Implantable Measurement System for Dairy-Cattle Monitoring with Long Recording Time

摘要

This paper describes a new implantable measurement system, further developed from an implantable measurement device implemented earlier at Tampere University of Technology (TUT), to assess the psychophysiological state of well-being of dairy-cattle. By measuring single-channel Electrocardiogram (ECG), body temperature and cattle activity we provide veterinarians and animal scientists with a tool to assess cattle stress levels and well-being. This information can, for example, be linked to cattle milk production. The new device processes the ECG signal in real-time to derive the heart rate along with a wireless radio frequency transmission of the data from the implant to a receiver device attached near or on the cattle. By collecting the data through a wireless link we are able to extend the recording period from three weeks of the earlier version of the device up to 3 months. The algorithm for the ECG peak detection is a modified version of the Pan-Tompkins algorithm optimized for cattle application with ECG recordings based on several hundred hours of data collected from previous experiments and recordings. The implantable system was tested with in vivo trials in April 2012.