Project Duration:
24 Months - April 2023 to March 2025.
Project Partners:
AgriSound, Wyld Networks.
Funder:
Innovate UK
Objective:
To develop and validate a prototype monitoring system that transmits compacted, processed sound data via satellite networks, enabling real-time tracking of pollinators and wider biodiversity across farms and remote landscapes.
Technology & Innovation:
🐝 Novel sound processing techniques to extract numerical features from acoustic recordings, reducing bandwidth requirements.
🐝 Integration of AgriSound’s signal processing with Wyld’s satellite IoT protocols, creating a low-cost, low-power, end-to-end biodiversity monitoring system.
🐝 Prototype designed for deployment in any environment, with the ability to identify key insect pollinators (honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, moths, solitary bees, wasps) and later extend to bird biodiversity monitoring.
Key Features & Benefits:
🐝 Provides farmers with actionable, real-time insights into pollinator activity to support precision pollination and improve crop yields.
🐝 Increases fruit yield potential (research shows yields can double with diverse pollinators) while reducing input dependency.
🐝 Helps farmers understand local environments and intervention impacts, improving sustainability, resilience, and carbon efficiency.
🐝 Scalable solution with potential for global deployment, integrating satellite and LoRa networks with advanced audio recognition.
Validation:
Prototype functionality will be tested in English farms, including both industry-standard and remote environments, with farmer engagement from the outset to ensure the system meets end-user needs.
Significance:
🐝 Tackles a major challenge in biodiversity monitoring: data transfer from remote areas at low cost.
🐝 Provides a breakthrough solution for tracking pollinators and biodiversity at farm, landscape, and global scale.
🐝 Supports farm profitability and environmental health while contributing to climate-smart, resilient food production.