Quantification of the effects of fur, fur color, and velocity on Time-Of-Flight technology in dairy production

With increasing herd sizes, camera based monitoring solutions rise in importance. 3D cameras, for example Time-Of-Flight (TOF) cameras, measure depth information. These additional information (3D data) could be beneficial for monitoring in dairy production. In previous studies regarding TOF technology, only standing cows were recorded to avoid motion artifacts. Therefore, necessary conditions for a TOF camera application in dairy cows are examined in this study. For this purpose, two cow models with plaster and fur surface, respectively, were recorded at four controlled velocities to quantify the effects of movement, fur color, and fur. Comparison criteria concerning image usability, pixel-wise deviation, and precision in coordinate determination were defined. Fur and fur color showed large effects (η(2)=0.235 and η(2)=0.472, respectively), which became even more considerable when the models were moving. The velocity of recorded animals must therefore be controlled when using TOF cameras. As another main result, body parts which lie in the middle of the cow model’s back can be determined neglecting the effect of velocity or fur. With this in mind, further studies may obtain sound results using TOF technology in dairy production. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-0903-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.