{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T08:26:05Z","timestamp":1777537565313,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]],"date-time":"2023-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1684368000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Union (NextGeneration EU)","award":["E63C22000900006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["E63C22000900006"]}]},{"name":"European Union (NextGeneration EU)","award":["CODE_ECS00000022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CODE_ECS00000022"]}]},{"name":"European Union (NextGeneration EU)","award":["CN00000022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CN00000022"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the field of precision livestock farming, many systems have been developed to identify the position of each cow of the herd individually in a specific environment. Challenges still exist in assessing the adequacy of the available systems to monitor individual animals in specific environments, and in the design of new systems. The main purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance of the SEWIO ultrawide-band (UWB) real time location system for the identification and localisation of cows during their activity in the barn through preliminary analyses in laboratory conditions. The objectives included the quantification of the errors performed by the system in laboratory conditions, and the assessment of the suitability of the system for real time monitoring of cows in dairy barns. The position of static and dynamic points was monitored in different experimental set-ups in the laboratory by the use of six anchors. Then, the errors related to a specific movement of the points were computed and statistical analyses were carried out. In detail, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied in order to assess the equality of the errors for each group of points in relation to their positions or typology, i.e., static or dynamic. In the post-hoc analysis, the errors were separated by Tukey\u2019s honestly significant difference at p &gt; 0.05. The results of the research quantify the errors related to a specific movement (i.e., static and dynamic points) and the position of the points (i.e., central area, perimeter of the investigated area). Based on the results, specific information is provided for the installation of the SEWIO in dairy barns as well as the monitoring of the animal behaviour in the resting area and the feeding area of the breeding environment. The SEWIO system could be a valuable support for farmers in herd management and for researchers in the analysis of animal behavioural activities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23104873","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]],"date-time":"2023-05-18T08:09:44Z","timestamp":1684397384000},"page":"4873","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Assessment of a UWB Real Time Location System for Dairy Cows\u2019 Monitoring"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Provvidenza Rita","family":"D\u2019Urso","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A)\u2014Building and Land Engineering Section, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia n\u00b0 100, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4639-6229","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claudia","family":"Arcidiacono","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A)\u2014Building and Land Engineering Section, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia n\u00b0 100, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5810-4801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matti","family":"Pastell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Cascone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A)\u2014Building and Land Engineering Section, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia n\u00b0 100, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7489","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2016-11014","article-title":"Technical note: Validation of a commercial system for the continuous and automated monitoring of dairy cow activity","volume":"99","author":"Tullo","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"McDonagh, J., Tzimiropoulos, G., Slinger, K.R., Huggett, Z.J., Down, P.M., and Bell, M.J. (2021). Detecting Dairy Cow Behavior Using Vision Technology. Agriculture, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/agriculture11070675"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2020.07.019","article-title":"Image analysis for individual identification and feeding behaviour monitoring of dairy cows based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)","volume":"198","author":"Achour","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2015.08.028","article-title":"Sound analysis in dairy cattle vocalisation as a potential welfare monitor","volume":"118","author":"Meen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100432","DOI":"10.1016\/j.animal.2021.100432","article-title":"A machine vision system to predict individual cow feed intake of different feeds in a cowshed","volume":"16","author":"Saar","year":"2022","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"118550","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2022.118550","article-title":"CowXNet: An automated cow estrus detection system","volume":"211","author":"Lodkaew","year":"2023","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106610","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2021.106610","article-title":"Predicting livestock behaviour using accel-erometers: A systematic review of processing techniques for ruminant behaviour prediction from raw accelerometer data","volume":"192","author":"Riaboff","year":"2022","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2017.01.021","article-title":"Development of a threshold-based classifier for real-time recognition of cow feeding and standing behavioural activities from accelerometer data","volume":"134","author":"Arcidiacono","year":"2017","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Leso, L., Becciolini, V., Rossi, G., Camiciottoli, S., and Barbari, M. (2021). Validation of a Commercial Collar-Based Sensor for Monitoring Eating and Ruminating Behaviour of Dairy Cows. Animals, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11102852"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2007.08.014","article-title":"ALT pedometer\u2014New sensor-aided measurement system for improvement in oestrus detection","volume":"62","author":"Brehme","year":"2008","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"734","DOI":"10.1016\/j.theriogenology.2014.06.010","article-title":"Comparison of three devices for the automated detection of estrus in dairy cows","volume":"82","author":"Chanvallon","year":"2014","journal-title":"Theriogenology"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2010.12.014","article-title":"Oestrus detection in dairy cows from activity and lying data using on-line individual models","volume":"76","author":"Blanke","year":"2011","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2010.03.006","article-title":"Wireless indoor tracking network based on Kalman filters with an application to monitoring dairy cows","volume":"72","author":"Munksgaard","year":"2010","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2006.12.004","article-title":"Accuracy and validation of a radar-based automatic local position measurement system for tracking dairy cows in free-stall barns","volume":"56","author":"Gygax","year":"2007","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Ipema, A.H., Van De Ven, T., and Hogewerf, P.H.H. (2013, January 10\u201312). Validation and application of an indoor localization system for animals. Proceedings of the Precision Livestock Farming 2013-Papers, 6th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, Leuven, Belgium."