UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

NOTES : * If the thesis is CONFIDENTIAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from

the organisation with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction.

DECLARATION OF THESIS / UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT PAPER AND COPYRIGHT

Author’s full name : MOHD FARID BIN ABD AZIZ

Date of birth : 15 JANUARY 1988

Title : DESIGNING SENSOR SYSTEM FOR DETECTING

CHICKEN MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR

Academic Session : 2011/2012

I declare that this thesis is classified as:

I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows:

1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the

purpose of research only.

3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic exchange.

Certified by:

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

880115-01-5279 DR MOHD FAUZI BIN OTHMAN (NEW IC NO. /PASSPORT NO.) NAME OF SUPERVISOR

Date : JUNE 2012 Date : JUNE 2012

Date: 25 APRIL 2010 Date : 25 APRIL 2010

Date: 7 MAY 2009 Date : 7 MAY

√

CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret

Act 1972)*

RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the

organisation where research was done)*

OPEN ACCESS I agree that my thesis to be published as online open access

(full text)

“I acknowledge that I have studied this piece of work and in my opinion it is in

accordance with the scope requirement and quality for the purpose of awarding the

Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical – Control and Instrumentation)”

Signature :

Name of Supervisor : DR MOHD FAUZI BIN OTHMAN

Date : JUNE 2012

DESIGNING SENSOR SYSTEM FOR DETECTING CHICKEN

MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR

MOHD FARID BIN ABD AZIZ

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical – Control and Instrumentation)

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JUNE 2012

ii

“I declare that this thesis entitled “Designing Sensor System for Detecting Chicken

Movement and Behavior” is the result of my own research except as cited in the

references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently

submitted in candidature of any other degree”

Signature : .............................................

Name : MOHD FARID BIN ABD AZIZ

Date : JUNE 2012

iii

To my beloved wife, family, family-in-laws, brothers and sisters. Thank you

for your prayer, love and encouragement. To all the lecturers who have guided me,

and to all my friends for your help and support, I thank you all.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

‘In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious and The most Merciful’

Alhamdulillah, with all praise and gratitude to Allah S.W.T for giving me the

intelligence, strength, fortune and health to finish my final year project throughout these

two semesters.

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Mohd

Fauzi bin Othman for his valuable guidance, support and suggestion. Without his

support and interest, this project would not able to be presented here.

Also, the deepest appreciation goes to my family and family-in-laws, whose have

been most tolerant and support I’ve all these years. Thanks for the encouragement, love

and emotional support that all of you had given me

Lastly, I would like to thank to all of my friends for their endless support and

assistance at various occasions.

v

ABSTRACT

The development of this sensor system is to detect early sickness of chickens in a

real situation. Usually the healthiness of a chicken is related to its movement. An

unhealthy chicken rarely moves (inactive) and loses its appetite. Here, the movement of

a chicken is detected using an accelerometer sensor. The data obtained from the

accelerometer sensor is transmitted wirelessly from the chicken to the receiver or base

station (monitoring station). The wireless communication application is used because a

poultry farm covers a very wide area and it can transmit the data more efficiently

compared to using wire. The data received by the receiver or base station will be

processed and then shown on a gravity graph consisting of a three-axis of accelerometer

data. The data is then displayed using LabVIEW where it displays the real time data.

The processed data will also be saved for future analysis. The saved data can be used for

non-real time monitoring graph by using MATLAB.

vi

ABSTRAK

Pembangunan sistem sensor ini adalah untuk mengesan penyakit awal ayam

dalam situasi sebenar. Biasanya kesihatan ayam berkaitan dengan pergerakannya. Ayam

yang tidak sihat kebiasaannya jarang bergerak (tidak aktif) dan hilang selera makan.

Disini, pergerakan ayam dikesan menggunakan sensor accelerometer. Data yang

diperolehi daripada sensor accelerometer dihantar dengan komunikasi tanpa wayar dari

ayam kepada stesen penerima atau receiver (stesen pemantauan). Aplikasi komunikasi

tanpa wayar digunakan kerana ladang ayam meliputi kawasan yang sangat luas dan ia

boleh menghantar data lebih lancar berbandingkan dengan komunikasi menggunakan

wayar. Data yang diterima oleh stesen penerima atau receiver akan diproses dan

kemudian dipaparkan pada graf graviti yang terdiri daripada paksi tiga data pecutan.

Data kemudiannya dipaparkan menggunakan LabVIEW di mana ia memaparkan graf

data masa sebenar. Data yang diproses juga akan disimpan untuk analisis masa depan.

