RU2783299C1 - METHOD FOR REMOTE MONITORING AND CONTROL OF AGRICULTURAL CROP POLLINATION NEAR BEEHIVES APPLYING THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTATION THEREOF - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: internet of things.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method for remote monitoring and control of the pollination of agricultural crops near beehives applying the Internet of Things (IoT). The stated technical result is achieved by using IoT devices to collect the data on the temperature, internal and external humidity of the hive, carbon dioxide level inside the hive, video surveillance inside and outside of the hive, acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside of the hive, weight of the hive, and coordinates of the location of the hive in the area; processing said data using an IoT platform and determine the quality of pollination of the agricultural crops; monitoring and controlling the pollination of the crops and transmitting the data obtained to the user apparatus.

EFFECT: provided remote monitoring and control of the pollination of crops near the points of location of hives applying the Internet of Things (IoT), leading to an increase in the efficiency of pollination of the crops with natural pollinators (bees and/or bumblebees), higher crop yields, higher honey yield.

8 cl, 3 dwg

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The invention relates to the field of agriculture and beekeeping, the Internet of Things (IoT), digital data processing, in particular to a method and system for remote monitoring and control of crop pollination using the Internet of things (IoT).

The presented solution can be used at least to monitor and control the pollination of crops in fields, orchards, greenhouses, greenhouse plants, vertical farms, apiaries and other agricultural lands near which the beehives are located.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

US7549907B2, published June 23, 2009, describes a system for recording acoustic data from honey bees, processing acoustic data, and detecting and identifying toxic substances in the air. Honey bees produce unique acoustic signals when exposed to a variety of airborne toxicants, as well as other stressors such as predatory mites. The system analyzes the received sounds and identifies compounds based on the specific properties of the acoustic recording, providing a solution to the problem of large-scale atmospheric monitoring.

Patent RU2101941C1, publication date 01/20/1998, discloses an automated system for managing the life of bee colonies in hives. The system makes it possible to “independently” detect an attack by analyzing the sound material, establish the poisoning of an area with honey plants with pesticides, and prevent the negative consequences of these effects on bee colonies.

Patent RU2118084C1, publication date 08/27/1998, describes a system for monitoring the state of bee colonies in an apiary using the analysis of the frequency spectrum of sound signals emitted by bee colonies.

In patent RU2096952C1, publication date 11/27/1997, an automated system for monitoring and keeping bee colonies is disclosed, with the help of which, by analyzing the frequency spectrum of sound signals, you can independently determine the attack, the state of the swarm of bee colonies, the degree of infection with varroatosis, a rally, taking a new queen bee, preventing the impact of negative consequences on the life of bee colonies.

US8152590B2, published 04/10/2012, describes a method and system for using sounds emitted by bees flying near a hive entrance to evaluate hive performance.

US6910941B2, published June 28, 2005, discloses a bee monitoring system for monitoring bee colonies in a hive with sensors that report colony status, including colony weight, temperature, and relative humidity. A bee counter can also be included in the system to indicate colony activity. The bee monitoring system can also remotely control peripherals such as feeders or chemical samplers.

Patent RU2461188C1, publication date 09/20/2012, describes an automated system for year-round monitoring of the amount of honey in hive families.

US10064395B2, published September 4, 2018, describes a hive monitoring system configured to monitor and track the health and productivity of a hive. Information related to environmental conditions around the hive is tracked along with the conditions inside the hive. This information is processed by the control system and compared with the original expected values. Communication data is transmitted by the control system to a remote device to notify the beekeeper of the current and past status and productivity of the hive. The beekeeper can remotely control one or more functions that affect the hive. In addition, an electronic monitoring device is used to keep track of the number of bees leaving and entering the hive. The double gate design is used to determine the direction of movement of each bee in order to determine a more accurate reflection of the health of the hive.

International application WO2018184014A1, publication date 10/04/2018, describes a technology for monitoring beehives in an apiary using one or more sensors associated with a remote data analysis computing device that is connected to a client computing device. The sensors monitor the hives and/or the apiary environment and transmit the read data to a remote computing device for analysis. The client computing device interacts with the remote data analysis computing device so that a user of the client computing device can view the results of data analysis and actions performed, as well as adjust the settings of the remote data analysis computing device.

Patent KR102135455B1, publication date 07/20/2020, describes an intelligent hive management system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) by effectively monitoring visual information, temperature and humidity inside the hive, equipped with a temperature and humidity sensor, and an image sensor. The system comprises a bee breeding system, a remote remote control system for bee breeding through access to an Internet site for breeding bees, and a wired/wireless communication network that provides Internet access between the remote system and the breeding system; wherein the breeding system includes: a video and audio transmission device for receiving and transmitting images and voices indicating the condition of the bees at the breeding site; a food and water supply device for supplying food and water to the breeding creature; a control unit for controlling the overall operation of each component in accordance with a remote system control command; and a web server that receives the control command of the remote system and transmits it to the control unit, and transmits video and audio from the video and audio transmission device to the remote system in real time.

