Sensorizing a Beehive: A Study on Potential Embedded Solutions for Internal Contactless Monitoring of Bees Activity

Massimiliano Micheli ¹, Giulia Papa ², Ilaria Negri ²

⁰Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (DIMI), University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25128 Brescia, Italy.

Sensors (basel, Switzerland) +

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August 29, 2024

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

This study introduces an instrumented beehive with cameras for contactless monitoring, aiding beekeepers in detecting mites and assessing colony health without invasive checks. The system offers valuable insights into bee activity and potential threats.

Area Of Science

Agricultural Engineering
Entomology
Animal Monitoring Systems

Background

Winter poses significant risks to honeybee colonies due to environmental factors and diseases.
Current beekeeping practices often involve invasive colony checks, potentially harming bees.
There is a need for non-invasive methods to monitor beehive health and activity.

Purpose Of The Study

To design and evaluate an instrumented beehive system for contactless, stress-free monitoring of honeybee colonies.
To assess the feasibility of using internal and bottom-mounted cameras for data acquisition.
To determine the system's utility in identifying health threats like Varroa destructor mites.

Main Methods

Development of an instrumented beehive equipped with internal and bottom-mounted color cameras.
Description of the system's design choices for effective data acquisition.
Image analysis using YOLOv8 for detecting mites and assessing colony activity.

Main Results

Internal camera placement presents challenges with bee movement and image focus.
Varroa destructor mites were successfully detected from internal hive images.
The bottom camera view demonstrated significant potential for monitoring overall colony activity.

Conclusions

The proposed instrumented beehive offers a novel approach to contactless bee colony monitoring.
While internal monitoring is challenging, it can detect specific threats like Varroa mites.
Bottom-view monitoring provides valuable insights into general colony behavior and health.

Keywords:

Varroa destructor embedded measurements hardware instrumentation honeybee monitoring measurement science object detection precision agriculture