Data yang disimpan boleh digunakan untuk graf bukan masa-sebenar dengan

menggunakan MATLAB.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES x

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF EQUATIONS xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES xiv

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Project Background 1

1.3 Problem Statement 2

1.4 Objective 2

1.5 Scope 3

1.6 Summary of Work 4

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Chicken Sickness Symptoms 6

2.3 Accelerometer 7

2.3.1 Positioning Algorithm of Accelerometer 8

viii

2.3.2 Accelerometer application 9

2.4 X-Bee Wireless Protocol 10

2.4.1 Technology Overview 11

2.4.2 X-Bee wireless module application 12

2.5 Arduino Microcontroller Board 13

2.6 Programming Software 14

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 15

3.2 System Overview 15

3.2.1 The methodology flow 16

3.3 Hardware Implementation(Transmitter) 19

3.3.1 5V Voltage regulator 19

3.3.2 Interface ADXL335 with Arduino 20

3.3.3 Interface Arduino with X-Bee module 20

3.3.4 Transmitter circuit 21

3.4 Hardware Implementation(Receiver) 22

3.4.1 Interface X-Bee shield with Arduino 22

3.5 Communication between Two X-Bee 23

3.6 Software Implementation 25

4 SYSTEM DESIGN

4.1 Introduction 27

4.2 Full System Operation 27

5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction 30

5.2 Transmitter Testing 30

5.3 Receiver Testing 31

5.4 Full System Testing 32

5.5 Discussion 37

ix

6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1 Introduction 39

6.2 Conclusion 39

6.3 Recommendation 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES 43

x

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 FYP1 5

1.2 FYP2 5

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Sample signal of accelerometer 9

2.2 Comparison between RF modules 11

2.3 Mesh topology 12

2.4 Mesh architecture reliability 13

3.1 Methodology flow 16

3.2 Voltage regulator circuit 19

3.3 Connection between Arduino and accelerometer 20

3.4 Connection between Arduino and X-Bee 21

3.5 Transmitter Circuit 22

3.6 Set up for receiver 23

3.7 Setting for transmitter 24

3.8 Setting for receiver 24

3.9 LabVIEW block diagram 26

3.10 LabVIEW front panel 26

4.1 Full system operation 29

4.2 Flow chart for system operation 30

5.1 Transmitter testing 31

5.2 Receiver testing 32

5.3 Transmitter is attached to the chicken’s body 33

5.4 Receiver in a standby mode 34

xii

5.5 Result from serial monitor 34

5.6 Result from LabVIEW 36

5.7 Chicken in static condition 37

5.8 Chicken in walking condition 37

5.9 Chicken in running condition 38

xiii

LIST OF EQUATIONS

EQUATION NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Formula for acceleration and velocity 8

xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDICES TITLE PAGE

A Arduino Coding for Accelerometer Sensor 43

B Accelerometer Circuit Diagram 45

C Arduino UNO Datasheet 46

D Accelerometer Datasheet 55

E X-Bee Datasheet 59

F X-Bee shield Diagram 64

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter will discuss the project background, problem statement, objective,

scope and summary of work. In addition, this chapter will lay out the trend of this

project in the market.

1.2 Project Background

Chicken meat is one of best sources of protein required by our society. The low

price compared to meat makes chicken a popular alternative and in demand by

customers. Furthermore, the cost for operating the chicken stock is cheaper compared to

beef cattle. Usually, the important factor in operating the poultry farm is the health

condition factor of the chickens. Usually, the health of the chicken is related to its

activeness. When a chicken is unhealthy, it will not move regularly compared to a

healthy chicken, where it will be very active.

2

Sometimes, farmers are not aware about the health of their chickens. The greater

the number of chickens in the poultry farm the harder for them to detect which chicken

is sick. The advancement in technology can overcome this problem where the sensor is

designed to detect sick chickens. In addition, the wireless system also provides the data

to be sent wirelessly from the chicken coop to the receiver for monitoring the chicken

movement behavior

1.3 Problem Statement

There are four problem statements for this project. Firstly, this project was

designed to detect the early sickness of chickens. Nowadays, many sicknesses and

viruses can attack poultry farm industries. The latest virus is the Avian Influenza (bird

flu). By designing this system, the early sickness chickens can be detected just by

looking at the chicken movement and analyzing its behavior.

The, data from the transmitter is then transmitted wirelessly. The wireless system

is more convenient when it comes to a large poultry area. This method is more

reasonable compared to the wired method.