The closest analogue of the claimed invention is the technical solution disclosed in the patent KR101736288B1, publication date 05/16/2017. The present invention describes a system including a beehive having a plurality of sensors and adapted to IoT technology; a hive management server for monitoring and analyzing data received from the hive to which the IoT technology is applied to manage the hive; a user terminal for notifying the user of the state of the hive. The weight sensor measures the weight of the hive; a temperature sensor measures the temperature in the hive; acoustic sensor detects sound around the hive; vibration sensor detects vibrations around the hive; a block of IR sensors located at the entrance to the hive to count the number of entries and exits of bees. The data measured by the weight sensor and the temperature sensor are used to determine the honey harvest time. The data measured by the acoustic sensor is used to confirm the infestation of the hive with parasitic flies according to whether the bees make a wing sound at night. The data measured by the vibration sensor is used to detect the theft of the hive. The data measured by the IR sensor unit is used to track bee activity by statistical analysis of the number of bees entering the hive and the number of bees leaving.

However, this solution lacks automatic remote monitoring and control of crop pollination in fields, orchards, greenhouses, greenhouse plants, vertical farms, apiaries and other agricultural lands near which the beehives are located.

For pollination of agricultural crops, bees and/or bumblebees are used. At enterprises and private apiaries, the number of bee hives can reach several thousand or tens of thousands, the number of hives with bumblebees used for pollination in greenhouses, vertical farms, orchards can reach several hundred and thousand. The yield of agricultural crops depends on the quality of their pollination. The honey yield is also related to the quality of crop pollination. Currently, manual control of pollination of agricultural crops is carried out, for example, pollination is checked manually on the flowers of plants.

The technical problem to be solved by the claimed invention is to develop a method and system for remote monitoring and control of crop pollination near hives using the Internet of things (IoT).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The technical result of the claimed invention is to provide remote monitoring and control of pollination of crops near the location of hives using the Internet of things (IoT), which will increase the efficiency of pollination of crops by natural pollinators (bees and / or bumblebees), increase crop yields, increase honey yield , and will also allow you to simultaneously monitor and control the activity, swarming, health of natural pollinators in all hives in the apiary or in protected ground.

The present invention will allow honey producers, owners of private farms, honey apiaries, etc. to reduce possible losses of bee or bumblebee colonies due to a sudden rally or swarming, as well as to reduce the loss of bee or bumblebee colonies during wintering due to low temperature or insufficient food inside the hive due to remote monitoring of the conditions of keeping bees and bumblebees, the state of bee and bumblebee families, which will also lead to lower additional costs. Remote determination by beekeepers of the amount of honey in the hive by the weight of the hive with the help of this solution will increase the yield of honey, since in this case the bees will not be disturbed, their activity will continue. Automatic remote analytics and diagnostics of the state and activity of a bee or bumblebee colony using IoT devices will help beekeepers and greenhouse workers maintain hives. With the proposed method of monitoring and control, the beekeeper or specialist in greenhouses will be able to control the behavior of bee and bumblebee colonies, regardless of the location or location of the beekeeper or specialist in greenhouses. Remote monitoring and control will lead to the optimal use of the working time of beekeepers and specialists in protected ground, the problem of the lack of additional personnel for servicing bee or bumblebee hives in large apiaries and protected ground enterprises, where constant timely monitoring and control is necessary, will be eliminated.

The specified technical result is achieved due to the fact that:

In a method for remote monitoring and control of crop pollination near beehives using the Internet of things (IoT):

collect at least the following data using IoT devices:

- temperature inside and outside one or more hives;

- humidity inside and outside one or more hives;

- the level of carbon dioxide inside one or more hives;

- video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives;

- acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside one or more hives;

- the weight of one or more hives;

- location coordinates of one or more hives on the ground;

exchange data between IoT devices and the IoT platform using one or more communication modules;

using the IoT platform to process data received from IoT devices and obtain at least the following data: the state of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen and/or honey collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators; using the IoT platform, receive data on the territories pollinated by natural pollinators based on a comparison of the coordinates of the location of one or more beehives on the ground and crop map data, the IoT platform being integrated with crop maps;

based on the data obtained, the quality of pollination of agricultural crops near the hives is determined;

monitor and control the pollination of crops using the IoT platform based on the data obtained on the state of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen and / or honey collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators, areas pollinated by natural pollinators, and the quality of pollination of crops near the beehives;

transmitting the received monitoring and pollination control data of agricultural crops to one or more user devices.

In the method, devices can be low power devices located inside and outside the hives, capable of operating for a long time without changing power sources in the ambient temperature range during the year.

In the method, the condition of natural pollinators may include at least the following: activity, swarming, health of natural pollinators.

The method may determine the activity of natural pollinators based on temperature, humidity inside and outside one or more hives, carbon dioxide levels inside one or more hives, video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives;

diseases of natural pollinators, the amount of collected pollen, crops pollinated by natural pollinators can be determined based on video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives;

swarming of natural pollinators can be determined based on video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives and acoustic background inside and outside one or more hives;

the amount of honey harvested can be determined based on the weight of one or more hives.

In the method, IoT devices may additionally collect the following information:

- illumination;

- activity of the sun;

- precipitation;

- wind speed and direction;

- position in space of one or more hives;

- strikes on one or more hives.

In the method, environmental conditions outside one or more hives, external mechanical influences on one or more hives can be additionally monitored.

In the method, the IoT platform can additionally be integrated with cartographic services and with services that carry out veterinary control.

In the method, based on the analysis of the received data for monitoring and controlling the pollination of crops, the IoT platform can make recommendations on the comfortable maintenance of one or more hives and transmit the recommendations received to one or more user devices, and / or transmit control commands to devices that maintain optimal conditions inside one or more hives.

