DI-Trakka
A low-cost active RFID system for monitoring animal interactions, tracking and managing cattle herds
Semi-Finalist in the 2008 WA Inventor of the Year (Development Category)
Herd tracking and management is a growing market, with the tagging of all cattle now mandatory in Australia. This requirement likely to be implemented of other four-legged animals herds in the near future. Livestock management is one of the highest growth sectors in the active RFID market, which is predicted to grow to US$7 billion by 2017, equivalent to 26% of the total RFID market. It is estimated that active RFID data can achieve cost savings of up to 70% in comparison to passive tags, reducing losses related to lost animals and delayed medical treatment.
While tagging of cattle in Australia is currently conducted through passive RFID tags, there is a substantial market opportunity for this active RFID invention as it provides a number of benefits over existing technologies including:
- Internally powered tags - No need to get close to an animal to read tag, no risk of injury to the operator;
- Behaviour monitoring - The active tag can monitor health status and detect sickness or injury; and
- Telemetry - active tags can track individual animals remotely, identifying lost animals and tracking breeding behaviours.
This invention was developed by the School of Computer and Information Science. A provisional patent has been filed, a working prototype developed and product testing is currently being undertaken to prepare the product for commercial launch or licensing to existing RFID tag providers.