1.4 Objective

The main objective of the project is to design the system for detecting chicken

movement. From the chicken movement, analysis is performed to understand the

3

behavior of the chicken. There are two categories of chicken behavior, either the chicken

is active or inactive. Usually an inactive chicken would be considered unhealthy.

The movements’ data from the sensor must be transmitted wirelessly from the

chicken to the receiver using X-Bee wireless module. Then, the receiver will process the

data and shown on a real time graph. Lastly, the storage system data will save the data

received for further analysis.

1.5 Scope

The scope of this project is to design a transmitter and receiver pair which can

cater the important features for data transmitting and receiving. X-Bee wireless

communication technology is implemented as a communication between this transmitter

and receiver. This project consists of two major parts, which are hardware and software

parts.

In the hardware part, the components for the transmitter consist of accelerometer

sensor, Arduino microcontroller board, X-Bee wireless module and voltage regulator.

The receiver consists of Arduino microcontroller board, X-Bee wireless module and X-

Bee shield.

In the software part, C language is used for the transmitter, in which the data

from the accelerometer sensor will be processed before transmission. For monitoring

signals from the sensor, the software used is Labview. The Labview will show the real

time graph, and the gravity value for data saving.

4

At the end of this project, one transmitter and one receiver are produced. The

range of communication between the transmitter and receiver can be up to 100 meters

without blocking and suitable to be applied for a poultry farm with an area of 300x300

meters square.

1.6 Summary of Work

Implementation and work of the project during the first and second semesters are

summarized into a Gantt chart as shown in the next page.

5

Table 1: Research schedule for FYP-1

Task

Week

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

FYP briefing

Literature review

Investigating of

simulation model

FYP-1 presentation

Writing a report

Submit the report

Table 2: Research schedule for FYP-2

Task

Week

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Hardware part

Software part

Running the system

FYP-2 seminar

Complete and

submit thesis

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter includes the study on related projects and the gathering of

information from related technical papers and published journals. In addition, there will

be a brief introduction on chicken sickness symptoms, the Arduino microcontroller

which uses the ATmega 328 microcontroller, the sensing method of accelerometer

sensor and the application of X-Bee wireless module.

2.2 Chicken Sickness Symptoms

A sick chicken works hard not to show any sign of weakness and sickness. This

is to avoid becoming prey any predator. When it is sick for a long period, it will not able

to hide its condition. Usually, it will reduce its movement activity and its appetite also

become poor.The poultry farmer will detect the sickness of the

7

chicken from poultry manure. Normally, the unhealthy chicken will produce thin and

light poultry manure. Then, the antidote will be given to all chicken in the coop,

included healthy chicken ones. [8]

These are the factors that contribute to the sickness chicken

Injury

Virus infection

Hypo or hyperthermia (too cool or too hot environment)

Old age

Malnutrition

Lack of sunshine or fresh air

Poisoned

2.3 Accelerometer

Accelerometer sensors measure the acceleration experienced by the sensor and

anything to which the sensor is directly attached [1]. For this project, tripe axis

accelerometer sensor will be used which consists x-axis, y-axis and z-axis.

Accelerometer has two types of detection which are static acceleration and dynamic

acceleration.

Static acceleration entangles only tilt sensing while dynamic acceleration

involves motion, shock and vibration sensing. For this chapter, only dynamic

acceleration will be discussed. Dynamic acceleration allows the changes of gravity

values when there are changes in position. This application is suitable for measuring and

8

detecting chicken’s motion. In addition, accelerometer will change gravity values when

there are changes in the axis position [6].

2.3.1 Positioning Algorithm of Accelerometer

To ensure that the accelerometer functions as a sensor, we must understand the

poisoning algorithm of accelerometer. Firstly, accelerometer can be defined as a sensor

that measures the acceleration experience and anything to which the sensor is directly

attached. It can also be defined as the rate of change of velocity of the object. Hence, the

rate of change of velocity can be defined as in Equation 2.1.

Equation 2.1: Formula for acceleration and velocity

However, if we want to find the position data of an object, we must do double

integration of acceleration. The double integration can be defined as the area below the

curve as shown in Figure 2.1. The integral is the sum of very a small areas where the

width value is almost zero [6].

9

Figure 2.1: Sample signal of accelerometer

However, there are losses in the sampling which affect the accuracy in the

obtained data in a real situation case. So, zero reference must be taken into account.

3.3.2 Accelerometer application

This accelerometer sensor can be used for various applications. One of the

applications is for measuring the physical activity in children. This application is

designed to measure the physical activity level of children. . The children’s activities

will be recorded and the data will be analyzed to determine whether the children are

active or not. Then, we can determine the potential reasons of why some children

become active [15].