The method can additionally determine the quality of pollination based on the analysis of crop yields.

The system for remote monitoring and control of crop pollination near beehives using the Internet of things (IoT), carried out using the above method, includes:

IoT devices; moreover, using IoT devices, at least the following data is collected:

- temperature inside and outside one or more hives;

- humidity inside and outside one or more hives;

- the level of carbon dioxide inside one or more hives;

- video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives;

- acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside one or more hives;

- the weight of one or more hives;

- location coordinates of one or more hives on the ground;

one or more communication modules for data exchange between IoT devices and the IoT platform;

IoT platform, where the IoT platform is integrated with crop maps, and with the help of the IoT platform:

processing data received from IoT devices and obtaining at least the following data: the state of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen and/or honey collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators; receive data on the territories pollinated by natural pollinators, based on a comparison of the coordinates of the location of one or more hives on the ground and crop map data;

based on the data obtained, the quality of pollination of agricultural crops near the hives is determined;

monitor and control the pollination of crops based on data on the state of natural pollinators, the amount of collected pollen and / or honey, crops pollinated by natural pollinators, areas pollinated by natural pollinators and the quality of pollination of crops near the beehives;

transmitting the received monitoring and pollination control data of agricultural crops to one or more user devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The implementation of the invention will be described hereinafter in accordance with the accompanying drawings, which are presented to explain the essence of the invention and in no way limit the scope of the invention.

The claimed invention is illustrated by figures 1-3, which depict:

Fig. 1 - illustrates a variant of the IoT hive architecture.

Fig. 2 - illustrates a variant of the architecture of a system for remote monitoring and control of pollination of crops near beehives using the Internet of things (IoT).

Fig. 3 - illustrates the general scheme of the computing device for implementing the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the implementation of the invention, numerous implementation details are provided to provide a clear understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art how the present invention can be used, both with and without these implementation details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the features of the present invention.

Furthermore, it will be clear from the foregoing that the invention is not limited to the present implementation. Numerous possible modifications, changes, variations and substitutions that retain the spirit and form of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the subject area.

For pollination of agricultural crops in fields, orchards, apiaries, greenhouses, greenhouse plants, vertical farms, bees and/or bumblebees are used as natural pollinators.

The yield of agricultural crops depends on the quality of their pollination. The honey yield is also related to the quality of crop pollination. The amount of honey harvested correlates with the yield.

The quality of pollination and, accordingly, the amount of the harvested crop, and for apiaries also the amount of honey harvested, depends in a key way on the effectiveness of natural pollinators in apiaries, in greenhouses, in greenhouses, orchards. So, for example, during swarming, part of the bees fly away from the hive, which affects the performance of the hive, and as a result, pollination and crop yields, honey yield.

For effective pollination in greenhouses, orchards, vertical farms where bumblebees are used for pollination, it is necessary to replace the hives with bumblebees with new ones at regular intervals.

For effective pollination of agricultural crops in the fields, it is necessary to rationally predict honey collections when selecting places for apiaries and develop routes for quality apiaries.

The present invention enables the monitoring and control of crop pollination near hive locations using the Internet of Things (IoT). The quality of crop pollination is determined through the collection of data from IoT devices, such as sensors, sensors, video surveillance devices located in and around the hives, comparison with maps of crop crops, analysis of collected pollen, analysis of collected honey (in the case of pollination by bees), analysis of the harvested crop at the place of pollination:

The weight of the bee hive, the weight of the harvested honey is related to the quality of pollination, the greater the weight, the better the pollination;

Pollen, the presence of pollen on bees and bumblebees as pollen, allows you to determine the crop from which it is collected through the analysis of video images, photographs; the amount of pollen brought into the hive by bees and bumblebees is related to the quality of pollination, the greater the weight, the better the pollination;

The coordinates of the location of the hives on the ground are compared with maps of crops;

The volume of harvested crops at the place of pollination is analyzed with the activity of bees or bumblebees during the flowering period.

An analysis of the activity of bees and bumblebees, as well as sensors of the state of the hive, also make it possible to give recommendations on the comfortable maintenance of the hives, which ultimately affects the quality of pollination of crops.

The IoT platform processes the collected data, receives data on the activity, swarming, health of bees or bumblebees, bee or bumble bee pollen, the amount of pollen and / or honey collected, the quality of pollination, bee conditions, environmental conditions, compares the collected data with maps of agricultural crops crops, harvested honey (in the case of pollination by bees) and harvested crops at the place of pollination. Integration of the IoT platform with mapping services and federal and regional crop maps will help control the pollination of crops.

As a basic approach for solving the problem of monitoring the activity of bumblebee colonies and the state of health of bee colonies, an approach based on wireless sensors located inside and outside the hives will be used.

Solutions are proposed for the type of sensors to obtain information about the activity, swarming of natural pollinators, the conditions for keeping natural pollinators, the state of the environment outside bee or bumblebee hives. It is proposed to use wireless IoT devices with low power consumption, capable of operating for a long time without replacing power supplies in a wide temperature range with the possibility of year-round use.

IoT devices will collect the following information for each hive:

- temperature inside the hive;

- humidity inside the hive;

- the level of carbon dioxide inside the hive;

- video surveillance data outside the hive;

- acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside the hive;

- the weight of the hive;

- coordinates of the location of the hive on the ground;

- ambient temperature outside the hive;

- environmental humidity outside the hive;

- illumination;

- activity of the sun;

- precipitation;

- wind speed and direction;

- position in the space of the hive;

- strikes on the hive.

