{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T16:23:47Z","timestamp":1787243027877,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]],"date-time":"2022-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642204800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001711","name":"Swiss National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["310030_189056"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["310030_189056"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001711","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tracking technologies offer a way to monitor movement of many individuals over long time periods with minimal disturbances and could become a helpful tool for a variety of uses in animal agriculture, including health monitoring or selection of breeding traits that benefit welfare within intensive cage-free poultry farming. Herein, we present an active, low-frequency tracking system that distinguishes between five predefined zones within a commercial aviary. We aimed to evaluate both the processed and unprocessed datasets against a \u201cground truth\u201d based on video observations. The two data processing methods aimed to filter false registrations, one with a simple deterministic approach and one with a tree-based classifier. We found the unprocessed data accurately determined birds\u2019 presence\/absence in each zone with an accuracy of 99% but overestimated the number of transitions taken by birds per zone, explaining only 23% of the actual variation. However, the two processed datasets were found to be suitable to monitor the number of transitions per individual, accounting for 91% and 99% of the actual variation, respectively. To further evaluate the tracking system, we estimated the error rate of registrations (by applying the classifier) in relation to three factors, which suggested a higher number of false registrations towards specific areas, periods with reduced humidity, and periods with reduced temperature. We concluded that the presented tracking system is well suited for commercial aviaries to measure individuals\u2019 transitions and individuals\u2019 presence\/absence in predefined zones. Nonetheless, under these settings, data processing remains a necessary step in obtaining reliable data. For future work, we recommend the use of automatic calibration to improve the system\u2019s performance and to envision finer movements.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22020659","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,16]],"date-time":"2022-01-16T20:45:21Z","timestamp":1642365921000},"page":"659","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Evaluation of an Active LF Tracking System and Data Processing Methods for Livestock Precision Farming in the Poultry Sector"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Camille Marie","family":"Montalcini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits (ZTHZ), Division of Animal Welfare, VPH Institute, University of Bern, Burgerweg 22, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bernhard","family":"Voelkl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Animal Welfare, VPH Institute, University of Bern, L\u00e4ngassstrasse 120, 3012 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1444-2988","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yamenah","family":"G\u00f3mez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits (ZTHZ), Division of Animal Welfare, VPH Institute, University of Bern, Burgerweg 22, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6366-3835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Gantner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gantner Pigeon Systems GmbH, 6780 Schruns, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8185-3002","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael J.","family":"Toscano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits (ZTHZ), Division of Animal Welfare, VPH Institute, University of Bern, Burgerweg 22, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schillings, J., Bennett, R., and Rose, D.C. (2021). Exploring the Potential of Precision Livestock Farming Technologies to Help Address Farm Animal Welfare. Front. Anim. Sci., 2.","DOI":"10.3389\/fanim.2021.639678"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.20506\/rst.33.1.2273","article-title":"Precision Livestock Farming Technologies for Welfare Management in Intensive Livestock Systems","volume":"33","author":"Berckmans","year":"2014","journal-title":"Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Herlin, A., Brunberg, E., Hultgren, J., H\u00f6gberg, N., Rydberg, A., and Skarin, A. (2021). Animal Welfare Implications of Digital Tools for Monitoring and Management of Cattle and Sheep on Pasture. Animals, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11030829"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"770","DOI":"10.2527\/jas.2008-1297","article-title":"Board-Invited Review: Using Behavior to Predict and Identify Ill Health in Animals","volume":"87","author":"Weary","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Anim. Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ellen, E.D., van der Sluis, M., Siegford, J., Guzhva, O., Toscano, M.J., Bennewitz, J., van der Zande, L.E., van der Eijk, J.A.J., Haas, E.N., and Norton, T. (2019). Review of Sensor Technologies in Animal Breeding: Phenotyping Behaviors of Laying Hens to Select Against Feather Pecking. Animals, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani9030108"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Rodenburg, T.B., Bennewitz, J., de Haas, E.N., Ko\u0161\u0165\u00e1l, L., Pichov\u00e1, K., Piette, D., Tetens, J., van der Eijk, J., Visser, B., and Ellen, E.D. (2017, January 12\u201314). The Use of Sensor Technology and Genomics to Breed for Laying Hens That Show Less Damaging Behaviour. Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, Nantes, France."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1337","DOI":"10.13031\/trans.12202","article-title":"A UHF RFID System for Studying Individual Feeding and Nesting Behaviors of Group-Housed Laying Hens","volume":"60","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"Trans. ASABE"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1186\/s40317-019-0186-2","article-title":"Performance of Proximity Loggers under Controlled Field Conditions: An Assessment from a Wildlife Ecological and Epidemiological Perspective","volume":"7","author":"Vicente","year":"2019","journal-title":"Anim. Biotelem."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Dodge, Y. (2008). The Concise Encyclopedia of Statistics, Springer Science."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applanim.2019.05.007","article-title":"Keel Bone Fractures Are Associated with Individual Mobility of Laying Hens in an Aviary System","volume":"217","author":"Rufener","year":"2019","journal-title":"Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12303","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-29962-x","article-title":"Finding Hens in a Haystack: Consistency of Movement Patterns within and across Individual Laying Hens Maintained in Large Groups","volume":"8","author":"Rufener","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1080\/00071668.2019.1686123","article-title":"Flock Use of the Range Is Associated with the Use of Different Components of a Multi-Tier Aviary System in Commercial Free-Range Laying Hens","volume":"61","author":"Sibanda","year":"2019","journal-title":"Br. Poult. