HONEY BEE POLLINATION SERVICES ARE CRUCIAL TO NATIONAL ABILITY TO PROVIDE CITIZENS WITH SUFFICIENT AND HEALTHY FOODS. HOWEVER, BEE POPULATIONS ARE DECLINING DUE TO A VARIETY OF ANTAGONISTS. EFFORTS HAVE BEEN MADE TO COMPUTERIZE HIVES WITH SENSORS/REMOTE MONITORING TO QUICKLY RESPOND TO PROBLEMS AND HAVE THE INFORMATION REQUIRED TO RESOLVE THEM. HIVE MONITORING IS IN ITS INFANCY, BUT CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE, MOSTLY IN MONITORING HIVE ENVIRONMENT AND STATUS (TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, WEIGHT, ETC.). HOWEVER, TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR INDIVIDUAL BEES FOR PARAMETERS SUCH AS PARASITES AND POLLEN IS CURRENTLY LACKING. THIS PROPOSAL DEVELOPS THIS MISSING TECHNOLOGY USING A COMPUTER VISION APPROACH. VIDEO OF INDIVIDUAL BEES ENTERING AND EXITING A HIVE IS CAPTURED AND ANALYZED ON A SMALL LOW-COST COMPUTER. THE EXTRACTED INFORMATION IS THEN BE SENT TO A DATABASE, WHERE IT CAN BE VIEWED, ANALYZED FURTHER AND DISPLAYED VIA A WEBSITE USING CHARTS AND TABLES. DEVELOPMENT OF LOW-COST DO-IT-YOURSELF SOLUTIONS IMPROVES THE ABILITY TO MONITOR MULTIPLE HIVES BY INCREASING THE AFFORDABILITY OF THE SYSTEM AND THE ABILITY TO REPAIR THE SYSTEM WHEN IT EVENTUALLY BREAKS. WIDE-SCALE DEPLOYMENT OF THESE SYSTEMS GREATLY IMPROVES THE ABILITY TO COLLECT DATA, WHICH IS ESSENTIAL FOR MONITORING HIVE HEALTH ACROSS THE NATION TO ENSURE THE SERVICES THAT HONEY BEES PROVIDE TO THE NATIONS' AGRICULTURE IS ASSURED.
$318,049FY2019National Institute of Food and AgricultureUSDA
The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg TX