As the number of Internet of Things (IoT) wireless devices increases, exchanging and sampling
data among the devices and data centers is becoming more important more than ever. This is significantly
true when a direct internet
connection is either intermittent or unavailable. In the cattle collar capstone
project, it is expected to create an electronic device that addresses the most pressing problem of data
sampling, compression, transfer,
and interpretation within unreliable networks, building on existing
networked sensing technology.
Building a low-cost collar which includes animal tracking, data collecting, and transferring recorded data
from unreliable networks is a major part of this project. To accomplish the above-mentioned capabilities,
it
is important to use several technologies and circuitry when designing the desired collar device.
Choosing a suitable microcontroller, choosing a suitable networking system, and choosing the required
hardware
peripherals are the most critical primary stages of this project.
In the cattle collar project, there are two main systems that are needed to be accomplished to gain a fully
successful, functioning device as required.
Hardware and software systems are the two main system
categories in this project. Where hardware system includes all the device building processes and integrating
all necessary hardware to facilitates required
software system supports. On the other hand, the software
system includes all the programming required to use the hardware peripheral coordinately, website
(designing, creating, launching, & maintaining), data
storing and data manipulating (in order to output
necessary information to the user). The function of the total system can be elaborate in a simple flow chart
as shown below.
1. Developing 4 nodes (including 3 collar devices and 1 stationary node)
2. Implementing a firmware to support hardware and to achieve the required functionality
(developing algorithms to coordinate in-between devices
and share data in different scenarios)
3. Collect and store data in order to process and create valuable information
The main objective of the design is to create a final product that is adaptable for different needs
as mentioned above.
To accomplish this, we designated various subsystems that we believe to be crucial to the success of the project.
The micrcontroller interface with the sensors and collect data . The Data
is collected by the sensors attached around
the cattle collar device, and sent back to the collecting stations to be processed. Calculations are done, and
at the end of a stationary node, data is recorded locally
to the client’s PC or desired memory.
Diagram shown below is a simple breakdown of the project which shows the subsystems,
