Ubisense 60 day software evaluation

This Evaluation Suite is a free-to-download fully-functional copy of the Ubisense Location Platform and Developer Software available under a 60-day evaluation license. It includes everything you need to build, test and deploy real-time location-aware applications.

For more information please see http://eval.ubisense.net/

Smarter dairy farming

SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense revolutionise Livestock Management

Horsens, Denmark, Cambridge, UK, Jul 23rd 2009 - SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense, the world Leader in Precise Real-Time Location Systems, announce the results of their first three “CowDetect” installations in working Dairy Farms in Denmark

Aage Hindhede, a tenth generation dairy farmer based in Ringkøbing-Skjern, Denmark, is a man with a vision who continues to keep his family business at the forefront of modern farming methods. While managing his dairy herd, Aage thought that if he could detect changes in behavior of his cows in real-time then he would have a much better view of their health and welfare. His vision coupled with the innovative skills of his partner Keld Florczak, CEO of SMARTERFARMING, allowed him to realize his vision and “CowDetect” was born. A system that visualizes and monitors the behavior of cows in real-time to a positional accuracy of 15 cm! The system has been installed not only in the Hindhede family farm but also in an additional two farms tracking over 1000 cows every second.

The Danish science office AgroTech has already made some calculations to understand the value and possible benefits of knowing the real-time position of each animal. AgroTech - Institute for Agri Technology and Food Innovation - is a Danish Government Authorised Technology Service Institute working with knowledge transfer in the field of biology based natural science and technology. For cows in lactation the potential value of this knowledge is said to be EUR 315 – 355 per animal if the information is converted into action by the farm manager. In addition there are many soft benefits derived by using the system such as better animal welfare and health. One example is a well-known eating behaviour known as ketoses. Normally 3.6 days before the disease can be seen, the cow’s eating time decreases significantly. This change in behavior can automatically be detected by the real-time location system and the dairy manager can be alerted.

“Knowing the precise real-time location of animals will revolutionise the industry”, says Professor Don Broom, University of Cambridge and world expert in animal welfare. “For years farm managers and vets have needed to know more precisely the patterns of movement that will allow them to correlate behavior with health and it appears that SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense have made that possible”.

Farmer John Torrence, of UK Farmers Cooperative, said “Having seen the system first hand, it is clear that there are immediate benefits and a payback in less than 12 months”.

About SMARTERFARMING AS

SMARTERFARMINGAS is based on an idea from a farmer in need of better management data for improving the production in his barn. From idea to real technology has been a long process, but thanks to patient investors and energy from the people involved “CowDetect” is now a reality. SMARTERFARMINGAS is a public company having the needed financial strength to bring the knowledge and technology to the market and further improve and add features to the system.

http://www.cowdetect.com/

Measuring emotions at a museum

Swiss Academy of Art and Design together with Ubisense integrate precise real-time location and biometric sensors to research art museum experience

In a unique setting at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen in Switzerland, the BaselAcademy of Art and Design has implemented a solution which monitors museum visitors as they move through the exhibition, providing new insights into emotional and cognitive reactions to art objects.

Dortmund, St. Gallen, July 22 2009 - eMotion is a multi-faceted research and media art platform combining the disciplines of art sociology and art psychology, art administration and art pedagogy, curatorial practice and museum research, media art and performance.

“The museum experience is analysed from a psycho-geographical perspective, encompassing the emotional, cognitive and physical effects upon viewer reception, and how those factors influence the implicit decision making processes of visitors”, explains Dr. Martin Troendle, the eMotion project initiator and manager.” Methodologically, the project sets in motion a trans-disciplinary platform integrating both scientific and artistic modes of ‘knowing’ and strategies of dissemination, directly within the museum”.

Upon registration at the art museum entrance, visitors receive a special glove which contains biometric sensors and a Ubisense active location tag. The visitors respond to a series of questions regarding their familiarity with and expectations of the exhibition as well as biometrically relevant data such as whether they smoke cigarettes or have just drunk a cup of coffee. The art exhibition is equipped with 20 Ubisense sensors which record the positions of the visitors as they move among the exhibits to an accuracy of 15cm and at a sampling frequency up to 4 times per second. In parallel, the heart rate and electrical conductivity of the visitor’s skin is measured and transmitted to a central server which records and analyses the results. At the end of the exhibition, the visitor can view the results on a table top plasma screen. Statistical data on the most viewed objects and the aggregate motion patterns of visitors is presented audio-visually in a number of innovative ways.

“We are delighted with the performance of the Ubisense tracking system”, declares Roland Waespe, director of the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. “Our museum building presents a number of architectural challenges for radio based systems and we have been impressed with the reliability and precision of the system in this environment.”

eMotion is a research project at the Institute for Research in Art and Design, University of Applied Science Northwestern Switzerland, Academy of Art and Design and has been generously supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Ubisense. “We are very grateful to Ubisense both for the financial support and the dedication of the professional team which helped this project become such a success”, adds Troendle.

More information can be found at http://www.mapping-museum-experience.com/en.

Picture: Ubisense tracking cows

Just had to post this great picture of a cow modeling one of our Compact Tags.