Design and implementation of automatic monitoring system for layers production parameters

Abstract: In order to identify and avoid risks during the breeding process of laying hens, it is necessary to acquire real-time and continuous data of laying hens' physiology and production parameters. At present, data acquisition and processing is mainly dependent on the manual mode, which is a very costly and time consuming process. Meanwhile, the data obtained from human observation involves strong subjectivity, which could be disadvantageous for carrying out accurate, stable, and continuous recording. In addition, the manual mode of data measurement will affect the living environment and physiological state of laying hens, and even cause stress reactions. This will, in turn, affect the accuracy of data monitoring. Therefore, if there is an approach to collect all kinds of physiology and production parameters of laying hens in the natural state, the acquired data will be more accurate and closer to the actual situation of the testing objects.On the basis of previous studies, this paper proposes an automatic data monitoring system for laying hens' production parameters based on the sensor network technology. This system can collect 6 types of production parameters by using a multiple-sensor module, including food intake, water intake, excretion volume, egg production time, egg quantity, and egg quality. After an information integration process using a microprocessor, the acquired data will be transmitted back to the server end through the network. Thus, the remote data acquisition and the visualized data processing are realized under natural conditions. The author adopted the design method of man-machine engineering, and organically combined traditional cages with a sensor system. This new structure design ensures that each cage only holds one laying hen, and each hen has its own feed tank, water tank, egg collection plate, and excretion collection plate. The system therefore enables data acquisition of individual laying hens. The cages are built in modules, which is friendly for scale production, transportation, installation, and customization. In terms of data communication, this system applies the transmitter technology and expands the node access quantity of the RS 485 bus. The number of laying hens that can be simultaneously monitored on a single bus is up to 500. The data acquisition server reads the measurements of each sensor periodically by using the polling method. This paper discusses the factors influencing of the polling cycle, and provides a formula to determine its appropriate value. The paper also elaborates on the communication process between server and sensor, and describes the working principles of the sensors for food intake, water intake, excretion volume, egg production time, egg quantity, and egg quality respectively. Then data processing results are visualized in a variety of forms and tables.The results indicated that this system operates stably; the average relative error of food intake, water intake, excretion volume, and egg quality is below 0.2%. This study significantly improves the accuracy of data monitoring, and provides a new method and approach for the acquisition and analysis of scientific data. It also establishes meaningful references for the further research of automatic and interference-free data acquisition technology of laying hens during the breeding process.