Classificação de padrões de mastigação de ruminantes utilizando aprendizagem de máquina

Abstract

In this work, a system to automate the classification of chewing patterns of ruminants is developed. Pattern classification of ingestive behavior in grazing animals has extreme importance in studies related to animal nutrition, growing and health. The proposal is based on data collected by optical fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG). The collected data are processed by machine learning techniques. The FBG sensors measure the biomechanical strain during jaw movements. In vitro tests were performed based on a cadaveric mandible of a goat and in vivo tests were performed by monitoring the food intake process of a steer. For the pattern classification a classic model of decision tree and artificial neural network were used. Experimental results show that the proposed approaches for pattern classification have been capable to differentiate the materials and events involved in the chewing process. Experimental results show that it is possible to classify different forage and events involved in the ingestive behaviour of ruminants, that contributes to improving the current methodology for monitoring the animal consumption efficiency.