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Virtual cattle fence powered by Nordic cellular IoT and Bluetooth LE delivers sustainable farming solution
04
Nov
2024
2024
Oslo, Norway
Monil Collar employs nRF9160 SiP and nRF52833 SoC to deliver precise cattle position monitoring and smartphone connectivity for effective herd management
A cellular IoT and Bluetooth® LE-powered cattle collar that eliminates the need for traditional farm fencing while simultaneously monitoring the well-being of grazing animals has been launched by Norwegian technology company, Monil. The ‘Monil Collar’ can be comfortably fitted to the neck of grazing cattle and employs Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF9160 SiP and nRF52833 SoC to provide cellular IoT and Bluetooth LE connectivity. This wireless connectivity enables farmers to establish virtual fences and then monitor cattle in near real time to ensure they stay within the set boundaries. Integrated sensors also allow farmers to remotely review data that could indicate concerns for livestock wellbeing.
Once fitted to the neck of the animal, farmers can use the Monil smartphone app to define the grazing area. When a cow approaches the virtual boundary, the collar emits a sound. If the cow ignores the sound, a gentle electrical pulse is applied. After three rounds of sounds and electrical pulses, the system stops and the farmer gets an immediate notification that the cow has escaped. A training period of up to 10 days enables cows to understand the signals and thereafter graze within the planned and unfenced areas.
“As the demand grows to produce more food in a greener way, we rely on farmers and grazing animals—along with new technology—to achieve it,” says Geir Morten Mellem, CTO at Monil. “Using the Nordic Semiconductor-powered Monil Collar, farmers can have access to free food for the animals, either through better use of existing fields or opening up previously inaccessible areas. Perhaps the biggest value for the farmer is the peace of mind knowing about the animal’s well-being and where they are.”
Powerful processor enables diagnostics
In addition to providing animal location data, the device integrates a range of sensors to provide device diagnostics as well as animal well-being information. For example, the integrated inertial measurement unit can confirm if an animal is stationary for an extended period which might indicate injury. The Monil Collar employs the nRF9160 SiP’s powerful 64 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor with generous 1 MB Flash and 256 KB RAM to collect and process sensor data. Using the nRF9160 SiP’s multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT modem, the device transmits the collected data and the animal’s location data to the Cloud, where it can then be accessed by the farmer via the app.
Power consumption was a key consideration behind the decision to use the nRF9160 SiP for the Monil Collar, and Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II was very useful for ensuring we created a low power product
Geir Morten Mellem, CTO at Monil
Powered by harvested solar energy
Powered by a Li-poly battery, the device can be recharged using harvested solar energy, and deployed Monil Collars still had more than 90 percent battery life after four months continuous use, even in shorter autumn daylight hours. The ultra-low power consumption of the nRF9160 SiP was crucial for the device’s ability to operate on solar power. The SiP supports both PSM and eDRX power saving modes. For both LTE-M and NB-IoT the PSM floor current is as low as 2.7 µA, and with an eDRX interval of 655 s the average current is 6 µA for LTE-M and 9 µA for NB-IoT.
“Power consumption was a key consideration behind the decision to use the nRF9160 SiP for the Monil Collar, and Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II was very useful for ensuring we created a low power product,” continues Mellem. “Also from a development point of view Nordic provides good hardware design documentation and support, while the nRF Connect SDK enabled us to keep our software development on a single platform for both the nRF9160 SiP and the nRF52833 SoC.”
