Dr. Terry Fonstad, the associate dean of research with the University of Saskatchewan's College of Engineering, said the sensors need to stand up to a lot of challenges.
For example, pigs are curious and will start nibbling at sensors if they can reach them.
And the sensors need to survive pressure washing, including chemicals, vibrations, rain and sleet and snow and temperatures from plus or minus 40.
They must be able to measure and report temperature and humnidity on a real-time basis.
Fonstad said the fifth generation sensors have really got some good promise and there's probably going to be continuous development on it.
It's the same common problem that we have in automated mining and automated agriculture, is that's sensing, communications, analytics and controls, he said.
