Healthy
chickens mean healthy bottom lines for farmers. To raise healthier birds,
many poultry houses now sport a wide assortment of automatic climate controls–from
fogging nozzles to thermostatically controlled vents.
Healthy birds are comfortable birds, comfort that comes from favorable temperatures, humidity and ammonia levels. Birds also are influenced by such factors as age, genetic line and previous exposure to environmental conditions.
With all these factors to consider, it’s hard for growers to precisely assess and adjust the climate in the poultry house. How can producers know when they have achieved optimum conditions?
Scientists
like Dr. Takoi Hamrita are helping by building more comprehensive models of
the dynamic interactions between the birds and their environment.
Many biological and agricultural processes can benefit from intelligent control systems. These systems integrate an array of sophisticated, high-tech software and hardware tools to increase efficiency, quality and productivity, and decrease production costs and loss. These tools include:
Telemetric Sensing Technology — Microsensors implanted inside live animals measure things like deep body temperature and relay that information to a computer.
Microcontrollers are the heart of an electronic monitoring and control system. They are microprocessors whose sole purpose is to monitor and control a process.
Artificial Intelligence is a set of software tools that enables computers to think like humans to solve problems. These tools include neural networks, "brain-like" feedback systems that enable computers to learn and refine knowledge gained from experience, and fuzzy logic, which enables computers to make qualitative decisions and value judgments.
By developing technology that enables birds to "speak" for themselves, scientists are helping producers provide optimum comfort and growing conditions. Microsensors placed inside birds will measure physiological responses like deep body temperature, helping determine the birds’ response to the environment. In a sense this enables birds to "instruct" a computerized controller to alter the poultry house climate, providing maximum comfort to the birds. The controller also considers outside weather and a variety of other factors. Bird productivity will be the ultimate measure of success.
The high-tech, automated computerized system combines AI techniques, neural networks, microsensors, biotelemetry and microprocessors to correlate the birds’ physiological responses with controllable factors, such as air temperature, tunnel ventilation and air speed. The system also includes fuzzy logic, which allows engineers to incorporate qualitative measurements that will assist farmers in making decisions.
• optimal growth conditions in the poultry house.
• better recognition and understanding of environmental stresses and their effects on poultry and other animals
• insight into the coping mechanisms of animals in adjusting to environmental stressors
• fewer losses, higher yields, better quality and lower production costs
View a Flash movie of the "Speaking Bird" approach in action.
