5. Evaluation and future work
The platform described in this paper, based on the corresponding
implementation of Section 3, has been evaluated in the context
of field trials. The rationale behind the evaluation was the assessing
of different methods of RFID tagging in relation to the use of
mobile devices and the performance of mobile devices in (rural)
environments.
As regards the use of the different types of tags, the selection of
the ear tags seems to be the most appropriate since it can be used in
all types of animals (sheep, goat, cattle), in contrast to the boluses,
that are best suited for cattle. Furthermore, since there is the need
for lowconsumption of the reader/writer device, the use of ear tags
is again better than that of boluses, since the reading/writing distance
is significantly smaller, while the tag is visible. The use of
injectable glass tags, though it has the same advantages as the ear
tag, is best suited for pets.
As regards the use of communication technologies, through the
evaluation tests of the project, different scenarios have been tested
in order to test the conditions for network access availability in
rural areas. In details, access through Wireless LAN technology and
IP connections over mobile networks (i.e. GPRS) was tested. The
availability of a wireless LAN can be only assumed in areas near the
farm, and provided that the farm already has the required infrastructure.
This can only be assumed for organized farms, while still
the overhead of management of this networking infrastructure is
intimidating for many farmers. Therefore, as regards the use of on
line connectivity to the local database, the deployment of IP over
mobile networks is the most probable solution. The tests performed
over such connections have resulted to encouraging results, since
connectivity was high, while the data volume exchanged with the
serverwasnot high. Thiswas due to the use of direct database access
through SQL queries, which had to transfer only a small amount
of data for each animal. However, the issue of cost and possible
unavailability of mobile network coverage in some areas has indicated
that an alternative solution should be followed. This has been
through the provision of a mechanism for bulk downloading and
uploading of information to the local database. This data exchange
could be performed even by direct wire connection (e.g. through
USB interface) of the mobile device to a terminal or the database
server. Use of files that are synchronized through standard applications
such as Microsoft ActiveSync has produced good results.
Therefore it may be considered as the solution for rural environments,
where wireless connection is not supported by any means.
Furthermore, the lack of support for solutions that are compatible
with standardmobile devices has been a problem. The available
solutions for enhancing the capabilities of mobile devices with RFID
reading capabilities are not meeting the need for both sophisticated
devices supporting both wireless and mobile access, together with
the need for a lowpower, versatile connection interface such as SD.
On the contrary, available solutions include custom, factory made
equipment that though it can support the needs of the specific platform,
is based on equipment that is impossible to be used for other
purposed such as voice communication. This is expected to change
as RFID technology penetration increases.
Finally, though the ISO 11784 and 11785 international standards
have been agreed as regards the regulation of radio frequency identification
of animals, there are still only a few reading and writing
devices that are compliant to the standards, while most of them are
based on factory built compact devices.
In conclusion, this paper proposes a very specific, detailed –
yet simple to implement – system, which tracks animals from
their birth until their slaughter, monitoring every single parameter
or element that could be of interest: nutrition, health history,
behavior, milk/wool production, specific whereabouts, potentially
non-ordinary situations such as theft, loss, etc. One of the core