Wearable Internet of Things enabled precision livestock farming in smart farms: A review of technical solutions for precise perception, biocompatibility, and sustainability monitoring

Precision, sustainability and intelligence are the development trend of livestock farming in the future. Precision livestock farming (PLF) is a key step to achieve the sustainable development of smart farms, but it is still in the initial stage and has broad prospects. In order to realize precise livestock production, it is necessary to speed up the popularization of intelligent technologies such as environmental control, disease early warning, precise feeding and remote diagnosis. By analyzing the background and technical features of wearable Internet of Things (W-IoT), this paper puts forward a new scheme of applying W-IoT to PLF. Through the detailed survey of the related research on W-IoT and PLF, we believe that precise perception of information, biocompatibility of wearable devices, and sustainability monitoring of wearable systems are necessary contents. However, most wearable technologies that can generate precise, dynamic and sustainable signals are only applicable to humans, and rarely modified or tested specifically for farm animals. At present, these innovative technologies are gradually promoted to livestock farming, which are expected to become one of the most effective solutions for PLF in smart farms. In addition, this paper also discusses the benefits, challenges and prospects of the W-IoT in farm animals. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd