Setting the stage to tag "n" track: a guideline for implementing, validating and reporting a radio frequency identification system for monitoring resource visit behavior in poultry

Abstract

Passive radio frequency identification (RFID) can advance poultry behavior research by enabling automated, individualized, longitudinal, in situ, and noninvasive monitoring; these features can usefully extend traditional approaches to animal behavior monitoring. Furthermore, since the technology can provide insight into the visiting patterns of tagged animals at functional resources (e.g., feeders), it can be used to investigate individuals' welfare, social position, and decision-making. However, the lack of guidelines that would facilitate implementing an RFID system for such investigations, describing it, and establishing its validity undermines this technology's potential for advancing poultry science. This paper aims to fill this gap by 1) providing a nontechnical overview of how RFID functions; 2) providing an overview of the practical applications of RFID technology in poultry sciences; 3) suggesting a roadmap for implementing an RFID system in poultry behavior research; 4) reviewing how validation studies of RFID systems have been done in farm animal behavior research, with a focus on terminologies and procedures for quantifying reliability and validity; and 5) suggesting a way to report on an RFID system deployed for animal behavior monitoring. This guideline is aimed mainly at animal scientists, RFID component manufacturers, and system integrators who wish to deploy RFID system as an automated tool for monitoring poultry behavior for research purposes. For such a particular application, it can complement indications in classic general standards (e.g., ISO/IEC 18000-63) and provide ideas for setting up, testing, and validating an RFID system and a standard for reporting on its adequacy and technical aspects.

Keywords: RFID installation; automated tracking; poultry behavior; validation.

Graphical abstract

Figure 1

Flowchart of the methodology adopted for the development and writing of a guideline to facilitate the implementation, validation, and reporting of an RFID system deployed for monitoring resource visit behavior in poultry.

Figure 2

Schematic presentation of the simplified functioning of a passive RFID system (adapted from Wadhwa and Lin, 2008). In 1) a signal from the reader is transmitted by the antenna in an attempt to register the tags; in 2) a signal from the tag is backscattered as it enters the antenna-generated field in order to communicate its ID; 3) shows the interface with a hosting computer, and in 4) the ID that is decoded by the reader and communicated to the host/server or data management system is shown.

Figure 3

A 4-phase roadmap for developing and implementing an RFID system for poultry behavior monitoring.

Figure 4

An illustration of the terms included in the formulas for quantifying the adequacy of RFID systems deployed for monitoring animal behavior. Positives (P) are seconds of visit events according to the videos. The negatives (N) are seconds of nonvisit events, according to the videos. True positives (TP) are seconds of visit events indicated by the RFID and which agree with the video recordings. True negatives (TN) are seconds of nonvisit events suggested by the RFID and confirmed by the video recordings. False negatives (FN) are seconds of visit indicated by the videos, but the RFID suggests otherwise. False positives (FP) are seconds of nonvisit events indicated by the videos, but the RFID suggests otherwise. Whereas TP and TN are correct readings, FN and FP are misreadings compromising the validity of the RFID system.