@inproceedings{butler:virtualfence2, 
    author = {Zack Butler and Peter Corke and Ronald Peterson and Daniela Rus}, 
    title = {Virtual fences for Controlling Cows}, 
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Applications of Mobile Embedded
Systems (WAMES at MobiSys 2004)}, 
    year = {2004}, 
    month = {June}, 
    copyright = {the authors}, 
    note = {Online proceedings only.}, 
    url = {http://cmc.cs.dartmouth.edu/butler:virtualfence2.pdf}, 
    keyword = {MANET, ad hoc network, fence, wireless network, mobile computing}, 
    abstract = {Our goal is to develop computational approaches for studying
groups of agents with natural mobility and social interactions. Such systems
differ in many ways from engineered mobile systems because their agents can
move on their own due to complex natural behaviors as well as under the
control of the environment (for example drifting to follow wind patterns). We
wish to model such systems using physical data and to use the models for
controlling the movement of the mobile agents and the information propagation
between them using virtual fences, implemented on smart networked collars
attached to the animals. Our main motivation and application is in the
agricultural domain. Herds of animals such as cattle are complex systems.
There are interesting interactions between individuals, such as friendship,
kinship, group formation, leading and following. There are complex
interactions with the environment, such as looking for a water source in a
new paddock by perimeter tracing along the fence and random walking within
the perimeter. Such behaviors are well known to farmers but not so well
documented. Furthermore, limited control can be exerted whose effect is to
move the animals around. This could be greatly beneficial in terms of
reducing the amount of expensive fence maintenance and mustering required by
ranchers.}, 
}