Resumen: Extensive unsupervised livestock farming is a habitual technique in many places around the globe. Animal release can be done for months, in large areas and with different species packing and behaving very differently. Nevertheless, the farmer’s needs are similar: where livestock is (and where has been) and how healthy they are. The geographical areas involved usually have difficult access with harsh orography and lack of communications infrastructure. This paper presents the design of a solution for extensive livestock monitoring in these areas. Our proposal is based in a wearable equipped with inertial sensors, global positioning system and wireless communications; and a Low-Power Wide Area Network infrastructure that can run with and without internet connection. Using adaptive analysis and data compression, we provide real-time monitoring and logging of cattle’s position and activities. Hardware and firmware design achieve very low energy consumption allowing months of battery life. We have thoroughly tested the devices in different laboratory setups and evaluated the system performance in real scenarios in the mountains and in the forest. Idioma: Inglés DOI: 10.3390/app11031240 Año: 2021 Publicado en: Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 11, 3 (2021), 1240 [18 pp] ISSN: 2076-3417 Factor impacto JCR: 2.838 (2021) Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 39 / 92 = 0.424 (2021) - Q2 - T2 Categ. JCR: PHYSICS, APPLIED rank: 76 / 161 = 0.472 (2021) - Q2 - T2 Categ. JCR: MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 218 / 344 = 0.634 (2021) - Q3 - T2 Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 100 / 179 = 0.559 (2021) - Q3 - T2 Factor impacto CITESCORE: 3.7 - Engineering (Q2) - Materials Science (Q2) - Chemical Engineering (Q2) - Computer Science (Q2) - Physics and Astronomy (Q2)