Are you free to quit your animal farm when you want or need? Or do you give up instead your much deserved vacation? Could you check up on your animals from far away?
This article aims at showing you how current technology could come in your rescue, if you feel bound to your duty more tightly than you are ready to bear.
You certainly have somebody you trust you can depend on, helping you and doing regular chores. But you worry that your own absence might harm the creatures in your care. You may wish you could set up a system providing you with the capability of implementing constant supervision. Even when you are on the premises you cannot have everything under your eyes all the time.
Therefore, if you find yourself in such a case, you may consider if installing a surveillance system might ease the burden of your anxiety.
Surveillance cameras are quickly becoming a common place item, with a large range of features, now easily available and affordable. You should study them in action and see which types give you the information you need.
You can start with only one camera and then, once you gain experience and confidence with the system, you may enlarge the scope of your surveillance. You can easily install cameras in additional locations with points of view that were not sufficiently covered.
Different systems can be conceived, but essentially they have all in common some of the devices that permit displaying, recording and transmitting significant views rich of informative content.
Once the views are stored in a computer they can be seen through the Internet from all over the world.
Generally, if many cameras are installed all over the place, they are connected to a central monitoring room where real time views are continuously displayed on one or more screens.
This is only the first part of the surveillance task, as the monitoring person in charge alerts whomever needs to implement immediate actions as a consequence of what is seen happening.
Most important, and including the real essence of surveillance, is the capability to save and play back later selected parts of the views, for researching events and for learning the lessons deriving from the developing events.
Two unrelated technologies can provide additional information if necessary or useful. One is the so called GPS or Global Positioning System, whereby by attaching a small and unobtrusive object to any person, vehicle or animal, tamed or wild, one can constantly track their whereabouts.
The other is RFID or radio-frequency identification, that permits to store identifying data on a very small tag. This can be read at a distance when the bearer passes at a short distance from the reader, an automatic device.
It is designed for recording every such passage, transmitting in real time essential information to whom is in need to know. Weight, milk production or other data can also be collected automatically.
Modern farming can make good use of current technology. It may even free you to quit your animal farm when you wish or need.
Elia Levi is a retired engineer.
He built a website to assist with a step-by-step Guide to understand, design, select and set up, all by yourself the best and least expensive Surveillance System for your Home or Farm Security. Read more on the subject of this article at Animal Camera Surveillance.
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