring by providing real-time data for decision-making. The paper proposed an IoT-UAV system for cattle health monitoring. The proposed system is one in which IoT sensors on cattle gather health data, which is subsequently sent to UAVs for aerial surveillance and intervention. It evaluates two scenarios: one with 10 cattle and another with 50. Scenario 1 shows UAVs covering a large area with low overlap, while Scenario 2 focuses on close monitoring of cow clusters, with UAVs switching routes due to low energy. The cattle health status varies notably between the two scenarios. In Scenario 1, there's more diversity, with some cattle having higher health statuses around 0.9, while in Scenario 2, most fall into lower ranges, mainly between 0.2 and 0.6, indicating more uniformity. Additionally, UAV energy levels in Scenario 1 show considerable variation, from nearly full to around 20 %, suggesting energy depletion during observation. In Scenario 2, all UAVs maintain energy levels close to 100 %, indicating efficient and less frequent use compared to Scenario 1. Nearest Neighbor response plots show more uniform distances between cattle and UAVs in Scenario 2, where energy levels are considered, unlike in Scenario 1. This suggests a conservative approach to distance coverage, likely to conserve energy by avoiding long-distance travel.