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Development of an Audio and Video Observation and Recording Platform for Data Collection in a Broiler Growout Environment

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  2012 Dallas, Texas, July 29 - August 1, 2012  121338172.(doi:10.13031/2013.42185)
Authors:   Simeon D Harbert, Douglas F Britton, Wayne D.R Daley, David V Anderson, Guillermo Colon, Matthew Giannelli, Erin Hanson
Keywords:   Video monitoring, Animal Welfare, Poultry, Vocalizations

While sensors exist for monitoring the environmental conditions within a poultry growout house, there are currently no systems that directly use bird vocalizations or behavior to indicate the health and welfare of a flock. As part of a research effort to explore this possibility, an experimental system was designed to collect audio, video, temperature, and humidity data for the entire six-week growout cycle of a flock of broiler chickens. The system consists of a Linux-based personal computer platform, two Shure condenser microphones, four video cameras, two temperature sensors, and a relative humidity sensor. A custom software application was developed to manage, record, and compress the data from the sensors, and it includes a graphic user interface where ammonia levels and other activities within the growout house could be logged manually. This paper describes in detail the design, configuration and operation of the integrated system along with considerations for data management and analysis. Overall the design has proven to be robust, and the operation relatively straight forward. Since the research is ongoing, the system continues to be improved for use in future data collection activities.

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