The Antenna Coverage Location Problem in the context of cattle tracking in the Austrian Alps

Franz Welscher*, Rizwan Bulbul, Johannes Scholz, Peter Lederer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Alpine regions are cultural landscapes with a high level of biodiversity. They are used for multiple purposes, such as tourism, and recreation but are also home to grazing livestock over the summer. The usage of alpine regions by different user groups often results in conflicts of interest — especially between agriculture and tourism. To resolve this conflict real-time monitoring of the grazing livestock can be helpful. The start-up ViehFinder has developed a solution for cattle tracking based on Long Range Wide Area Networks. The objective of the paper is to develop a Maximal Covering Location Problem – i.e. an Antenna Location Covering Model – to optimize the locations of base stations in Alpine regions. This paper defines constraints for the demand and candidate sites that need to be considered in the context of antenna placement in the Austrian alps. In the paper, a spatial processing workflow is presented that uses a GIS-based site selection approach, resampling as a site reduction technique, and viewshed analysis for generating the service areas of the antennas. The authors go on to present an Integer Linear Program (ILP) for solving the Antenna Coverage Location Problem. The spatial optimization methodology and spatial data processing are applied to two test areas in the Austrian Alps. In addition, the paper analyzes the behavior and computational complexity of the algorithm with varying problem instances and evaluates the bottlenecks thoroughly. The results show the boundaries of ILP for spatial optimization. Further, we show the suitability of the proposed solution in the context of cattle tracking in the Austrian alps.
Original languageEnglish
Article number103414
Number of pages14
JournalInternational Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Volume122
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Antenna coverage location problem
  • Spatial optimization
  • Viewshed analysis
  • Cattle mobility
  • Deterministic
  • LoRaWAN

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computers in Earth Sciences
  • Earth-Surface Processes
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Global and Planetary Change

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Antenna Coverage Location Problem in the context of cattle tracking in the Austrian Alps'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this