Smart poultry management: Smart sensors, big data, and the internet of things

As the world's population increases, demand for poultry products will continue to increase. To meet this demand, one candidate mechanism to increase production is to increase housing and manage more birds. However, this practice, along with labour shortages and increasing biosecurity practices will make it increasingly difficult for producers to monitor the production, health, and welfare status of all their birds. Employing smart poultry management systems is necessary to increase production while minimizing costs and the use of resources. Smart poultry management systems include precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies such as smart sensors, automation of farm processes, and data driven decision making platforms. Many new technologies will have great implications for poultry production in the areas of the poultry house environment, bird welfare, precision feeding, and rapid detection of infectious disease. As smart sensors collect data in real-time on a variety of parameters from poultry operations, large amounts of data will be generated. To make best use of this data, big data analytical tools must be employed to produce data driven decisions. Additionally, the devices that will be incorporated into smart poultry management systems will be connected to the Internet allowing for the formation of Internet of things (IoT) farm networks. IoT technologies allow for communication between farm sensors, devices, and equipment, and will lead to the automation of multiple farm procedures. The following review discusses the areas of impact that new smart sensor technologies will have on poultry operations and describes how sensor technology is related to big data analytics and IoT systems, and how these technologies can enhance production in the poultry industry. Additionally, challenges to the described systems and technologies will also be highlighted and discussed.