Equestrian IoT – a review of sensor systems available for deployment on horses, stables and pastures and what stakeholders in Germany think about it

Abstract. Digital transformation in agriculture makes horse management technology available for farmers and veterinaries. This work compiles an overview of sensor systems currently available in Germany, discussing their usefulness and opportunities for improvement from a user‘s perspective. The systems have been identified by market and literature review and later categorized by their place of deployment, either in the stable, on the pasture or directly attached to the horse. Examples for subgroups show similar choices in technical specification like the built-in sensors, connectivity options and user interfaces. To gain further insights to the practicability of those systems, a survey has been conducted with German users of sensor systems in horse keeping. The questionnaire reflects on advantages and disadvantages in the use of the sensor systems. The results show that networking of the individual systems on farm-level would be desirable from the user‘s point of view. However, a solution that combines the different sensors and their data on farm level is not available. Thus, it is difficult for farmers to collect and aggregate their data. As a solution, open-source broker models are suggested, to act as middleware. They can integrate data from sensor-systems as well as external data sources. All the desired information can be displayed to end-users in customized user interfaces tailored to the individual stable or farm. With this kind of middleware, cyber-physical-systems can be built implementing a control-layer to automate tasks and documentation. Like this, farmers are supported to invest their know-how and time, only where it is most needed.