Application of information technologies in Precision Apiculture

Project information

Application of information technologies in Precision Apiculture

Call: ICT and Automation for a Greener Agriculture

Id: 14301

Acronym: ITApic

Duration: 
1 August, 2013 to 31 August, 2016

Consortium:
No Partner Contact Country Total
1000€
Funded
1000€
Funder
1 Coord.Latvia University of Life Sciences and TechnologiesAleksejs ZacepinsLatvia132.0132.0Latvian Academy of Science
2Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics
Faculty of Science & Art
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Gaziosmanpasa University
Saban TekinTurkey93.893.8Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
3Department of Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences
University of Kassel
Oliver HenselGermany197.0197.0Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
4Signal Processing and Control Group
Electronics and Computer Engineering
Division of Mechanical Engineering
Department of Engineering
Aarhus School of Engineering
Aarhus University
Peter AhrendtDenmark167.9122.5Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education
Ministry of Higher Education and Science


Summary: 

This project proposes implementation of precision agriculture technologies and methods in the beekeeping. Precision agriculture approach is adapted for beekeeping based on the various measurements of individual bee colonies all year around thus detecting different states of colonies and apiaries enabling rapid reaction by the beekeeper in case of necessity. Digital measurements such as temperature, humidity, audio and video can be used to detect several states of a bee colony: swarming, broodless stage, brood rearing, illness. Lots of separated scientific research has been done with this techniques related to bee biology, but they have never been combined to develop a apicultural health observation and warning system.

Impact: 

 Within the ITApic project, several bee colony-monitoring systems were developed and tested. It has been observed that monitoring beehives by physically opening them puts a great level of stress on bee colonies. Thus, bee colony health can be increased by minimising the number of beehive openings. The ITApic project developed solutions that help to monitor bee colonies remotely, minimising the necessity for onsite colony visits. The device can recognise various colony states (normal, swarming or colony death), as well as illnesses like nosema (caused by a parasite). This approach brings an economic impact for the beekeepers because it is not always economically feasible to travel for hundreds of kilometres just to check the state of the hive. Additional losses for beehives are caused by environmental conditions (abrupt temperature changes). ITApic evaluated this phenomenon and concluded that wintering buildings are extremely beneficial for the health of the bee colony. Overall, the project approach facilitates optimisation of operational beekeeping costs and minimises colony losses by increasing the profitability and stability of beekeeping.

Outputs: 

Several bee colony monitoring systems together with data monitoring web systems are developed:

  • Novel real-time video system for monitoring and tracking the in-and-out activities of honeybees at the hive entrance in a practical setting. The real-time system is based on the Raspberry Pi.
  • Raspberry Pi temperature measurement system together with pc application and web system for data analysis
  •  Wireless bee colony monitoring system
  • Research of bee colony indoor wintering
Topics: 
  • Precision Apiculture (Precision Beekeeping)

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