IoT4Pork

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Lluís M. Plà Aragonés
• Funding Agency: Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) - Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento 2025

• Main Objective: Digitization of the pig fattening sector through AI-driven IoT cloud architecture and data fusion

Project Overview

IoT4Pork aims to drive the digital transformation of the pig sector by developing an intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) cloud platform specifically tailored for fattening farms. A major challenge in modern pork production is the lack of coordination between the farming (fattening) and slaughtering (abattoir and meat packing) phases, coupled with the difficulty of integrating data from various standalone farm devices.

To solve this, the IoT4Pork project fuses data from multiple Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) sources—such as feeding robots, environmental sensors, video cameras, and drones—into a unified, secure Data Space. By hybridizing Artificial Intelligence (Deep Learning and Machine Learning) with Operational Research (mathematical optimization models), the platform provides advanced, real-time decision support tools for farmers and veterinarians.

Key Objectives

• Digitalization Roadmap: Develop a protocol and cost-benefit analysis to help farmers confidently adopt digital tools and improve their competitiveness.

• Data Interoperability: Standardize metadata and ensure compatibility across different commercial PLF devices to facilitate seamless data fusion.

• Intelligent IoT Platform: Build a cloud platform capable of hosting modular, AI-driven applications to transform raw farm data into actionable managerial insights.

• Real-World Application: Test the platform's ability to perform real-time monitoring of pig growth, analyze feeding behavior to detect diseases like PRRS, monitor environmental metrics, and optimize supply chain coordination with abattoirs.

Expected Impact

• Economic Competitiveness: Lowers overall production costs through enhanced efficiency and provides Spanish pig producers with advanced decision-making support.

• Proactive Animal Health: Enables early tracking and mitigation of disease outbreaks by continuously monitoring animal activity and feed/water consumption.

• Environmental Sustainability: Reduces the environmental footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of fattening farms by precisely allocating resources and optimizing management.

• Data Sovereignty: Aligns with the Common European Agriculture Data Space, ensuring that farmers retain full ownership and control over how their data is used and shared.