Nose ring apparatus for animal monitoring

An apparatus for monitoring an animal, the apparatus comprising:

• a housing configured to engage with the nasal cavities of the animal, the housing including:
• a first arm member and a second arm member, each of the arm members having an animal engagement portion configured to be inserted into one of the nasal cavities, each of the animal engagement portions including a terminating end, and
• an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a lateral spacing between the terminating ends;
• and
• a sensor arrangement carried by the housing and including one or more sensor located in one of the animal engagement portions and operative to collect sensor measurements from one of the nasal cavities indicative of one or more bioparameter of the animal.

A system for monitoring an animal, the system comprising:

• an animal monitoring apparatus including:
• a housing configured to engage with the nasal cavities of the animal, the housing including a first arm member and a second arm member, each of the arm members having an animal engagement portion configured to be inserted into one of the nasal cavities,
• a sensor arrangement carried by the housing and including:
• a thermal sensor having at least a portion thereof located in the animal engagement portion of the first or second arm member, the thermal sensor for measuring nasal cavity air temperature, and
• at least one optical sensor located at a terminating end of the animal engagement portion of the first or second arm member, the at least one optical sensor for sensing light from the septum of the animal, and
• a communications module carried by the housing;
• a processing subsystem in communication with the sensor arrangement and configured to:
• process signals from the thermal sensor to calculate at least one respiration-related bioparameter of the animal, and
• process signals from the at least one optical sensor to calculate at least one blood circulation-related bioparameter of the animal;
• and
• a computing device that is in communication with the animal monitoring apparatus via one or more wireless communication network,
• wherein the communications module is configured to send to the computing device, over the one or more wireless communication network, raw sensor measurements from the sensor arrangement, and
• wherein the computing device is configured to process the raw sensor measurement to extract information associated with the animal including at least diagnostic information.