For pet monitoring, the accelerometer is used for monitoring spontaneous

activity in dogs. In this project, four healthy dogs are chosen and five identical

accelerometers are attached to each dog to get the output. Then the dogs are placed at

10

different locations and the data from the dogs are recorded. The data then are analyzed

to determine which place is the most convenient to them [16].

For environment monitoring, the accelerometer is used for monitoring

earthquake and landslide. When a slight change in angle value occurs, the alarm will be

ON to alert the people around that area [17].

2.4 X-Bee Wireless Protocol

X-Bee is a set protocol that uses the 802.15.4 standard as a baseline and adds

additional routing and networking functionality. This module is an embedded solution

reserving wireless-end-point connectivity to a device. These modules use the IEEE

802.15.4 networking protocol for fast-to-multipoint or peer-to-peer networking. It is

designed to fulfill the low power and low cost wireless requirement [5].

The X-Bee Alliance developed the X-Bee protocol and it was a group of

companies working in cooperation. These groups of companies developed a network

protocol that can be used in a variety of commercial and industrial low data rate

applications. X-Bee is a LR-WPAN technology and is built up from the lower layers of

IEEE 802.15.4 LR-WPA standard. While the 802.15.4 standard defies the lower-level

Physical and MAC layers, the X-Bee standard defines the higher-level network and

application layers as well as the security services [7].

11

2.4.1 Technology Overview

The 802.15.4 is a standard for wireless communication approved by the Institute

of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE is a technical professional

association that has put out numerous standards to encourage growth and interoperability

of existing and latest technologies. The 802.15.4 standard also permits the

communication for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configuration [7].

X-Bee has a capability for low power applications. It fits well into embedded

systems and those markets where reliability and versatility are important but not in high

bandwidth. There is a comparison of features with other wireless technologies and their

different applications are shown in Figure 2.3. The lower data rate of the X-Bee device

allows for better sensitivity and range, but offers fewer throughputs. The primary

advantage of X-Bee lies in its ability to provide low power consumption and extended

battery life.

Figure 2.2: Comparison between RF protocols

12

2.4.2 X-Bee wireless module application

By using X-Bee wireless module, many applications can be done. The most

popular application for environment monitoring is in agriculture. For a wide area, X-Bee

wireless module is a suitable and convenient method for data transmission. This method

will help the farmer to monitoring their farms. Usually, the farmer will install the

wireless sensor network around the farm. The sensor used will be for movement

detection like infrared sensor for detecting the presence of thieves. Commonly, the Mesh

topology method will be installed around the farm. Mesh topology is multi-hopping

system where the wireless systems nodes communicate with each other to hop the data

from the sensor node to the base station. Then, the wireless sensor can pass the

command to each other in a mesh network, avoiding the need to communicate with each

other through a base station [14]. If a sensor node fails, it will find the other nearest

sensor node to transmit the data. Figure 2.3 shows the mesh topology overview.

Figure 2.3: Mesh topology

13

Figure 2.4: Mesh architecture reliability

2.5 Arduino Microcontroller Board

Arduino microcontroller board is a popular open-source board microcontroller

that is used electronics in multidisciplinary electronic application. This hardware

provides a simple open hardware designed with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board

input and output support. The software of Arduino microcontroller board consists of a

standard program language compiler and the boot loader that runs on the board [9].

Arduino microcontroller board is programmed using a Wiring-based language,

similar to C++ with slight simplifications, modification and processing-based integrated

development environment. The Arduino UNO board is used for this thesis because it is

commonly used and is also cheaper compared to other boards.

14

2.6 Programming Software

The programming software used for this thesis is LabVIEW and MATLAB

software. LabVIEW is a graphical development environment software provided by the

National Instrument Company and provides Virtual Instrument (VI) tools, a test

sequencing and management environment. It is a powerful system design software for

tasks performed by engineers and scientists. A VI can either run as a program, with the

front panel serving as a user interface or when dropped as a node onto the block

diagram. The front panel defines the input and output for the given node through the

connector panel. The graphical approach also allows non-programmers to build

programs by dragging and dropping virtual representations of lab equipment with which

they are already familiar. For this thesis, the LabVIEW software will be used to show

real time graph of chicken movement. Then, the data logging and communication port

also provides the data for both current and future analysis [8].

MATLAB is a programming environment for algorithm development, data

analysis, visualization and numerical computation. By using MATLAB, the technical

computer problem can be solved faster than traditional programming language such as C

programming, C++ programming and Fortran [8]. In additional, MATLAB can be used

in a wide range of applications. It consists of signal and image, processing,

communications, control design, test and measurement, financial modeling and analysis

and computation biology. For this thesis, MATLAB application is used for modeling

and analysis of the data from the receiver.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the system overview and flow of the final year thesis and

the function of the main component for mechanisms, electronics and software.

