Smart collar to monitor your pet in real time

CSIRO’s Data61, the digital specialist arm of Australia’s national science agency, announced today that it is developing a prototype smart pet collar in collaboration with agtech company Ceres Tag, which will allow pet owners to accurately track the location of their pet from a short and long distance, filling a gap in the smart collar market.

The prototype builds on the work between CSIRO and Ceres Tag to develop smart ear tags to track livestock across open grazing expanses and monitor their activity and health. Unlike similar pet products, the prototype collar uses both Bluetooth and satellite communications rather than one or the other to track an animal’s movements in real time. Updates are sent to the owner’s phone via an app whenever their pet wanders outside a set boundary.

Dr Phil Valencia, Senior Research Engineer at CSIRO’s Data61, said the solution developed for the agricultural sector could also have benefits for conscientious pet owners. “The Companion Collar uses Data61’s Embedded Intelligence Platform (EIP) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to determine if the pet is nearby, automatically switching to satellite communications when the collar is outside the home network,” said Dr. Valencia.

“Many devices only use Bluetooth or WiFi based tracking, which often involves a community of people listening ‘on their phones and sharing their location data with a service to report the tracking device. This method is also suitable for just short distance monitoring. “

The other approach available in the market is a GPS based tracker which requires a mobile plan. These devices are often expensive, rely on cellular coverage, and use a great deal of power, requiring weekly, if not more frequent, charging. The pet collar requires on average a monthly refill, depending on the amount of activity performed by the pet.

Pets that stay within the owner’s set virtual boundary will activate the device’s automatic power saving mode, but those who roam outside will switch to GPS location and direct satellite reporting.

Other crucial information such as specific behaviors, out-of-the-ordinary activities, and data for health metrics will be monitored by the Collar, with the information uploaded to the cloud and displayed on a smartphone app. “Owners will receive valuable information on how their pet behaved during the day, with the system identifying if the pet’s activity is above or below its typical levels and if it was significantly different at a given time of day. “said Dr. Valencia.

Lewis Frost, Chief Operating Officer of Ceres Tag, said the insights will lay the foundation for personalized pet treatments and medications, suggesting that the collar will greatly improve pet health and wellbeing.

“Ceres is leveraging all of its lessons from developing smart tags for livestock to create a superior product in the pet market using the expertise of our highly capable development team,” Frost said. The Companion Collar is the latest project in a long-standing partnership between Ceres Tag and Data61, with CSIRO’s Kick – Start program making this project possible.