CUSTOMER CHALLENGE
A race against natural elements to find missing animals
Reindeer herding is a three-century-old Finnish tradition that still thrives in Lapland. “Reindeer herding to produce meat, furs, and antlers is one of the most traditional ways of living for us in Lapland”, explains Matti Särkelä. “But it is also crucial for the economy since tourism is booming in the region.” Reindeer are big business in the region, with up to 300,000 animals herded each year, generating around €25m.
Matti has been the Reindeer Herders’ representative in Rovaniemi since 1999.  He is responsible for “developing technologies and all kinds of initiatives that help reindeer herders”. Their activity is a way of life, not just a job since semi-wild animals roam freely most of the year. Growing up in herders’ family, Matti knows it as well as any herder.
Jarno Konttaniemi is a member of the Palojärvi cooperative near Rovaniemi. He has made a living as a herder for 15 years, sometimes walking up to 40 km a day to protect his animals from predators – bears, wolves, eagles, wolverines and lynxes-, and from road and railroad traffic. Still, up to 10% of herds go missing each year, of which only ⅕ can be found.
This is a problem, because the Finnish government offers financial compensation to herders like Jarno if he can produce evidence that the animal has been killed. Here comes the tricky part: what is the right technology to
- track and locate roaming animals across 120,000 km2;
- implement in a rural area with limited GSM coverage and GPS accuracy;
- offer cheap and comfortable sensors able to withstand harsh winter conditions.
“The previous GSM-based solutions required energy-hungry trackers, their batteries making them both large and heavy thus uncomfortable for the animals. Even then, the devices could send only one location per day. Which is a problem because during winter, herders only have a few hours to find a missing reindeer until its track on the ground gets covered by snow.”
Ari Kuukka, Director, Head IoT Services, Digita Oy