Tag Archives: internet of things

585–593 A. Zacepins, A. Pecka, V. Osadcuks, A. Kviesis and S. Engel
Solution for automated bee colony weight monitoring
Abstract |
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Solution for automated bee colony weight monitoring

A. Zacepins¹*, A. Pecka², V. Osadcuks², A. Kviesis¹ and S. Engel³

¹Latvia University of Agriculture, Faculty of Information Technologies, Department of Computer Systems, Liela iela 2, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
²Latvia University of Agriculture, Faculty of Engineering, Institute of Energetics, J. Cakstes blvd. 5, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
³Cyberkinetics, Inc., 112 North Curry Street, Carson City, Nevada, USA
*Correspondence: aleksejs.zacepins@llu.lv

Abstract:

Future of the traditional beekeeping is to implement Precision Beekeeping approach and implement different automated and smart apiary monitoring systems for remote and optimised bee colony management. Behaviour of the bee colony can be monitored by the use of temperature, humidity, acoustic, video and weight systems. Each measurement system can give its own additional value for recognition of bee colony state. It is useful for the beekeeper to have at least one control colony with weight system equipped in the apiary. The hive scales is an important tool which gives assessment if food consumption has been high and whether there is a need for feeding. In most countries it is important to know how long the winter storage is, in addition it gives a very good indication of periods without any nectar flow. This paper presents conceptual design and prototype of honey bee colony weight monitoring system with GSM/GPRS external interface for packet-based communication with remote server. The central module with scales is placed on one of the hives and consists of temperature sensor, 4 strain gauge load cells for weighting purposes, RF and GSM/GPRS modules, photovoltaic cell array, battery, charge controller and minimal user interface for operational status signalling. The system allows sensor data logging to local storage and periodic data transfer to a remote server for further data analysis in different user applications. Data processing back-end component serves GET requests coming from remote measurement device, performs identification and raw data conversion using configuration stored in database.

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