Satellite-tracked cows. Photo: Globalstar/MOOnitor

[Via Satellite 10-12-2015] Globalstar subsidiary Globalstar Europe Satellite Services is supplying its STX3 chipset for integration into an upcoming cattle-monitoring solution called MOOnitor. Scheduled for production in 2016, the device uses neck-mounted collars to measure cattle activity and convert it to herd management information, allowing ranchers to quickly react to developing situations and events.

Each MOOnitor collar uses an accelerometer and GPS tracker to measure how much time each cow rests, grazes and walks, in addition to finding its location. This information helps ranchers understand key parameters related to animal behavior such as quality of food and weight gain patterns, estrus events and pregnancies and other medical conditions.

In addition to the Globalstar STX3 satellite chipset, the collar includes two 85 by 65 mm solar panels, a GPS chip and RF communications for on site maintenance. A compression algorithm reduces the 50MB of data gathered on each cow daily into a single 36-byte transmission. The collar requires two hours of sun to fully recharge, and can function for seven days without sunshine.