Honeybee Activity Monitoring in a Biohybrid System for Explosives Detection

Abstract

Free-flying honeybees can electrostatically collect particles from air in the flying and foraging areas, which in conjunction with organic-based explosive vapor sensing films, placed at the entrance to the beehive, can be used as a passive explosive sensing mechanism. Moreover, bees can be trained to actively search for a smell of explosive. Using trained honeybees in conjunction with a system for honeybee localization enables generation of a spatial-time honeybee density map, where the most visited places point to suspicious areas. In both methods (passive and active), bees' activity monitoring plays a significant role, providing information about environmental parameters and activities of bees at the entrance and exit of a beehive. In this paper we present the design and realization of an electronic system for bee activity monitoring at the front of a hive while using bees for explosive detection. The system also monitors air temperature and relative humidity. Results obtained to date from activity monitoring are useful in planning testing activities within our active and passive method, as it can determine the optimal period of the day and environmental parameters in which bees are most active.

Intelligent wearable and portable security detection technologies integrated into protective equipment: A review

“…Raman spectroscopy offers the advantages of rapid and accurate sample identification, as well as non-destructive detection through sealed containers such as vials or plastic bags, thereby reducing or eliminating the risk of exposure to hazardous materials for inspectors. 60,61 Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an optical enhancement effect observed in systems with nanoscale rough surfaces or particles. It involves the adsorption of samples onto the surface of colloidal metal particles such as silver, gold, or copper, or onto the rough surfaces of metal sheets, enabling the use of conventional Raman spectroscopy methods.…”

“…Raman spectroscopy offers the advantages of rapid and accurate sample identification, as well as non-destructive detection through sealed containers such as vials or plastic bags, thereby reducing or eliminating the risk of exposure to hazardous materials for inspectors. 60,61…”

Interpol review of the analysis and detection of explosives and explosives residues

“…Simic, M. et al described a similar use of honeybees. As a passive system honeybees can “electrostatically collect particles from the air in the flying and foraging areas, which in conjunction with organic-based explosive vapor sensing films, placed at the entrance of a beehive, can be used as a passive explosive sensing mechanism.” Furthermore, honeybees can be trained to react to certain explosives [ 685 ].…”

Eliminating Hidden Killers: How Can Technology Help Humanitarian Demining?

“…Various innovative sensor technologies have been explored for humanitarian demining, including those that use animals as sensors. Attempts to use bees, although once ridiculed, have shown limited potential (Hadagali and Suan 2017;Simić et al 2019). Rats as sensors, on the other hand, proved to be more hype (Fears 2017;Kalan 2014;Sullivan 2015) than practical (DeAngelo 2018;Fast et al 2017;Smith 8 ).…”