3.2 System Overview

This system consists of two major parts which are the transmitter and receiver.

For the transmitter, it consists of a power supply part and sensor system part. The power

supply system has to supply 5V to the Arduino microcontroller board. Lithium polymer

battery was used to supply the microcontroller board. Yet, the voltage must be regulated

first because the voltage requirement cannot exceed 5V. By using a voltage regulator,

the desired voltage can be obtained. For the sensor part, the main brain will be Arduino

microcontroller board which uses Atmel AVR processor. The accelerometer will detect

the movement sensor for the chicken.

16

The output will be the gravity value of the accelerometer sensor. The gravity

value will be sent wirelessly using X-Bee wireless module. Then, the receiver will

receive the output to be displayed at the computer. The output will display a real time

waveform. Figure 3.1 will show the design system flow for the whole thesis.

Figure 3.1: Methodology flow

3.2.1 The methodology flow

i. Literature review

Firstly, after obtaining the title of thesis, internet research was made relating to

chicken sickness symptoms and wireless accelerometer. From there we were able

to gather important information about chicken behavior such as when it became

sick and also information on wireless accelerometer. Regarding the wireless

Literature review. Study on the

technology required

Fabrication stage 1: Circuit Design

Fabrication stage 2: Select the suitable

component

Fabrication stage 3: Circuit constuction

Fabrication stage 4: Circuit testing

Fabrication stage 5: Circuit repairing

Fabrication stage 6: Transmitter-Receiver

connectivity checking

Fabrication stage 7: Programming

Analysis and test: Documentation

17

accelerometer sensor, the required components to fabricate the system is also

obtained.

Furthermore, information from previous thesis done by graduates from FKE

Digital Library are also referred.

ii. Fabrication stage 1: Circuit design

For this thesis, only the transmitter part that needed to be designed. Firstly, the

circuit was supplied with 5V to the Arduino microcontroller board. Then, the

Arduino microcontroller board would distribute power to the accelerometer

sensor and X-Bee wireless module.

iii. Fabrication stage 2: Select the suitable component

This process must be done carefully because the components were costly. After

successfully designing the circuit, the circuit construction was carried out.

iv. Fabrication stage 3: Circuit construction

The constructions of the transmitter require high degree of patience. It was

because all the components had to be soldered on the strip board. Some

components were also very sensitive.

v. Fabrication stage 4: Circuit testing

After finishing circuit the construction, the circuit must be tested to ensure that it

functioned properly. One LED indicator was placed on the circuit to indicate that

the circuit functions properly. Then, the measurement was done at the sensor by

18

placing a voltmeter at the accelerometer’s axis and grounding. Every changes of

axis would change the output voltage from the sensor.

vi. Fabrication stage 5: Circuit repairing

While the circuit construction was underway, there were some errors during the

installation. Usually, errors would occur when resistor values were wrongly

chosen and grounding wrongly system connected to the component.

vii. Fabrication stage 6: Transmitter-Receiver connectivity checking

Connectivity between transmitter and receiver can be checked by using X-CTU

software. When the source and destination addresses were matched between two

X-Bee wireless modules, the reading will occur by using this software.

viii. Fabrication stage 7: Programming

This stage involved writing the program which detected the movement of the

chicken. The language for the programming is the C language.

ix. Analysis and test: Documentation

The sensor and wireless transmission devices were tested again to ensure that the

system functions properly.

19

3.3 Hardware Implementation(Transmitter)

Transmitter is a very important part to ensure that this thesis was successfully

implemented. It can be proved because the accelerometer sensor is placed at the

transmitter to detect chicken movement. This section will discuss how the important

components merged into a single transmitter system.

3.3.1 5V Voltage regulator

Since Arduino microcontroller board can only operate with a supply of 5V,

voltage regulator circuit is needed. This circuit is implemented by using an LM7805

voltage regulator and a pair of coupling capacitor to reduce noise and stabilize the

voltage signal. In additional, a diode is used to protect the LM7805 and microcontroller

board from the opposite direction of the electric current. The opposite direction electric

current can damage the component on the board. The complete circuit is shown in

Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2: Voltage regulator circuit

Capacitor

Switch

Voltage

Regulator

Diode

20

3.3.2 Interface ADXL335 with Arduino

ADXL335 is the accelerometer sensor model used for this thesis. It is a triple

axis accelerometer that is designed by Analog Device where the sensor comes with a

breakout board that simplifies the soldering work. The output of this sensor is analog

voltage relative to acceleration. By using Arduino microcontroller board, the output

from the accelerometer sensor will be sent to the TX pin for wireless data transmission.

