A remote radio transmission system to record the physiological phenomena of an equine athlete

Abstract

The call for the system design in this book came from a field that grew to be a part of millions of lives in this country. It is a sport which has developed to have a major infrastructure, with large sums of money involved. In fact, the money involved has made it one of the largest tax earners country wide. Due to its high development, competition has become furious and breeders will do their utmost to produce a competitor which would have the slightest edge on the next one. As most people would know by now, the discussion is about the Horse Racing Industry. During the years, owners have relied on various exercising programs and breeding of proven winners to produce new ones. To give the animal the necessary training and simply run it on experience is no longer sufficient. A more scientific approach has become necessary. There exists a need for a system whereby one could monitor certain physiological aspects of the animal. This would not only allow the physical condition of each horse to be monitored, but also allow a more effective and specialized exercise program for each individual animal to be developed, thereby not only improving its ability, but saving on time as well. Tests that were considered included ECG, temperature, and speed measurements. Existing equipment performing the first two tests require the animal to be stationary. This defeats the object of the exercise, as information should be relevant to the animal when under strain. During test periods, the ideal situation would be to allow the horse to perform its exercise routine around the track without any interference. This could best be done by monitoring all the.necessary data via a radio link and having most of the analyzing apparatus in a small and light as possible package on the animal itself.