Comparing three different passive RFID systems for behaviour monitoring in grow-finish pigs

Animal facilities are increasing in size making it difficult for animal caretakers to
ensure the health and well-being of all animals under their care. Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) systems have been successfully used in animal facilities
and research has identified potential applications in behaviour monitoring for
automated problem detection. Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF), and
Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) are the three frequency ranges most commonly
used. The objective of this paper is to compare and evaluate the application of
these three different RFID systems within grow-finish swine facilities in terms of
hardware characteristics, system design, and data processing and usage.
Differences in tag construction, availability and cost are evident, but also basic
differences in reader and antenna function, such as physics of data exchange,
speed of detection, and anti-collision procedures exist. The systems can have
significant differences in read ranges and also showed varying influence of
materials, especially water and metal, on the performance of the systems.
However, the data streams as well as methods of data processing and the creation
of events (e.g. visits to a feeder) are similar for all systems. The characteristics
mentioned do not necessarily identify an ideal RFID technology, but reveal
positive and negative aspects of each system. The three different RFID systems
have been successfully applied in pig facilities. Current research is focussed on
the utilisation of the RFID data in prediction and decision models for illness,
animal welfare and management actions.