Figure 3.3 shows the connection between Arduino microcontroller board and

accelerometer sensor.

Figure 3.3: Connection between Arduino and Accelerometer

3.3.3 Interface Arduino with X-Bee wireless module

X-Bee wireless module was engineered to meet IEEE 802.15.4 standard. It

supports the unique needs of low cost and low powered wireless sensor networks. For

this thesis, the X-Bee modules are used as a data transmission between transmitter and

receiver. The processed signal from the accelerometer sensor will be sent out by

21

transmitter (TX) pin at the Arduino microcontroller board. The connection between the

Arduino and X-Bee wireless module is shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4: Connection between Arduino and X-Bee

3.3.4 Transmitter circuit

Transmitter circuit is a combination between sensor breakout board and Arduino

microcontroller. Sensor breakout board consists of a soldered accelerometer sensor, the

X-Bee wireless module that be connected with the Arduino microcontroller board as

mentioned before. A 5V regulated circuit is used to supply power to the Arduino

microcontroller board. Figure 3.5 shows the combination between the Arduino

microcontroller board and sensor breakout circuit.

22

Figure 3.5: Transmitter circuit

3.4 Hardware Implementation(Receiver)

The receiver functions as a data recipient from the transmitter circuit. Then, the

data received will be sent to the computer for display and analysis.

3.4.1 Interface X-Bee shield with Arduino

To set up the receiver, there are a few steps that must be followed. Firstly, the

Atmel processor must be removed from the Arduino microcontroller board. Then,

moving to the X-Bee shield, two jumpers must connected to the pins labeled X-

Bee/USB. This situation determines that the X-bee’s serial communication be connected

to the serial communication between the controller and FTDI USB-to-serial chip in the

Arduino microcontroller board. With these jumpers, the DOUT pin of the X-Bee

wireless module is connected to RX pin of microcontroller and DIN is connected to TX.

After all steps have been made, the calibration between X-Bee shield and Arduino

23

microcontroller board can be made. Figure 3.6 shows all the steps taken to set up the

receiver.

Figure 3.6: Set up for receiver

3.5 Communication Between Two X-Bee

Before communication between two X-Bees can be done, there are a few steps

required to set the X-Bee wireless module as a transmitter and receiver. Firstly, the

source and destination addresses for both modules must match. The source address

(MY) prevents the for non-duplicate messages from being ignored as duplicate. Then, it

is also used to distinguish a radio from the next and to prevent duplicate data packets. To

get a data transfer between modules, the destination address (DL) of the transmitting

radio needs to match the MY of the receiving radio. The addresses of X-Bee wireless

module can be set by using an X-CTU software. Figures 3.7 and 3.8 will show how to

set the addresses for the transmitter and receiver.

24

Figure 3.7: Setting for transmitter

After the transmitter X-Bee module has been set up, replace the transmitter X-

Bee module with the receiver X-Bee module.

Figure 3.8: Setting for receiver

25

3.6 Software Implementation

This thesis needs two types of software. Firstly, the software for the transmitter

where the gravity value needs to be processed and sent to the TX and RX pins and the

software for the receiver where the gravity value will convert into a graph. For this

section, only the software for the receiver can be shown. For the transmitter, the C

language programming is already done. The programming will be attached to the

Appendix section.

For the real time graph, software from the LabView will be used. It is because

the software from LabVIEW is easier compared to the other softwares. Figure 3.9 will

showns the software implementation using LabVIEW.

26

Figure 3.9:LabVIEW block diagram

Figure 3.10: LabVIEWfront panel

CHAPTER 4

SYSTEM DESIGN

4.1 Introduction

This chapter will discuss how the software designs and hardware designs are

integrated to come out with the full system design.

4.2 Full System Operation

The main purpose of this thesis is to study the movement of chicken. In order to

detect sickness in them, from the movement detected, the data will be analyzed and the

condition of the chicken can be determined.

The system starts when the circuit is supplied with 7.4V from Lithium Polymer

battery. As mentioned before, the Arduino microcontroller board can be operated at 5V.

