eeeHive: a new HF RFID-based automated behavioral monitoring system enabling high spatiotemporal resolution tracking of group-housed animals.
6 affiliations
- 1Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
- 2Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
- 3Phenovance LLC, Kashiwa, Japan.
- 4Grid and Communication Technology Division, Grid Innovation Research Laboratory, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Yokosuka, Japan.
- 5Department of Information Systems and Multimedia Design, School of Science and Technology for Future Life, Tokyo Denki University, Tokyo, Japan.
- 6Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract
Long-term, automated tracking of group-housed social animals using RFID (radio frequency identification) is a promising approach in ethological neuroscience. However, low-frequency (LF) RFID, while long-established in the field, is constrained by its inherent low data rates, which lead to two critical limitations: (1) compromised spatiotemporal resolution, and (2) the inability to identify multiple tags (animals) simultaneously. To address these limitations, we developed eeeHive, a high-frequency (HF) RFID-based animal tracking system with a fully custom hardware architecture that enables high-speed, multiplexed antenna polling and concurrent multi-tag reading. The polling time per antenna in eeeHive was 5.9 ms, with an additional 8.2 ms read time per tag. We applied the system to track 24 mice for 1 week, and six common marmosets for 7 weeks. The system successfully tracked individuals even within dense clusters, revealing complex behavioral traits characterized by spatial utilization, temporal dynamics, behavioral regularity, and inter-individual relationships. Additional tests with Japanese fire-bellied newts and Nile tilapia juveniles demonstrated comparable tracking performance in aquatic environments. Taken together, eeeHive overcomes the inherent limitations of conventional LF RFID, establishing a powerful HF RFID-based platform for fine-scale behavioral tracking of group-housed animals across terrestrial and aquatic species.
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BibTeX
@article{benner2026eeehive,
title = {{eeeHive: a new HF RFID-based automated behavioral monitoring system enabling high spatiotemporal resolution tracking of group-housed animals.}},
author = {Seico Benner and Suzuka Shiono and Toshinori Kagawa and Kiyohiko Hattori and Hidenori Yamasue and Hans-Peter Lipp and Toshihiro Endo},
journal = {Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fnbeh.2026.1861925},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909115},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - eeeHive: a new HF RFID-based automated behavioral monitoring system enabling high spatiotemporal resolution tracking of group-housed animals.
AU - Seico Benner
AU - Suzuka Shiono
AU - Toshinori Kagawa
AU - Kiyohiko Hattori
AU - Hidenori Yamasue
AU - Hans-Peter Lipp
AU - Toshihiro Endo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience
DO - 10.3389/fnbeh.2026.1861925
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909115
AB - Long-term, automated tracking of group-housed social animals using RFID (radio frequency identification) is a promising approach in ethological neuroscience. However, low-frequency (LF) RFID, while long-established in the field, is constrained by its inherent low data rates, which lead to two critical limitations: (1) compromised spatiotemporal resolution, and (2) the inability to identify multiple tags (animals) simultaneously. To address these limitations, we developed eeeHive, a high-frequency (HF) RFID-based animal tracking system with a fully custom hardware architecture that enables high-speed, multiplexed antenna polling and concurrent multi-tag reading. The polling time per antenna in eeeHive was 5.9 ms, with an additional 8.2 ms read time per tag. We applied the system to track 24 mice for 1 week, and six common marmosets for 7 weeks. The system successfully tracked individuals even within dense clusters, revealing complex behavioral traits characterized by spatial utilization, temporal dynamics, behavioral regularity, and inter-individual relationships. Additional tests with Japanese fire-bellied newts and Nile tilapia juveniles demonstrated comparable tracking performance in aquatic environments. Taken together, eeeHive overcomes the inherent limitations of conventional LF RFID, establishing a powerful HF RFID-based platform for fine-scale behavioral tracking of group-housed animals across terrestrial and aquatic species.
SN - 1662-5153
ER -