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6529","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2013-6747","article-title":"Technical note: A novel approach to the detection of estrus in dairy cows using ultra-wideband technology","volume":"96","author":"Homer","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3969","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2016-11853","article-title":"Short communication: Early modification of the circadian organization of cow activity in relation to disease or estrus","volume":"100","author":"Veissier","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"182","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2018.07.005","article-title":"A hidden Markov model to estimate the time dairy cows spend in feeder based on indoor positioning data","volume":"152","author":"Pastell","year":"2018","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2219","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2016-11527","article-title":"Technical note: Evaluation of an ear-attached real-time location monitoring system","volume":"100","author":"Wolfger","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"3","article-title":"Validation of automatically processed position data for evaluation of the behaviour of dairy cows","volume":"70","author":"Haidn","year":"2015","journal-title":"LANDTECHNIK 2015\u2013Agricult. Eng."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102139","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sysarc.2021.102139","article-title":"Tracking and analysing social interactions in dairy cattle with real-time locating system and machine learning","volume":"116","author":"Ren","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Syst. Arch."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"583715","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2020.583715","article-title":"Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences","volume":"7","author":"Chopra","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Veter. Sci."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Tucker, C. (2018). Advances in Cattle Welfare, Woodhead Publishing."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Leso, L., Ozella, L., Camiciottoli, S., Becciolini, V., and Barbari, M. (September, January 29). Validation of proximity sensors to monitor social proximity in dairy cows: A pilot study. Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, ECPLF 2022, Vienna, Austria."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"D\u2019Urso, P.R., Arcidiacono, C., and Cascone, G. (2021). Environmental and Animal-Related Parameters and the Emissions of Ammonia and Methane from an Open-Sided Free-Stall Barn in Hot Mediterranean Climate: A Preliminary Study. Agronomy, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/agronomy11091772"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"D\u2019Urso, P.R., Arcidiacono, C., Valenti, F., and Cascone, G. (2021). Assessing Influence Factors on Daily Ammonia and Greenhouse Gas Concentrations from an Open-Sided Cubicle Barn in Hot Mediterranean Climate. Animals, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11051400"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104334","DOI":"10.1016\/j.livsci.2020.104334","article-title":"Precision dairy monitoring technologies use in disease detection: Differences in behavioral and physiological variables measured with precision dairy monitoring technologies between cows with or without metritis, hyperketonemia, and hypocalcemia","volume":"244","author":"Tsai","year":"2021","journal-title":"Livest. Sci."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100730","DOI":"10.1016\/j.animal.2023.100730","article-title":"Improved cattle behaviour monitoring by combining Ultra-Wideband location and accelerometer data","volume":"17","author":"Benaissa","year":"2023","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cabezas, J., Yubero, R., Visitaci\u00f3n, B., Navarro-Garc\u00eda, J., Algar, M.J., Cano, E.L., and Ortega, F. (2022). Analysis of Accelerometer and GPS Data for Cattle Behaviour Identification and Anomalous Events Detection. Entropy, 24.","DOI":"10.3390\/e24030336"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Riaboff, L., Couvreur, S., Madouasse, A., Roig-Pons, M., Aubin, S., Massabie, P., Chauvin, A., B\u00e9d\u00e8re, N., and Plantier, G. (2020). Use of Predicted Behavior from Accelerometer Data Combined with GPS Data to Explore the Relationship between Dairy Cow Behavior and Pasture Characteristics. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20174741"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"776","DOI":"10.3390\/dairy3040053","article-title":"Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare\u2014A Review","volume":"3","author":"Hofstra","year":"2022","journal-title":"Dairy"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105250","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2020.105250","article-title":"High precision real-time location estimates in a real-life barn environment using a commercial ultra wideband chip","volume":"170","author":"Hindermann","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106280","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2021.106280","article-title":"Validation of a real-time location system for zone assignment and neighbor detection in dairy cow groups","volume":"187","author":"Melzer","year":"2021","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2017.08.019","article-title":"Image analysis to refine measurements of dairy cow behaviour from a real-time location system","volume":"173","author":"Meunier","year":"2018","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-animal-020518-114851","article-title":"Smart Animal Agriculture: Application of Real-Time Sensors to Improve Animal Well-Being and Production","volume":"7","author":"Guarino","year":"2019","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Anim. Biosci."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2014.08.001","article-title":"Localisation and identification performances of a real-time location system based on ultra wide band technology for monitoring and tracking dairy cow behaviour in a semi-open free-stall barn","volume":"108","author":"Porto","year":"2014","journal-title":"Comput. Electron. Agric."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"(2019, May 27). RTLS Advanced Guide. Sewio Documentation. Available online: https:\/\/docs.sewio.net\/docs\/documentation-3244116.html."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Frondelius, L., Pastell, M., and Mononen, J. (2014, January 27\u201329). Validation of the TrackLab positioning system in a cow barn environment. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"399","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2006.11.013","article-title":"Evaluation of Instrumentation for Cow Positioning and Tracking Indoors","volume":"96","author":"Huhtala","year":"2007","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"D\u2019Urso, P.R., Arcidiacono, C., and Cascone, G. (2022). Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-Food Systems: Ragusa SHWA 2021, Springer International Publishing."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-98092-4_10","article-title":"The effect of microclimate conditions on ammonia emissions from an open-sided dairy barn during spring","volume":"252","author":"Arcidiacono","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lect. Notes Civ. Eng."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/10\/4873\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T19:37:50Z","timestamp":1760125070000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/10\/4873"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]]},"references-count":41,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5]]}},"alternative-id":["s23104873"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s23104873","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]]}}}