IoT/SENSOR TECHNOLOGY - Dr. Cosmas Mwikirize, College of Engineering Design, Art and Technology

There are several challenges associated with the traditional physical inspection method towards bee protection and fruit fly control; namely: 

1 It is inconvenient because it requires physical presence.

2. There are some variables that can only be subjectively quantifi ed, including meteorological variables, which are very critical.

3. Manual data collection has a limitation of limited data points because it can only be periodically undertaken

4. We miss out on the more effective analytics especially what can be done with systematic data collection and high data density, e.g. knowing if the swarming of bees or the rise in fruit fly population is associated with specific meteorological parameters.

The solution is the Internet of Things – an interconnection via the internet, of computing devices that are embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.

At the heart of IoT, are sensors that can measure physical properties. The sensors have to be custom to application. Variables of interest include visualizing what is inside the hive, vibration sound, hive weight and meteorological parameters. The sensors can be internal or external, depending on what we want to monitor.

As we perform requirements engineering for the system, interaction with farmers is important because the defi nition depends on what is important to them. We have to ensure reliable power supply and transmission of data through networks for remote storage, analysis and presentation and this is where RENU comes in handy.

The electronics must be lowcost to facilitate scale. This Work package has 2 PhD students –one at Makerere and the other at DIT. They are looking at developing sensors and signal processing systems for bees and fruit fl ies respectively. Another Masters’ student at Makerere looking at developing a similar system for meteorological data.

Dr. Cosmas Mwikirize