Ambulatory instrumentation suitable for long-term monitoring of cattle health

Near-field wireless magnetic link for an ingestible cattle health monitoring pill

Cattle health assessment is receiving increased attention due to threats that disease and bioterrorism pose to producer profits and to the safety of the food supply. Ingestible pill technology offers a promising means to obtain these physiologic data, since a bovine reticulum is an environment sheltered from outside elements that offers direct access to feed intake and heart/lung data. Traditional radio-frequency links are inappropriate for this application, as water absorption severely limits transmission ranges through tissue. This paper presents the initial design of a communications link that utilizes magnetic induction for signal transport and should be well-suited for a tissue medium. The link consists of a transmitter/receiver pair that employs loop antennae frequency matched at 125 kHz. Optimization of the link design offers the potential to achieve transmission distances of several feet through tissue.

Electrocardiographic pill for cattle heart rate determination

Decreased agricultural profit margins and recent bioterrorism concerns have led to an increased interest in monitoring livestock health. Heart rate and core body temperature are traditional vital parameters for cattle health assessment, as they provide warnings for illness and disease. However, obtaining these data in the field is time and labor intensive, which speaks to the need for solutions that provide continuous and automatic acquisition of these parameters. This paper presents the design of a pill that can remain in an animal's reticulum and use electrocardiographic techniques to ascertain heart rate. The wired prototype has been tested with a fistulated steer. These tests demonstrate that consistent heart vector data can be acquired even in the presence of animal movement and rumination. After minor processing, these signals are suitable for use with peak detection circuitry that can automate heart rate determination.