Application of Advanced Sensing and Intelligent Perception Technology in Smart Ranch: A Review with Emphasis on Chinese Grassland Pastoral Areas

Smart ranching stands at the forefront of digital transformation in modern animal husbandry, with sensing and intelligent perception technologies serving as the critical infrastructure of the perception layer. In contrast to existing reviews that have broadly surveyed generic technologies or global applications, this review systematically examines advanced sensing and intelligent perception technologies through three integrated perspectives—technical principles, system architecture, and application performance—with particular emphasis placed on forage-harvesting mechanization and intelligent livestock farming in the grassland pastoral areas of China. Although the underlying sensing principles are universally applicable, the adaptation challenges and bottleneck analyses presented herein are specifically contextualized to the environmental and operational conditions of northern Chinese grassland pastoral areas.