Politecnico di Torino | Servizi per la didattica

KEYWORD

Precision Livestock Farming technologies for improving Indoor Environmental Quality and energy efficiency in livestock buildings.

estero Thesis abroad

keywords BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE, INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, PRECISION LIVESTOCK FARMING

External reference persons Dr. Andrea Costantino (UPV)
Prof. Salvator Calvet Sanz (UPV)

Research Groups ICTA @UPV (https://icta.webs.upv.es/en/), TEBE

Description Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) consists in the use of different technologies for monitoring livestock to improve farm management. In this way, animal health, welfare, and production could be improved. At the Institute of Animal Science and Technology (ICTA) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), several PLF technologies are being experimentally tested in living labs in the framework of national research projects (TED-FARM and PLF4ALL). In the living labs, different PLF technologies are being adopted to collect data regarding, for example, animal movement, position, and body temperature. Even though PLF may represent an opportunity to improve Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and energy efficiency in livestock houses, their potential has not already been explored.
The objective of this thesis is to actively contribute to the project with the aim of developing a strategy for improving IEQ and energy efficiency of livestock houses based on the use of PLF technologies and evaluating its impact. For this aim, the following specific objectives are defined:
• Perform a literature analysis on the use of PLF technologies for the improvement of IEQ and energy efficiency;
• Develop the new strategy to be adapted to the case studies in the frameworks of TED-FARM and PLF4ALL projects;
• Numerically evaluate the impacts of the proposed strategy, considering aspects related to energy, financial costs, and animal productivity.
The student is expected to spend a visiting period at the ICTA (Valencia, Spain) under the supervision of Prof. Calvet and Dr. Costantino to perform part of the tasks of the thesis.