CISS contributes to animal welfare

One of the first business collaborations initiated by CISS took place over the years 2004-2007. CISS collaborated with the Danish company Skov A/S who produces climate control and production monitoring systems for animal production. CISS’ representatives in the collaboration were PhD students Jens Alsted Hansen and Jan Jacob Jessen, who were working on a project concerning sensor-driven climate control for pig stables.

Software team leader at Skov A/S Martin Riisgaard-Jensen says: “For a while, we had been convinced that there were technologies and theories out there that neither we nor others in our line of business had taken advantage of, and right at the moment when we seriously decided to plunge into the exploration of new technology, CISS appeared as an industry-focused research centre. The basic idea was to embed the notion of ‘good farming practice’ into the automated system. Apart from the increasingly large livestock, there is a tendency abroad to employ less and less qualified workers. Therefore, it will benefit the animals, but it will also benefit the farmer, because the animals will grow faster and the quality of the meat will be enhanced.”

He is very pleased with the outcome of the project. “I think the collaboration has run smoothly. All our expectations have been fulfilled – and over the course of the next couple of years we will start implementing the technologies which the two PhD students have developed,” he says. “I believe that the technologies which Jens and Jan have worked with will contribute to Skov – as the first company within our line of business – taking the technological leap forward that will happen in any case within our field. And the fact that we are the first to do so will strengthen and expand the lead that we already have in a rapidly growing market. “

Showing the way

“When a company like Skov wants to develop their climate control systems using embedded software, there is a jungle of possible technologies and theories that they can use. What we have done is to show them a way through this jungle; show them a way it can be done,” Jan Jacob Jessen explains. The technologies they have worked with concern error detection systems, sensor fusion systems and a controller for the sensors – technologies which can be used to create a more reliable and sturdy climate sensor system.

The two PhD students themselves have also gained valuable knowledge from the collaboration. “There was a continous, valuable knowledge transfer both ways,” Jens Alsted Hansen says, and Jan Jacob Jessen agrees. “We gained insight into how a company such as Skov functions – the reality out in the companies is often quite different from the one we experience at the university. They are facing different challenges that need to be taken into account during product development. We have been able to use this knowledge in our later work,” he finishes.