problem/problem.latex

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\title{Fenceless Grazing Problem Statement}
\author{Danila Fedorin}

\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
    Automation is an increasingly important component of modern business. However,
    as other industries rise up the ladder of automation, cattle farming
    stagnates: farmers continue to personally herd their cattle in the
    same ways they did decades ago, exerting needless time and effort.
    We propose an automated, fenceless grazing system that would allow
    for the management of cattle through a digital interface, rather than
    through physical labor.
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}
Automation is prevalent in our modern age. Consumer technology like cars
and computers is assembled in enormous, largely automated factories, optimized
for utmost precision. Planting and harvesting is performed using specialized
machines that significantly decrease the time and effort required of the farmer.
Cattle farming, however, is diferent. To this day, the manipulation of herds
of cows is performed either by humans or by trained animals. Doing so
takes up a huge amount of time. At the same time, farmers list lack of labor
as the main limiting factor to their growth. The time and effort spent manually
herding cattle can be better used elsewhere, aleviating the labor shortage
and facilitating the growth of farms.

We propose a technology that can be used to automate the herding of cattle
largely without human or animal intervention. This technology is a specialized
collar, integrated with GPS, sound, and the ability to administer a mild shock.
Equipped with such a collar, the position of an animal will be well-known
through the GPS, and undesired behavior (such as leaving a particular area),
can be discouraged with an unpleasant sound, in some cases followed by
an electric shock. Together with the ability to specify desired locations
for a herd, this technology would allow farmers to control the animals
without physically being present, with various additional benefits.

\section{Solution Specifications}
\subsection{GPS}
The first component of our proposed solution is the integration of GPS
(Global Positioning System) into the collar. Through this, farmers
will be able to precisely track the locations of individual animals in a herd
without being physically present. This information, combined with
a description of the "allowed" area, can be used to judge whether or not
an animal is "out of bounds", and thus, if action should be taken to return
it to a desired location.

TODO Mention how the information will be relayed

\subsection{Sound and Shock}
Simply knowing the location of an animal is not particularly helpful for
reducing the amount of human and animal labor that is needed for cattle
farming. The purpose of this project is to reduce such labor. To do
so, animals will be automatically discouraged from leaving an area
through the use of sounds and electric shocks. This can be done in
two stages. First, as the animal approaches an "out of bounds" area,
the collar's integrated speaker will produce an unpleasant sound.
The sound will get progressively louder as the cow approaches the
region boundary. At a particularly close distance, the device will
administer a shock, with the intention of discouraging further movemenent.
Should this be successful, farmer intervention will be unnecessary -
all the actions described above can be performed automatically by
the collar.

\subsection{External Control System}
It is not difficult to imagine a situation in which the desired location
of a herd of animals changes. In such a case, the collars will need
to be adjusted to operate based on this new information. The third
component of our project is an interface that allows users to apply
changes to the operating parameters of the collar, performing adjustment
without having to be physically present with the cattle. In the best
case scenario, this interface will also allow users to monitor
in real time the location of the animals as they graze in a particular area.

Such an external control system can be implemented as mobile app. Users
of this app will be able to modify the grazing boundaries of a herd through the
use of their mobile device.

\section{Performance Metrics}
Since this project specifies a physical device to be put onto animals,
the first metric to evaluate project completion is the existence
of a working prototype. At minimum, the working prototype should
be able to track the location of a farm animal, emiting a warning signal
(in the form of a sound and/or a shock) when the animal approaches
the boundary of the prescribed region.

Additionally, since an external control system (an app) is part of the project
specification, another performance metric is the usability of the client-facing
software. It should not be necessary for the client (likely a farmer) to have
an in-depth knowledge of the software or hardware that underlies the project.
Thus, the interface should be simple and intuitive. This can be evaluated
through a user study, presenting a completed application to a group of people
from the target demographic (farmers), and evaluating the outcomes of their
interaction with the software. Completion of the app will be achieved
when a client can successfully use the interface to perform actions
such as adjusting the grazing region and locating individual cows, with
the changes being reflected in the operation of the collar prototypes discussed above.

Finally, in order to determine whether or not the project has been completed,
it will be necessary to ensure that the prototype can be used in the field.
If a prototype is not fit for testing on real animals, it should not be
considered complete.

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