Examples of IoT devices that are installed inside the hive during the summer:

Carbon dioxide sensor to measure the level of carbon dioxide inside the hive;

Temperature sensor for measuring the temperature inside the hive;

Humidity sensor to measure the humidity inside the hive;

Microphone for measuring the acoustic background of the hive inside;

Gyroscope, for measuring position in space;

Accelerometer, to determine vibrations and shocks.

Examples of IoT devices that are installed outside the hive during the summer:

Atmospheric pressure sensor for measuring atmospheric pressure;

Light sensor;

Temperature sensor for measuring the ambient temperature;

Soil temperature sensor;

Precipitation quantity and intensity sensor;

Humidity sensor for measuring ambient humidity;

Photosynthetic light sensor / solar photoactive radiation sensor - PAR sensor, designed to measure the photosynthetic activity of the sun / photosynthetic active radiation (PAR);

Wind speed sensor;

Wind direction sensor;

Microphone for measuring the acoustic background of the hive from the outside;

Video sensor or video camera to determine the activity of the bee colony;

Weight sensor or weight platform for determining the weight and changing the weight of the hive;

Video sensor or video camera for determining pollen on bees and bumblebees (bee or bumble bee pollen);

GNSS module for determining the GPS or LBS coordinates of the location of the hives on the ground;

Examples of IoT devices that are installed inside the hive during the winter:

Carbon dioxide sensor to measure the level of carbon dioxide inside the hive;

Temperature sensor for measuring the temperature inside the hive;

Humidity sensor to measure the humidity inside the hive;

Microphone for measuring the acoustic background of the hive inside;

Gyroscope, for measuring position in space;

Accelerometer, to determine vibrations and shocks;

Examples of IoT devices that are installed outside the hive in winter:

Atmospheric pressure sensor for measuring atmospheric pressure;

Light sensor;

Temperature sensor for measuring the ambient temperature;

Soil temperature sensor;

Precipitation quantity and intensity sensor;

Humidity sensor for measuring ambient humidity;

Photosynthetic light sensor / solar photoactive radiation sensor - PAR sensor, designed to measure the photosynthetic activity of the sun / photosynthetic active radiation (PAR);

Wind speed sensor;

Wind direction sensor;

Microphone for measuring the acoustic background of the hive from the outside;

Weight sensor or weight platform for determining the weight and changing the weight of the hive;

GNSS module for determining the GPS or LBS coordinates of the location of the hives on the ground.

Data received from IoT devices (for example, sensors, sensors, video cameras, video sensors, video recorders, etc.) is sent to a cloud platform for further analysis.

To determine, analyze, monitor and control the activity of natural pollinators (the number of arrivals and departures per unit of time), the system analyzes video surveillance data from outside the hive, indicators of temperature and humidity of the environment outside the hive, temperature and humidity inside the hive, carbon dioxide levels inside the hive.

To determine the activity of bee and bumblebee colonies, video surveillance devices (for example, video cameras, video sensors) are used. It is enough to install a video surveillance device outside the hive, aimed at the entrance to the hive. The counting of the number of arrivals and departures of natural pollinators per unit of time is carried out using pattern recognition using machine learning methods.

Pattern recognition on images received from video surveillance devices is used to determine the activity of a bee or bumblebee family using neural networks. It also allows you to monitor and control the activity of bees and bumblebees in all hives.

The pollinator activity analysis algorithm is based on the acquisition and analysis of images from a video surveillance device. The image from the video surveillance device enters the trained neural network, which at the first stage determines whether there are pollinators in the image, how many there are (object detection). Next, the direction of movement of pollinators and their route relative to the entrance to the hive (object tracking) is determined. If the pollinator disappears in the entrance and its direction is to move towards the entrance, then entry is recorded; if the object appears from the entrance and leaves it, then departure is recorded. In the case of fixation of the entry, an additional analysis of pollen is carried out (is it or not, if so, how much of it). Activity is understood as the number of arrivals / departures for a discrete time interval (usually one hour). Next, a picture is built as to whether the activity was “successful”. A "successful" activity is considered to be the entry of the pollinator into the pollen hive. Thus, the user of the system receives information about the quality of pollination. The more pollen, and the more activity, the better the pollination of crops located near the hives.

The present solution also does not require changing the shape of the entrance (entrance to the hive) or installing additional equipment in the entrance to count the incoming and outgoing bees or bumblebees into the entrance of the hive.

To analyze, monitor and control the activity of natural pollinators, the system determines the deviation from the maximum activity value. In this case, the maximum activity value is considered to be the maximum number of arrivals/departures for the previous specified time interval (usually 1 hour). For example: two days ago at 15:00, the period of maximum pollinator activity was recorded - 120 flights / departures. Accordingly, activity is recorded at this hour (15:00-16:00) within 7 days from the recorded maximum. In the event of a sharp decrease in activity, the system analyzes the environment. For example: if on the day of the recorded maximum the ambient air temperature was 29 degrees Celsius, and on the analyzed day the temperature value at the specified time interval changed a lot (for example, the temperature dropped to 16 degrees Celsius), then the decrease in activity cannot be considered critical, since the insects are inside the hive, and the decrease in activity is caused by a decrease in temperature outside the hive. The same is true for a sharp increase in ambient temperature outside the hive, insects try to cool the hive and their activity increases. But if the ambient temperature has changed slightly, then this is already a reason to send a notification to the system user about a change in activity in the direction of decreasing or increasing.