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applanim.2017.12.010","article-title":"An Automated Positioning System for Monitoring Chickens\u2019 Location: Accuracy and Registration Success in a Free-Range Area","volume":"201","author":"Stadig","year":"2018","journal-title":"Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Van der Sluis, M., Klerk, B., Ellen, E.D., Haas, Y., Hijink, T., and Rodenburg, T.B. (2019). Validation of an Ultra-Wideband Tracking System for Recording Individual Levels of Activity in Broilers. Animals, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani9080580"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gharat, V., Colin, E., Baudoin, G., and Richard, D. (2017, January 20\u201322). Impact of Ferromagnetic Obstacles on LF-RFID Based Indoor Positioning Systems. Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on RFID Technology and Application, RFID-TA 2017, Warsaw, Poland.","DOI":"10.1109\/RFID-TA.2017.8098876"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1067","DOI":"10.1109\/TSMCC.2007.905750","article-title":"Survey of Wireless Indoor Positioning Techniques and Systems","volume":"37","author":"Liu","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part C (Appl. Rev.)"},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"1676","article-title":"Between- and within-Individual Variation in Activity Increases with Water Temperature in Wild Perch","volume":"27","author":"Nakayama","year":"2016","journal-title":"Behav. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applanim.2015.01.012","article-title":"Modification of Aviary Design Reduces Incidence of Falls, Collisions and Keel Bone Damage in Laying Hens","volume":"165","author":"Stratmann","year":"2015","journal-title":"Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Maimon, O., and Rokach, L. (2005). Decision Trees. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Handbook, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/b107408"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ebiele, F.M.J., and Atemkeng, M. (2020, January 14\u201316). Conventional Machine Learning Based on Feature Engineering for Detecting Pneumonia from Chest X-Rays. Proceedings of the Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists, Cape Town, South Africa.","DOI":"10.1145\/3410886.3410898"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1189","DOI":"10.1214\/aos\/1013203451","article-title":"Greedy function approximation: A gradient boosting machine","volume":"29","author":"Friedman","year":"2001","journal-title":"Ann. Stat."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Dorogush, A.V., Ershov, V., and Gulin, A. (2018). CatBoost: Gradient Boosting with Categorical Features Support. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Prokhorenkova, L., Gusev, G., Vorobev, A., Dorogush, A.V., and Gulin, A. (2017). CatBoost: Unbiased Boosting with Categorical Features. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gorunescu, F. (2011). Data Mining: Concepts, Models and Techniques, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-19721-5"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02295996","article-title":"Note on the Sampling Error of the Difference between Correlated Proportions or Percentages","volume":"12","author":"McNemar","year":"1947","journal-title":"Psychometrika"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1002\/tea.3660180102","article-title":"Reporting Explained Variance","volume":"18","author":"Good","year":"1981","journal-title":"J. Res. Sci. Teach."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.3354\/cr030079","article-title":"Advantages of the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) over the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) in Assessing Average Model Performance","volume":"30","author":"Willmott","year":"2005","journal-title":"Clim. Res."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"2825","article-title":"Scikit-Learn: Machine Learning in Python","volume":"12","author":"Pedregosa","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Mach. Learn. Res."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bates, D., M\u00e4chler, M., Bolker, B.M., and Walker, S.C. (2014). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using Lme4. arXiv.","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v067.i01"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"617","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731119002155","article-title":"Review: Automated Techniques for Monitoring the Behaviour and Welfare of Broilers and Laying Hens: Towards the Goal of Precision Livestock Farming","volume":"14","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_31","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":"Halachmi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Anim. Biosci."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rowe, E., Dawkins, M.S., and Gebhardt-Henrich, S.G. (2019). A Systematic Review of Precision Livestock Farming in the Poultry Sector: Is Technology Focussed on Improving Bird Welfare?. Animals, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani9090614"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ahmed, G., Malick, R.A.S., Akhunzada, A., Zahid, S., Sagri, M.R., and Gani, A. (2021). An Approach towards IoT-Based Predictive Service for Early Detection of Diseases in Poultry Chickens. Sustainability, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/su132313396"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"660565","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2021.660565","article-title":"A Systematic Review on Validated Precision Livestock Farming Technologies for Pig Production and Its Potential to Assess Animal Welfare","volume":"8","author":"Stygar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Vet. Sci."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100143","DOI":"10.1016\/j.animal.2020.100143","article-title":"Review: Precision Livestock Farming, Automats and New Technologies: Possible Applications in Extensive Dairy Sheep Farming","volume":"15","author":"Levit","year":"2021","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"630","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2011-4350","article-title":"Sickness Behavior in Dairy Cows during Escherichia Coli Mastitis","volume":"95","author":"Fogsgaard","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.1017\/S1466252308001448","article-title":"Sickness Behavior, Its Mechanisms and Significance","volume":"9","author":"Tizard","year":"2008","journal-title":"Anim. Health Res. Rev."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1093\/jhered\/esz023","article-title":"The Heritability of Behavior: A Meta-Analysis","volume":"110","author":"Dochtermann","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Hered."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1420-9101.2002.00389.x","article-title":"Selection, Structure and the Heritability of Behaviour","volume":"15","author":"Stirling","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Evol. Biol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"929","DOI":"10.1006\/anbe.2002.2006","article-title":"Repeatability and Heritability of Exploratory Behaviour in Great Tits from the Wild","volume":"64","author":"Dingemanse","year":"2002","journal-title":"Anim. Behav."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1136\/vr.100489","article-title":"Pop Hole Use by Hens with Different Keel Fracture Status Monitored throughout the Laying Period","volume":"170","author":"Richards","year":"2012","journal-title":"Vet. Rec."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/2\/659\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:27:29Z","timestamp":1760362049000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/2\/659"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]]},"references-count":41,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1]]}},"alternative-id":["s22020659"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s22020659","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]]}}}