Towards Adopting Intelligent Livestock Tracking System: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study presents a Global Positioning System (3G/GPS), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) technology and mobile application-based animal tracking system (MINTack). The tracking system is made up of two major components, the sensing device and the tracking device. The database was designed with Microsoft SQL server which sits at the base of the system and stores the tracking information. Location data of the animal are sent from the sensing device through the 3G/GPS/GSM/GPRS to the API. The Application Programming Interface (APIs) is implemented using Microsoft .Net Web API written in C# (C Sharp) language. The mobile application was interfaced with the GSM module. The technology was able to acquire information from a wide range of sensors attached to animals in form of location data (Longitude, Latitude and time) and which transferred the GPS location data to a remote storage. The results of the pilot study conducted showed a unique movement in the movement pattern of the animals. There were consistent three clusters indicating the points where the animal graze or rest during the day. International Standard Organization (ISO) usability standards were used for the evaluation of the system. The analysis result shows more than 80% of the respondents agreed that the technology is a good innovation and 50% agreed to adopt and use the technology if made available to them. With this technology, we can track an animal in the zoo or national parks of thousands of kilometers in length and also provide a real-time update of the location of the animal.