Inside a bee or bumblebee hive, it is possible to install a carbon dioxide saturation sensor, a temperature sensor, and a humidity sensor. It is especially important that information from sensors installed inside the hive can be obtained not only during the bee season, but also in winter, when the hive is sealed, 24/7 all year round.

Temperature, humidity, the amount of carbon dioxide inside the hive affect the activity of bees or bumblebees. Therefore, to analyze, monitor and control the activity of a bee or bumble bee family by determining the deviation from the maximum activity value, information about changes in temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels inside the hive, and determining whether such a change in activity is the norm, taking into account various factors, can also be used. for example, the location of the carbon dioxide sensor inside the hive, the annual development cycle of a bee or bumblebee colony, external environmental conditions, seasons, etc.

A comfortable temperature inside the hive in summer is 34-35 degrees Celsius, in winter - 13 - 28 degrees, and the optimum humidity is 78-90%.

By analyzing information about the activity of a bee or bumblebee family and information from sensors installed inside the hive, the system will be able to draw a conclusion about the favorable or unfavorable climate inside, as well as obtain information about the general physical health / activity of the bee or bumblebee family.

In the summer, if an elevated temperature inside the hive is detected, a control command can be issued to shade the hive from the sun using external devices: umbrellas, canopies that protect against direct sunlight, with automatic, electric or manual drive, in order to create a shadow, thereby lowering the temperature inside the hive. It can also turn on external blowing of the hive with fans to lower the temperature inside the hive. Fans can also be installed inside the hive to pump superheated/warm air out of the hive and can be turned on depending on the temperature inside the hive.

Temperature, humidity, the amount of carbon dioxide affect the activity inside the hive. If an increase in activity is detected, the consumption of feed reserves may increase. The system can notify users of the platform about this, for example, by sending notifications to client devices.

Based on the vibration data inside and outside the hive, the platform determines the state of the bee or bumblebee colony, whether the bees or bumblebees are going to fly off for the natural division of the colony (swarming) or fly away in an unknown direction (CCD- colony collapse disorder). Also, by vibration inside the hive, you can determine how active the family is (how many working individuals are inside the hive).

In the present invention, photographs of bees or bumblebees obtained from an installed video camera are transferred to a cloud service or to a computing module for subsequent analysis of the presence of pollen on the paws (pollenka) of bees and bumblebees, as well as to determine the presence of the Varroa mite on bees or bumblebees.

Additionally, photographs of individual individuals are analyzed. The algorithm for recognizing the image of the Varroa mite on a bee from a photograph will allow to recognize the external signs of the presence of a mite on a particular individual, which will enable the owner of the hive to treat the family at the initial stage of the disease and avoid devastating consequences, the loss of the bee colony.

CCTV devices are used to determine the presence of pollen on the hind legs (pollen) in bees or bumblebees by using pattern recognition on the images received from the CCTV device.

The cloud platform determines the type of pollen and calculates the amount of pollen brought into the hive on the hind legs of bees or bumblebees.

Recognition of pollen on bees and bumblebees (bee or bumble bee pollen) allows you to determine:

Determination of a pollinated plant by pollen (pollen) on bees and bumblebees;

The approximate amount of pollen brought into the hive over a given period of time.

To determine the type of pollen, a machine vision system (for example, OpenCV) is used. The digital camera is continuously filming/imaging the entrance to the hive. The moment when the pollinator (bee or bumblebee) enters the hive is fixed, the received frame is transmitted to the computing module.

The computing module can be located:

Built into video cameras (edge computing);

Near the device (edge computing);

Connected to the video camera with a cable (edge computing);

Located in the "cloud" (cloud computing);

Located in the same network nearby (on premise computing).

There is a comparison of the pollen found on the pollen with previously known types of pollen (for example, from an image dictionary, according to which objects are compared). An additional factor that increases the accuracy of the determination is that the cloud platform knows the place where the hive is installed, respectively, it has information about which plants grow in this area. Due to this, the comparison occurs only with pollen samples that pollinators can get at the installation site of the system (the radius of the pollinators' flight is no further than 5-6 km). To determine the approximate volume of pollen, a 3D video camera with the ability to measure the depth of the image (for example, Intel RealSense) is used, the depth image is analyzed, the volume of pollen is calculated as the difference between the volume of the 3D model of the bee and the current 3D model.

To determine problems, diseases, the presence of Varroa mite on bees, in addition to monitoring the activity of bee or bumblebee colonies and determining pollen, it is also proposed to use video surveillance tools using computer vision (pattern recognition) to recognize the presence of diseases on the body of a bee, for example, a mite or ticks.

To identify the tick, an analysis of images obtained from a video sensor directed at the entrance to the hive is used. Due to the fact that at the entrance to the hive the insect turns to the camera from different sides, images of the pollinator are obtained from several sides. Given that the pollinator enters and exits the hive many times during daylight hours, we can say that the video sensor receives an almost circular picture of the pollinator. For analysis, a machine vision system and a neural network are used, specially trained on more than a million images in which the tick is present.

The computational module can determine the relative "tickiness" compared to other hives.