Therefore, the circuit will be regulated to 5V by a voltage regulated circuit. This 5V will

be supplied to the Arduino microcontroller board. The Arduino microcontroller board

will distribute of 3.3V supply to the accelerometer sensor, X-Bee wireless module and

28

LED indicator. The accelerometer sensor will then detect the chicken movement. Then,

the output from the accelerometer sensor will be sent to an Atmel processor on the

Arduino microcontroller board. After that, the Atmel processor will process the data in

the gravity value and the value will be sent to the TX and RX pins. From the TX and RX

pins, data transmission will be done by the X-Bee wireless module.

Wireless data transmission can be done by connecting Arduino RX pin to DOUT

X-Bee module and Arduino TX pin to DIN X-Bee module. After that, the data will be

transmitted to the receiver. From the receiver, the Arduino is connected directly to the

computer. By using a LabVIEW software, a real time graph and data logger will be

shown. The data logger will save the data for further analysis or the non-realtime graph

can be done by putting the data to the MATLAB software. Figure 4.1 shows the flow of

the system.

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Figure 4.1: Full system operation

30

START

INITIALIZING

MOVEMENT

DETECTED?

PROCESSING

DATA

DATA

TRANSMISSION

DATA

RECEIVED?

SOFTWARE

DISPLAYING

DATA

DATA SAVING

NO

NO

YES

YES

Figure 4.2: Flow chart for system operation

CHAPTER 5

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the result obtained for this thesis.

5.2 Transmitter Testing

Figure 5.1: Transmitter testing

LED indicator will turn

ON

Li-Po

Battery X-Bee

Sensor

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Figure 5.1 shows the transmitter part consisting of an accelerometer sensor, X-

Bee wireless module and 5V voltage regulator. The LED indicator will turn ON if the

transmitter works well. If one of the components does not work, the LED indicator will

turn OFF and when the battery runs out of power, the LED indicator will blink.

5.2 Receiver Testing

Figure 5.2: Receiver testing

The receiver is easy to test because it gets direct power from the computer. This

is because the receiver is connected via USB cable from Arduino microcontroller board

to USB computer device. When the receiver is connected, LED indicator from X-Bee

shield blinks. It shows that the X-Bee is ready to receive data from the transmitter. The

X-Bee shield does not function if the LED indicator is not blinking.

LED indicator

will be blinking

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5.3 Full System Testing

In this thesis, three types of software will be used to test its functionality. First is

the serial monitor application from the Arduino’s software. Here, the gravity values will

be shown but it does not provide a real time graph. Before that, the transmitter should be

attached to the chicken’s body and the receiver system in a standby mode. Figures 5.3

and 5.4 show the transmitter being attached to the chicken’s body and the receiver ready

to receive the data.

Figure 5.3: Transmitter is attached to the chicken’s body

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Figure 5.4: Receiver in a standby mode

When the transmitter is ON, the transmitter will start sending data although the

chicken does not move. Figure 5.5 shows the data received from the transmitter by using

Arduino’s serial monitor software.

Figure 5.5: Result from serial monitor

Gravity

values

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From the serial monitor, the results show three values received from the

transmitter. The values represent the tri-axis of the accelerometer sensor which are x-

axis, y-axis and z-axis. A real time graph and data logger can be shown by using the

LabVIEW software as demonstrated in Figure 5.7

From the result obtained, shows that real time graph consists of only one axis

graph. However, for the data logger, the result obtained consists of tri-axis gravity value.

The result from the data logger can be saved for future analysis. After that, the value can

also be copied and paste to MATLAB software for non-real time graph analysis. Figures

5.7, 5.8 and 5.9 will show the graphs using MATLAB. The results consist three

conditions which are during the chicken is static, walking and running.

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Figure 5.6: Result from LabVIEW

Real-time graph Data logger

37

Figure 5.7: Chicken in static condition

Figure 5.8: Chicken in walking condition

(Z)

(x)

(y)

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Figure 5.9: Chicken in running condition

5.4 Discussion

Accelerometer sensor is suitable for detecting movement. When there are

changes in the axis direction, it will change the gravity value. This is proven in the

results obtained as shown in Figures 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9. From the results obtained, it shows

that, when the chicken is static, the waveform of gravity values shows that the

accelerometer sensor does not change much. However, when the chicken is walking, the

changes of gravity values is more active compared to when the chicken is static. Then

when the chicken is running, the changes of waveform for the gravity values is very

active compared to when the chicken is in static and walking conditions. When the

chicken is active, the graph will show the changes for every movement. During this

situation, the chicken can be considered as healthy. If the output does not indicate any

significant changes, the chicken would be considered as unhealthy or sick.

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1 Introduction

In this chapter, conclusion and recommendation for the thesis are discussed. For

the conclusion part, the objectives of the thesis are explained as either archived or not.

