Microservices-based systems for animal production: a systematic mapping study

Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies involves the use of devices and computer systems to facilitate continuous monitoring in animal production. Microservices-based software architectures (MSA) have appropriate design patterns for the development of PLF systems that require the integration over time between multiple systems, services, and resources. This systematic mapping study compiles the results of studies that report the development of MSA based systems applied to animal production. For this, a systematic search was carried out in 7 academic databases, obtaining 1362 initial results, of which 30 met the inclusion criteria for the study. It was observed that the industry with the largest number of developed systems is Aquaculture reported in 11 studies, then Cattle Farming reported in 9 studies, followed by solutions for livestock in general (including poultry) in 4 studies. Regarding contexts of application, the use of animal health monitoring systems was reported in 6 studies, followed by production monitoring systems in 5 studies and a third place shared between product quality monitoring systems, and systems for monitoring environmental conditions, reported in 4 studies each. There is great diversity in the use of microservices, from solutions built entirely with MSA, to those that only run a microservice for a very specific function.