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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Pollinator Health in Southern Crop Ecosystems Research » Research » Research Project #443990

Research Project: A Low Cost Acoustic Sensor for Bee Identification

Location: Pollinator Health in Southern Crop Ecosystems Research

Project Number: 6066-21000-001-024-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Apr 15, 2023
End Date: Apr 15, 2024

Objective:
To drastically enhance the functionality of available low-cost acoustic sensors/microphones for pollinator detection and reduce the reliance on machine learning and post processing by developing novel acoustic metamaterials.

Approach:
The spectral and temporal signatures of the targeted bee species will be used to design an acoustic metamaterial capable of shortening the wavelength of the bee sound and concentrating its wave energy in a specific zone of the proposed metamaterial. The presence of the targeted bee species will trigger high pressure in specific zones of the proposed metamaterial at a unique sequence allowing low-cost detection with minimum or no dependency of large data and machine learning. Hence, it will be possible drastically enhance the functionality of available low-cost sensors by pairing them with the proposed metamaterial. This project leverages modern mathematical and computational tools developed by cooperator including Iterative On Surface Radiation Condition (ITOSRC) method and computational geometry, to accurately simulate sound wave manipulation and customize the proposed metamaterial through shape optimization for the targeted species.