As you already know, Pessl Instruments started a CHAT project in the last quarter of the year 2018. Together with DunavNET and Zivko Sekulic Farm we are focusing on how can we improve the chicken breeding process. Last week our colleague Manu Arano Martinez visited the farm and installed the iMETOS devices. They will gather information with help of which we are hoping to improve and assure the animal well-being, in this case, chickens.

There are two different kinds of iMETOS devices installed: one is iMETOS ECO D3 – datalogger for environmental monitoring, other iMETOS CropVIEW – a camera system that is using state of art optical camera system supported with artificial intelligence software. Wrong temperature and relative humidity can result in respiratory, digestive and behavioral disorders and occur in houses in which the climatic conditions are not up to standard. With iMETOS ECO D3 in the poultry house, we keep a constant track of the right temperature and humidity and prevent the occurrence of the mentioned problems.

While iMETOS ECO D3 measures the right climatic conditions, iMETOS CropVIEW takes photos that are then sent and collected in FieldClimate platform. These photos help the farmer keep constant control of his animals. He can access the data at any time and from anywhere and check if for example there are any troubles with the feeding system or if there are any sick or injured chickens.

We are proud that we are a part of such an important project and are hoping that more and more farmers will decide to install and use the devices for their poultry or any other livestock production.

About the CHAT project
The main idea is to extend the functionality of several advanced micro-electronics devices and integrate them into a smart cloud-based system to create audio and video based stress detection of chicken on farms facilitating the improvement of the breeding process. The project will experiment with different deployment constellations, edge data processing and cloud-based machine learning and data analytics algorithms to detect stress patterns enabling early prevention of health hazards. But to achieve all mentioned, from design, through implementation and validation of the planned experiment, multidisciplinary team with adequate resources is required.

Pessl Instruments, DunavNET, and Zivko Sekulic Farm have complementary skills and resources and jointly make the complete set required for successful execution of the project. DunavNET will provide IoT solution design, machine learning competence and domain expertise in audio processing and poultry breeding, Pessl Instruments will provide hardware solutions while the Zivko Sekulic farm will provide the testing environment, support with experience and help promote the outcomes of the project.

Our Role in the Project
Based on extensive experience in adapting hardware functionality Pessl Instruments will provide IoT devices, namely iMETOS® ECO D3 data loggers for environmental monitoring, iMETOS CropVIEW® for remote image monitoring, the access to data through our API and the representation of data on FieldClimate platform.

CHAT (Chicken Health Assesment Toolset) is funded as part of H2020 project DIATOMIC under number 761809.