Implementation of the Precision Beekeeping System for Bee Colony Monitoring in Indonesia and Ethiopia

Abstract

Successful implementation of the Precision Beekeeping system includes development of the bee colony monitoring hardware and software for data collection and analysis. This paper focuses on development and installation of such system in two developing countries: Ethiopia and Indonesia. Challenges and peculiarities of the mentioned countries are compared and described in regards of the system installation process, beekeeper’s apiary management practices and economic aspects. Bee colony monitoring hardware is based on Raspberry Pi Zero W single board computer as a main controller of the system and connected sensors for temperature, humidity, weight and acoustics. Software part includes cloud-based data warehouse solution with additional models for data analysis and web interface for the remote data monitoring and visualisation. Authors’ approach is presented for linking together hardware components with a cloud software into single solution oriented on user needs in target countries. Main purpose of Precision Beekeeping systems is detecting the actual status of the colony and informing the beekeeper in case if unwanted colony behaviour occurs. Another significant aspect of the research is evaluation of the possibility to transfer knowledge and expertise to the experts in target countries. This work is carried out within the SAMS - Smart Apiculture Management Services project, which is funded by the European Union within the H2020-ICT-39-2016-2017 call. To find out more visit the project website https://sams-project.eu/.