Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (DIMI), University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25128 Brescia, Italy.
Department of Sustainable Crop Production (DI.PRO.VE.S.), Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Via E. Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Aug 14;24(16):5270. doi: 10.3390/s24165270.
Winter is the season of main concern for beekeepers since the temperature, humidity, and potential infection from mites and other diseases may lead the colony to death. As a consequence, beekeepers perform invasive checks on the colonies, exposing them to further harm. This paper proposes a novel design of an instrumented beehive involving color cameras placed inside the beehive and at the bottom of it, paving the way for new frontiers in beehive monitoring. The overall acquisition system is described focusing on design choices towards an effective solution for internal, contactless, and stress-free beehive monitoring. To validate our approach, we conducted an experimental campaign in 2023 and analyzed the collected images with YOLOv8 to understand if the proposed solution can be useful for beekeepers and what kind of information can be derived from this kind of monitoring, including the presence of mites inside the beehive. We experimentally found that the observation point inside the beehive is the most challenging due to the frequent movements of the bees and the difficulties related to obtaining in-focus images. However, from these images, it is possible to find mites. On the other hand, the observation point at the bottom of the beehive showed great potential for understanding the overall activity of the colony.
冬季是养蜂人最关心的季节，因为温度、湿度以及螨虫和其他疾病的潜在感染可能导致蜂群死亡。因此，养蜂人会对蜂群进行侵入性检查，这会使蜂群进一步受到伤害。本文提出了一种新型的仪器化蜂箱设计，该设计涉及放置在蜂箱内部和底部的彩色摄像机，为蜂箱监测开辟了新的前沿。本文重点介绍了整体采集系统的设计选择，旨在为内部、非接触式和无压力的蜂箱监测提供有效的解决方案。为了验证我们的方法，我们在 2023 年进行了一次实验活动，并使用 YOLOv8 分析了收集到的图像，以了解所提出的解决方案是否对养蜂人有用，以及可以从这种监测中获得什么样的信息，包括蜂箱内螨虫的存在。我们的实验发现，由于蜜蜂频繁的移动和获得清晰图像的困难，蜂箱内部的观察点是最具挑战性的。然而，从这些图像中可以发现螨虫。另一方面，蜂箱底部的观察点显示出了很好的潜力，可以了解蜂群的整体活动。