As for the recommendation, we give suggestion on how to improve the thesis quality in

the future.

6.2 Conclusion

From the obtained result, it can be concluded that this thesis was conducted

successfully. The objective of this thesis which is to design a sensor system to detecting

chicken movement and behavior was achieved. In addition, other objectives such as

wireless data transfer, real time monitoring and data logger were also accomplished.

This thesis successfully demonstrates the capability of the accelerometer sensor

and X-Bee wireless module. The accelerometer sensor was able to detect the chicken

movement and from the chicken movement, the behavior of the

40

chicken can be determined. Furthermore, this thesis can be used as a platform for future

development in using the accelerometer and fully utilizing the sensor’s capability. The

X- Bee wireless module was efficient in transmitting the data from the transmitter to the

receiver. Furthermore, the X-Bee wireless module can be used in a wide of range area

within a maximum of 100 meters in radius.

However, his thesis also has some weaknesses. One of the weaknesses of this

system is regarding data transmission. There is time delay between the gravity values

but that does not greatly affect the system. Also, since the size of the transmitter is quite

large it will be a burden to the chicken and causes it to become uncomfortable due to its

size.

6.3 Recommendation

To reduce the weaknesses of this thesis, some improvements should be made.

Firstly, more extensive research should be done in order to overcome the delay in time

of the transmission. To reduce large the size of the transmitter system, the design of the

system should include smaller components in the future.

41

REFERENCE

1. B. B. Graham, "Using an Accelerometer Sensor to Measure Human Hand

Motion, "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute

of Technology, May 11, 2000.

2. A. R. Jimenez, et al., "A comparison of Pedestrian Dead-Reckoning algorithms

using a low-cost MEMS IMU," in Intelligent Signal Processing, 2009. WISP

2009. IEEE International Symposium on, 2009, pp. 37-42.

3. R. Faludi, Building Wireless Sensor Network, 1 ed.: O'REILLY, 2010.

4. "Xbee/Xbee-PRO OEM RF Module," M. Inc, Ed., 1 ed. Lindon: MaxStream Inc,

2007.

5. F. K. b. A. Hamid, "Wireless Smoke Detector System," Faculty of Electrical

Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 2011.

6. Y. K. Bee, "Portable Video Game Using PIC18F452 & Accelerometer," Faculty

of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 2011.

7. C. H. Chueng, "Wireless Home Security System," Faculty of Electrical

Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 2009.

8. www.wikipedia.com

42

9. www.arduinoforums.com

10. Urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res08-whatis.html

11. http://phys.csuchico.edu/ayars/XBee/Software.html

12. http://iijean.blogspot.com/2011/09/realtime-visualization-for.html

13. http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29295

14. H. D. Saim, "Wireless Mesh Routing for Telemedical System," Faculty of

Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 2008.

15. http://www.theactigraph.com/article/research-database/validation/

accelerometers- for-measuring-physical-activity-behavior-in-children/

16. B. D. Hansen, "Evaluating of an Accelerometer for at-Home Monitoring of

Spontaneous Activity in Dogs," 2007.

17. J. F.Lawrence, "MEM Accelerometer and Distributed sensing forRapid

Earthquake Characterization," 2010.

43

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Arduino Coding for Accelerometer Sensor

const int groundpin = 18; // analog input pin 4 -- ground

const int powerpin = 19; // analog input pin 5 -- voltage

const int xpin = A3; // x-axis of the accelerometer

const int ypin = A2; // y-axis

const int zpin = A1; // z-axis (only on 3-axis models)

void setup()

{

// initialize the serial communications:

Serial.begin(9600);

// Provide ground and power by using the analog inputs as normal

// digital pins. This makes it possible to directly connect the

// breakout board to the Arduino. If you use the normal 5V and

// GND pins on the Arduino, you can remove these lines.

pinMode(groundpin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(powerpin, OUTPUT);

44

digitalWrite(groundpin, LOW);

digitalWrite(powerpin, HIGH);

}

void loop()

{

// print the sensor values:

Serial.print(analogRead(xpin));

// print a tab between values:

Serial.print("\t");

Serial.print(analogRead(ypin));

// print a tab between values:

Serial.print("\t");

Serial.print(analogRead(zpin));

Serial.println();

// delay before next reading:

delay(100);

}

45

APPENDIX B

Accelerometer connection diagram

46

APPENDIX C

Arduino UNO Datasheet

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

APPENDIX D

Accelerometer Datasheet

56

57

58

59

APPENDIC E

X-Bee Datasheet

60

61

62

63

64

APPENDIX F

X-Bee shield Diagram