Thus, only frames in which a tick is detected with a high degree of probability are broadcast to the cloud platform. Such photographs are sent to the user of the system, who himself decides on the further fate of pollinators (healing the hive, moving the hive, in extreme cases, destroying the hive).

Determination of the presence of the disease in the form of a Varroa mite on the back of a bee will also be carried out in a similar way using a video camera, pattern recognition, and computer vision.

Preparing for swarming bees is also detected using pattern recognition obtained from CCTV cameras. In case of detecting signs of bees swarming or gathering of bees in an unknown direction (Colony Collapse Disorder), a signal is sent to the cloud platform with subsequent notification (notification) of a specialist to take measures to eliminate the possible loss of the bee colony.

To control the acoustic background, a microphone is used, which allows obtaining information about the spectral characteristics of the background, thereby obtaining information about the possible beginning of the swarming period of the bee colony. During swarming, part of the bees fly away from the hive, which affects the performance of the hive, pollination and crop yield, honey yield.

Swarming in the hive is determined by the presence of a video sensor / video camera and a microphone (the microphone can be located both inside the hive and outside). The video sensor in some cases is able to capture the anomalous behavior of pollinators that circle around the entrance, but do not enter inside, and the installed microphone is able to recognize the frequencies at which “womb singing” occurs, as well as the hum that pollinators are preparing to swarm.

The data received from the video surveillance equipment and the microphone will also be transmitted to the cloud platform for further analysis and presentation of the results to the beekeeper or protected ground specialist on the client device.

Automatic remote analytics and diagnostics of the state and activity of a bee or bumblebee colony using IoT devices will also help beekeepers and greenhouse staff in maintaining hives.

The position of the hive in space, blows to the hive allow you to determine whether there is an external mechanical impact on the hive (fall from a strong wind, a bear or robbers climbed, etc.). If the hive has fallen, then the bees will not pollinate. Also, based on this information, you can determine how often they inspect the hive, look inside the bee or bumblebee hive to check the condition inside the hive - brood, the amount of food, honey (for bees). Frequent checks put insects in a stressful state. The cloud platform may send appropriate notifications to client devices in such cases.

The cloud platform, when determining the quality of pollination of agricultural crops by bees, will take into account:

Monitoring the conditions of keeping bees;

Swarming control;

Accounting for the location of individual hives;

Accounting for the location of the apiary;

beekeeping magazine;

Rational forecasting of honey collections in the selection of places for apiaries;

Development of routes for transportation of apiaries;

Forecasting the upcoming honey collection of the surveyed array;

The choice of breeds of bees for a certain natural and climatic area;

Determining the type of pollen brought into the hive;

Counting the amount of pollen brought into the hive.

When determining the quality of pollination of agricultural crops by bumblebees, the cloud platform will take into account:

• Control of the conditions of keeping bumblebees;

Accounting for the location of individual hives;

A map of the location of hives in a greenhouse, vertical farm, orchard;

The life cycle of a hive;

Forecast of replacing hives with new ones;

• Ordering new hives;

• Determining the type of pollen brought into the hive;

Counting the amount of pollen brought into the hive;

Recommendations for care.

It is possible to conduct a comparative analysis of the amount of honey collected from certain crops in different areas and thereby determine the quality of pollination.

To identify and evaluate new honey-bearing areas, species and quantitative accounting of honey-bearing vegetation is carried out using:

Space photography of the earth;

aerial photography;

Drones;

Expeditions.

Integration with cartographic services and federal and regional crop maps will help:

It is rational to predict honey flow when selecting places for apiaries;

Predict honey collection;

Timely notify specialists, beekeepers, the federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary supervision about the forthcoming treatment of fields with chemicals to reduce the risk of bee death;

Control pollination of crops.

Integration with federal and regional services that carry out veterinary control will help:

Control the location of apiaries and compliance with the placement rules in accordance with the Veterinary Rules for Keeping Honeybees;

Control and preservation of the gene pool of bees;

Control of quarantine and preventive measures in the apiary;

Control of the origin of bee products.

Comparative assessment, analysis of behavior, quality of pollination of agricultural crops and health (Varroa mite, etc.) of bee or bumblebee families are proposed to be supplemented with data obtained from other nearby bee or bumblebee apiaries and protected ground enterprises, as well as apiaries from other regions. This will improve the accuracy of determining the state of a particular bee or bumblebee family, as well as timely notify the beekeeper and protected ground specialists about the presence of problems in bee or bumblebee hives.

A comparative assessment of the quality of pollination helps to increase yields depending on the region, on the crop being pollinated, as well as to select certain pollinators that can increase yields under given conditions.

If yield information is available, the system is able to identify correlation factors between crop yield, amount of honey harvested, and pollen harvested.

In some cases, the analysis of the harvested crop may be available to the system by entering information about the harvested crop in the greenhouse complex, the protected ground enterprise, and for open gardens, the analysis of the yield will correlate with the amount of honey harvested by the bees.

Thus, the algorithm compares the data from the sensors and builds a predictive yield model. For example: if apiary A, located in the Rostov region, collected 20 kg of honey from a beehive, and 40 kg of honey was collected in a neighboring apiary B, and, at the same time, both apiaries are aimed at pollinating the same cultivated crop, then the system analyzes the amount of harvested honey, calculates honey yield per hectare of crops and can predict an increased yield in gardens pollinated by apiary B.

