Inpixon’s Nanotron Technologies has stepped into the agriculture ring with its nanoLOC transceiver chip, which has been used for real-time location system (RTLS) asset tracking by the industrial and mining industries for years.
Nanotron is a subsidiary of U.S.-based Inpixon. Chief executive officer Nadir Ali said the nanoLOC chip can be used to track equipment and livestock, as well as monitor the health of livestock.
He said one of his customers already uses Nanotron’s long-range radio frequency (RF) technology including the nanoLOC chip for its dairy cattle monitoring system.
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“The nanoLOC chip is a tiny radio frequency transceiver built into an intelligent, electronic ear tag. It is able to provide the location of a dairy cow, indoors or outdoors, within approximately one metre.”
He said the chip’s chirp spread spectrum (CSS) uses the 2.4 GHz ISM, which provides longer range capabilities and supports mixed indoor-outdoor environments. The system can also be used with beef cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and other animals.
The nanoLOC chip communicates with the company’s nanoANQ transceivers, which in turn send information to the Inpixon nanoLES location engine server that monitors the location of chipped assets.
The nanoANQ transceiver’s range is 100 to 300 metres, depending on environmental factors, including the presence of liquids, biomass, metal and other RF signals.
Ali said when people or equipment such as a forklift are located in a typical building, a grid-style installation of the transceiver every 100 metres is common.
More transceivers are required in a dairy barn because of the environmental interference including other cattle. As well, the tags’ battery life can be extended when the transceivers are closer.
“This configurable RF output is a key Inpixon feature to allow one to optimize tag battery life,” Ali said.
“The number of anchors (nanoANQ transceivers) varies greatly based on the environment and the customer’s needs. While one dairy farm with a 200-by-200 metre area might install a five-by-five grid of 25 anchors, another farm wanting to track 10,000 cows with high location precision and extended battery life at a 150,000 sq. metre facility might install 500 anchors.”
He said a range of 200 metres between the anchor and tag is possible, but the system is most often used in indoor or fenced areas because bringing power to the transceivers is cost prohibitive in large outdoor areas.
Additional sensors can be incorporated into the tags to provide additional information, including the animal’s temperature and if a cow is walking or lying down.
“We supply our nanoLOC chip to our partner, a leading global animal health solution provider, and they integrate our nanoLOC with a temperature sensor and 3D accelerometer into a finished tag.
“Temperature and location information can be combined and interpreted to provide valuable information to the farmer about its herd and individual cows in real time,” Ali said.
The nanoLOC chip is used not only to locate the tagged entity but also as the communication channel to get data from the cow to the higher level system.
Ali said health issues and disease can be identified in livestock earlier, which allows for earlier treatments.
The system can also help increase reproduction in a cattle herd because producers can quickly identify a cow in heat and are able to intervene early, he said.
“Farmers can derive the intelligence directly relevant for their business from a real-time location system (RTLS) including 24-7 individual health monitoring, heat detection, rumination monitoring, lameness detection, early infection detection,” Ali said.
“Inpixon can provide maps of the barn and other facilities, for use on a mobile handset or computer, showing livestock in relation to exits, milking machinery, lighting, feed installations.”
He said Inpixon’s system helps farmers become more efficient by having real-time location and health information about their animals at their fingertips.
