Development of low-cost IoT monitoring for system precision farming in a broiler house

Precision farming uses modern production technologies and techniques that impact farming processes and practices, contributing to the sustainability of the production process. Conventional farming production is highly inefficient in terms of resource management and has a high associated environmental impact, and production techniques such as precision farming are needed because of the increased demand for food. Nevertheless, the equipment and tools used are usually expensive, reducing the opportunities for small and medium producers. Therefore, a low-cost open- source agriculture IoT tool for monitoring animal production facilities was developed. The tool was integrated with three devices for measuring internal and external environmental conditions and for monitoring physiological and behavioural animal variables via a low-cost thermal camera. The external module sends the data wirelessly to the internal modules via the ESP-Now communication protocol. The measurements of all devices are stored in microSD and sent wirelessly via the MATT communication protocol through the open-source message broker Eclipse Mosquitto. The developed sensor network was tested in the monitoring of broiler production. The environmental and physiological conditions of the birds were monitored in three production cycles, allowing the analysis of the relationships between the degree of thermal comfort and the weight gain of the animals, among other variables. The developed sensor network provides information of productive and scientific interest and can be used to support decision-making and technique processes in farming production in real time.