In cases where the amount of harvested crops in greenhouses, protected ground enterprises, industrial apiaries, agricultural enterprises is a trade secret and is not available, the amount of collected honey and pollen can serve as a pollination quality metric.

Information about the amount of honey collected from apiaries is obtained by measuring the weight of the hive. Initially, the hive with bees is installed on a special weight platform, the initial weight of the hive with bees and empty frames is considered as a reference point (zero). A further change in weight allows you to judge the amount of honey in the frame. This information is transmitted to the cloud system, if the user has entered into the system information regarding the number and type of frames installed in each particular hive, then the system can make recommendations regarding the pumping of honey from the frames. The weight gain received from the weighing platform is subject to analysis.

It is also possible to forecast crop yields based on the dynamics of honey and pollen collection.

In addition, the cloud platform allows you to choose the best suppliers of bumblebee colonies for pollinating crops in protected ground, and specialists to develop their own methods for pollinating crops with the help of bee or bumblebee colonies.

The system can compare different pollinators and draw conclusions that, for example, bumblebees from producer A are more suitable for pollinating tomatoes, the hives of which need to be replaced once every N weeks, and for pollinating fruit and berry crops (orchards) it is better to use bees from producer B , since it is this variety in this area that shows the highest pollination efficiency, determined by pollen and pollinator activity. Based on this data, the system is able to recommend in advance which pollinators should be used in a given area, as well as compare the quality of pollination produced by pollinators from different manufacturers.

The present invention makes it possible to assess the condition of an individual bee or bumble bee hive, as well as to assess the condition of an apiary or protected ground enterprise as a whole.

The connection of sensors with the map of crops occurs by entering into the information directory of the cloud platform information about crops grown within a radius of 5-6 km relative to the bee hive, or information about the crop grown in the department of the greenhouse complex, the protected ground enterprise where the beehive with pollinators is installed.

Comparative analysis of hives located in different geographical locations (including protected ground) allows us to provide recommendations to specialists:

according to the conditions of detention;

maintenance of hives depending on the season / time of year;

hive replacement;

selection of breeds of bees or bumblebees for pollination of agricultural crops;

moving apiaries to new locations to get more crops and increase honey collection (the crop map can be used to draw up routes for nomadic apiaries).

Data transfer from devices to a cloud platform or computing module occurs via the Internet, or GSM, or LTE (NB-Iot, CAT M), WCDMA. All data is structured into arrays and protected by standard TLS and SSL protocols. If the system is used in places that have separate requirements for encryption and data protection on the territory of the Russian Federation, encryption is used in accordance with GOST 34.12-2018, GOST R 34.12-2015, RFC 7801.

To transfer data between devices, the system uses communication modules with the Internet (Lorawan, Bluetooth, Wi-fi, Zigee, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NB-IoT, Iridium satellite communications, Ethernet, USB, RS-485).

As client devices, it is possible to use smartphones, computers and other electronic devices that can connect to a cloud platform on the Internet. Integration with used ERP systems of enterprises via API is possible.

Location of objects can be determined using satellite navigation systems (GPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou), or by the coordinates of base stations of cellular operators (GSM / WCDMA / LTE / NB-IoT).

On FIG. Figure 1 shows a variant of the architecture of an IoT hive with IoT devices that receive the temperature, humidity inside and outside the hive, the level of carbon dioxide inside the hive, video images of bees or bumblebees flying in and out of the hive, acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside the hive ; the weight of the hive, the coordinates of the location of the hive on the ground. The IoT platform is integrated with cartographic services, crop maps, maps and services of phytosanitary and veterinary control (Fig. 2). Using the IoT platform, they process data received from IoT devices and obtain data on the state of natural pollinators (activity, swarming, health), the amount of pollen and / or honey collected, crops pollinated by bees or bumblebees; receive data on pollinated areas based on a comparison of the coordinates of the location of the hive on the ground and data from crop maps, determine the quality of pollination of crops near the hive, monitor and control the pollination of crops based on the data obtained; transmitting the obtained data of monitoring and control of pollination of agricultural crops to the user's device. The activity of natural pollinators is determined based on temperature, humidity inside and outside the hive, carbon dioxide levels inside the hive, video surveillance data inside and outside the hive. Diseases of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators are determined based on video surveillance data inside and outside the hive. The swarming of natural pollinators is determined on the basis of video surveillance data inside and outside the hive and acoustic background inside and outside the hive. The amount of honey harvested is determined based on the weight of the hive.

On FIG. 3 shows a general diagram of a computing device (300) that provides the data processing necessary to implement the claimed solution.

In general, the device (300) contains such components as: one or more processors (301), at least one memory (302), data storage medium (303), input/output interfaces (304), I/O means ( 305), networking tools (306).

The processor (301) of the device performs the basic computing operations necessary for the operation of the device (300) or the functionality of one or more of its components. The processor (301) executes the necessary machine-readable instructions contained in the main memory (302).

The memory (302) is typically in the form of RAM and contains the necessary software logic to provide the required functionality.

The data storage means (303) can be in the form of HDD, SSD disks, raid array, network storage, flash memory, optical storage media (CD, DVD, MD, Blue-Ray disks), etc. The means (303) allows long-term storage of various types of information.

Interfaces (304) are standard means for connecting and working with the server part, for example, USB, RS232, RJ45, LPT, COM, HDMI, PS/2, Lightning, FireWire, etc.

