Cattle-Powered Node Experience in a Heterogeneous Network for Localization of Herds

A heterogeneous network, mainly based on nodes that use harvested energy to self-energize, is presented, and its use is demonstrated. The network, mostly kinetically powered, has been used for the localization of herds in grazing areas under extreme climate conditions. The network consists of secondary and primary nodes. The former, powered by a kinetic generator, take advantage of animal movements to broadcast a unique identifier. The latter are battery-powered and gather secondary-node-transmitted information to provide it, along with position and time data, to a final base station in charge of the animal monitoring. Because a limited human interaction is desirable, the aim of this network is to reduce the battery count of the system.