With the development of digital and intelligent technologies, traditional pig farming techniques are no longer able to meet the demands of China's pig market. Large scale, intensive, and intelligent pig farming models have gradually become the mainstream direction. Zhengda Group, in response to the changes and development of the times, with the support of Senior Vice Chairman Bai Shanlin, Senior Vice Chairman Zhou Yongshun, Senior Vice Chairman Shao Laimin, and Dr. Zhang Ning, established the Pig Industry IoT Working Group in August 2023. The group is led by President Zhao Weibo of the Intelligent Manufacturing R&D Center, and Vice Presidents Huang Yan of the Digital Department of the Pig Industry Management Center, the IT War Room Team of the headquarters, and Han Yang, Director of Pig Breeding at the Finance and Enterprise Center. The group is specifically responsible for promoting IoT construction in the pig industry in China.

Shanghai Zhengxin Kerong Robot Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Zhengxin") was born with the responsibility of digital transformation in agriculture and animal husbandry. Starting from the two aspects of intelligent hardware and intelligent software, it adopts a self-developed and externally purchased dual track parallel approach to achieve interconnection from the equipment layer to the application layer. Its aim is to create comprehensive digital management from video monitoring, environmental monitoring, biological epidemic prevention control, water and electricity consumption measurement, so that breeders and managers can grasp the operation of pig farms anytime and anywhere, accurately analyze breeding efficiency, real-time abnormal alarm, and ensure the health, comfort, and safety of every pig.

01 Intelligent Hardware

Through market research and performance testing, Shanghai Zhengxin carefully selected and partnered with leading IoT device companies such as Hikvision and Ankerui to jointly draw a grand blueprint for digital pig farms. Through resource integration and complementary advantages, Shanghai Zhengxin trades quantity for price, not only ensuring excellent equipment quality, but also laying a solid foundation for the construction of digital pig farms with high cost-effectiveness investment. At the same time, Shanghai Zhengxin has been exploring cutting-edge intelligent devices in the industry, and after detailed performance comparison, it has introduced advanced Congee dispensers and intelligent sprinklers in the pilot of Inner Mongolia Zhengyuan Pig Farm. These devices aim to enhance the automation and intelligence level of pig feeding and personnel washing, bringing more efficient and intelligent management methods to pig farms.

The R&D team of Shanghai Zhengxin is also working intensively on the development of new equipment, and has successively completed the research and development of intelligent IoT data collectors and intelligent insulation lamp controllers. The "Intelligent IoT Data Collector" is an important bridge connecting devices and IoT platforms, capable of uploading on-site device and sensor data of various communication protocols to the IoT platform through 4G and WI-FI networks. The "Intelligent Insulated Lamp Controller" can smoothly control the temperature of the piglet insulated lamp at a constant temperature, automatically adjust the power according to the set temperature, and provide stable and comfortable growth temperature for piglets.

In response to the pain points of calibration difficulties and inaccurate data in traditional tower weighing schemes, Shanghai Zhengxin has greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of tower weighing by adopting advanced digital weighing sensors, intelligent weighing instruments, and "soft connection" installation methods. Digital weighing sensors can achieve weight free calibration, and the modular structure design is not only suitable for new construction sites, but also for the renovation of old sites. The independently developed intelligent weighing instrument can support the integration of up to 16 sensors, and one controller can control two material towers. More conveniently, users can remotely set and calibrate parameters through mobile apps and computers, thereby achieving remote management and control of the system, greatly improving the intelligence level of the system and the user experience.

02 Intelligent software

Shanghai Zhengxin takes the Internet and big data as the core elements, uses the Internet for data transmission, and uses big data technology to analyze various pig environment and growth process information, so as to achieve pig breeding information comprehensive perception, environmental precision control, precision feeding and other functions.

The "Internet of Things platform" independently developed by Shanghai Zhengxin provides comprehensive support in the "knowledge" and "action" aspects of pig farms. In terms of perception, the platform has fully implemented a one-stop data collection system for environmental control data, energy consumption data, equipment operation data, and inventory transportation data of pig farms within the group. Based on this, data standardization has been carried out at the group level, and the data storage function provided has the characteristics of high concurrency (supporting real-time docking of all pig farm equipment in the group) and large capacity (supporting two-year full storage of pig farm equipment in the group). The collected and stored IoT data can not only be viewed in real-time in the remote station monitoring of the pig farm, but also support various feeding studies of the research institute; In terms of implementation, the platform not only supports comprehensive perception of equipment, but also enables remote configuration and control of key equipment, helping pig farming achieve better unmanned operation and reducing human intervention, equipment errors, and biological epidemic prevention pressure.

In order for breeders and managers to control the operation of the farm anytime and anywhere, the Shanghai Zhengxin Software team has also developed the "Zhengxin Smart APP" on the basis of the Internet of Things platform. Currently, the APP has completed the development of the pig farming version and opened three major functional modules: intelligent environmental control, feed management, and video monitoring. It was successfully launched for trial on March 5, 2024. The intelligent environmental control function module enables real-time viewing of the main environmental parameters, real-time images, equipment operating status, energy consumption, and production indicators of the pig farm; The feed management function module provides a one-stop summary of feed consumption (including total consumption and head to head parity information), tower storage, and feed utilization in the breeding farm; The video surveillance function module provides convenient viewing of videos within the factory. Through the concerted efforts of the IoT working group, these applications have been promoted and used in the Zhengyuan fattening farm in Inner Mongolia, and the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the APP's functions have been recognized by the farm.

In addition, the functional upgrade of the APP will continue to be carried out, further enhancing the professionalism of its functions in depth. The next step is to complete the adaptation development of the pig farm and link it with Shanghai Zhengxin's intelligent devices such as intelligent insulation lights to achieve deep intelligence of the pig farm; In terms of breadth, promote the use of the APP in more breeding regions and factories, and work together with factories to solve practical difficulties and improve APP functions based on factory needs.

In the wave of digital transformation, Shanghai Zhengxin will keep up with the pace of industry digitalization and intelligent construction. In the future, it will continue to invest in high-quality equipment and high cost-effectiveness to provide customers with comprehensive and one-stop digital pig farm construction services, contributing its own strength to promote the high-quality development of animal husbandry.