Low-Cost Livestock Global Positioning System Collar from Commercial Off-the-Shelf Parts

Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices are a fundamental technology for quantifying the distribution and movement of livestock across landscapes. Although costs of GPS devices have decreased, it is still cost prohibitive to implement a large number of collars per study. Our objective was t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRangeland ecology & management Vol. 72; no. 6; pp. 954 - 958
Main Authors Karl, Jason W., Sprinkle, James E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lawrence the Society for Range Management 01.11.2019
Elsevier Inc
Elsevier Limited
Subjects
Aluminum
animal tracking
Arduino
Collars
Commercial off-the-shelf technology
Communication
Cost analysis
Costs
Devices
Durability
Electronic components
Global Positioning System
Global positioning systems
GPS
GPS location
Hardware stores
Housing
Intervals
Libraries
Livestock
livestock distribution
Low cost
Microcontrollers
Polyvinyl chloride
Rangelands
Recording
Satellite navigation systems
Sleep
Tracking devices
GPS location
livestock distribution
Arduino
animal tracking
Global Positioning System
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Summary:Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices are a fundamental technology for quantifying the distribution and movement of livestock across landscapes. Although costs of GPS devices have decreased, it is still cost prohibitive to implement a large number of collars per study. Our objective was to develop and test a low-cost GPS collar using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components to study livestock distribution and movement. Our COTS GPS tracker was built using the popular Arduino open-source microcontroller and a low-power timer board to cycle a GPS at defined intervals. Location data were saved to a data card in an open format for easy analysis. Total cost per COTS GPS device (including housing and collar) was $54.78. Average displacement from a known location and 95% circular error probability was 4.58 m, commensurate with other GPS collars. We tested durability and field performance of 25 COTS GPS collars against 24 existing GPS collars recording data at 5-min intervals in a southwest Idaho, United States study area. Our COTS GPS design and test showed that it is possible to manufacture low-cost location tracking devices, but the limitations of such devices must be considered relative to study objectives and duration. Low-cost location trackers will encourage collection of a higher density of location information to better understand patterns of livestock use in rangeland landscapes.
ISSN:1550-7424
1551-5028
DOI:10.1016/j.rama.2019.08.003