The choice of interfaces (304) depends on the specific implementation of the device (300), which may be a personal computer, mainframe, server cluster, thin client, smartphone, laptop, and the like.

The data I/O means (305) in any implementation of the system must be a keyboard. The keyboard hardware can be any known: it can be either a built-in keyboard used on a laptop or netbook, or a separate device connected to a desktop computer, server, or other computer device. In this case, the connection can be either wired, in which the keyboard connection cable is connected to the PS / 2 or USB port located on the system unit of the desktop computer, or wireless, in which the keyboard exchanges data via a wireless communication channel, for example, a radio channel, with base station, which, in turn, is directly connected to the system unit, for example, to one of the USB ports. In addition to the keyboard, the following I/O devices can also be used: joystick, display (touchscreen), projector, touchpad, mouse, trackball, light pen, speakers, microphone, etc.

Means of network interaction (306) are selected from devices that provide network reception and transmission of data, for example, an Ethernet card, WLAN/Wi-Fi module, Bluetooth module, BLE module, NFC module, IrDa, RFID module, GSM modem, etc. With the help of tools (305), data exchange is provided over a wired or wireless data transmission channel, for example, WAN, PAN, LAN (LAN), Intranet, Internet, WLAN, WMAN or GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G.

The components of the device (300) are coupled via a common data bus (307).

The present application materials provide a preferred disclosure of the implementation of the claimed technical solution, which should not be used as limiting other, private embodiments of its implementation, which do not go beyond the scope of the requested legal protection and are obvious to specialists in the relevant field of technology.

It should be clear to a person skilled in the art that various variations of the proposed method and system do not change the essence of the invention, but only determine its specific embodiments and applications.

Claims (46)

1. A method for remote monitoring and control of pollination of agricultural crops near beehives using the Internet of things (loT), in which: collect at least the following data using loT devices: - temperature inside and outside one or more hives; - humidity inside and outside one or more hives; - the level of carbon dioxide inside one or more hives; - video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives; - acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside one or more hives; - the weight of one or more hives; - location coordinates of one or more hives on the ground; exchange data between the loT devices and the loT platform using one or more communication modules; using the loT platform to process the data received from the loT devices and obtain at least the following data: activity, swarming, health of natural pollinators, amount of collected pollen and/or honey, crops pollinated by natural pollinators; and determining the activity of natural pollinators based on temperature, humidity inside and outside one or more hives, carbon dioxide levels inside one or more hives, video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives; determine the diseases of natural pollinators, the amount of collected pollen, crops pollinated by natural pollinators, based on video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives; determining the swarming of natural pollinators based on video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives and acoustic background inside and outside one or more hives; determining the amount of collected honey based on the weight of one or more hives; using the loT platform to obtain data on areas pollinated by natural pollinators based on a comparison of the location coordinates of one or more hives on the ground and crop map data, the loT platform being integrated with crop maps; based on the data obtained, the quality of pollination of agricultural crops near the hives is determined; monitor and control the pollination of crops using the loT platform based on the data obtained on the state of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen and / or honey collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators, areas pollinated by natural pollinators, and the quality of pollination of crops near the beehives; transmitting the received monitoring and pollination control data of agricultural crops to one or more user devices. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that loT devices are devices with low power consumption, located inside and outside the hives, capable of operating for a long time without replacing power sources in the ambient temperature range during the year. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the loT devices additionally collect the following information: - illumination; - activity of the sun; - precipitation; - wind speed and direction; - position in space of one or more hives; - strikes on one or more hives. 4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the environmental conditions outside one or more hives, external mechanical influences on one or more hives are additionally monitored. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the loT platform is additionally integrated with cartographic services and with services that carry out veterinary control. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, based on the analysis of the received monitoring and pollination control data for crops, the loT platform gives recommendations on the comfortable maintenance of one or more hives and transmits the recommendations received to one or more user devices, and / or transmits control commands to devices that maintain optimal conditions within one or more hives. 7. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the quality of pollination is additionally determined based on the analysis of crop yields. 8. A system for remote monitoring and control of pollination of crops near beehives using the Internet of things (loT) using the method according to paragraphs. 1-7, including: loT devices; moreover, at least the following data are collected using loT devices: - temperature inside and outside one or more hives; - humidity inside and outside one or more hives; - the level of carbon dioxide inside one or more hives; - video surveillance data inside and outside one or more hives; - acoustic background and vibrations inside and outside one or more hives; - the weight of one or more hives; - location coordinates of one or more hives on the ground; one or more communication modules for data exchange between the loT devices and the loT platform; loT platform, where the loT platform is integrated with crop maps, and with the help of the loT platform: processing the data received from the loT devices and obtaining at least the following data: the state of natural pollinators, the amount of collected pollen and/or honey, crops pollinated by natural pollinators; receive data on the territories pollinated by natural pollinators, based on a comparison of the coordinates of the location of one or more hives on the ground and crop map data; based on the data obtained, the quality of pollination of agricultural crops near the hives is determined; monitor and control the pollination of crops based on data on the state of natural pollinators, the amount of pollen and / or honey collected, crops pollinated by natural pollinators, areas pollinated by natural pollinators, and the quality of pollination of crops near the beehives; transmitting the received monitoring and pollination control data of agricultural crops to one or more user devices.

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