TV WS Broadband-Enabled Integrated Real-Time Pest Detection

Galaletsang Tsontswane of Congretype in South Africa will design low-cost, solar-powered insect detection traps equipped with wireless sensors to capture images of insects and transmit them to a central control point to improve rural crop surveillance in developing countries. Crop loss due to pest infestation negatively impacts both food supply and local economies, while rural farmers in developing countries lack resources to monitor crop disease and infestations and are unable to respond before substantial loss occurs. They will design and deploy intelligent insect traps equipped with cameras and test their ability to capture images of trapped insects within a study area and to wirelessly transmit the data to a central location via an existing TV white space network. The data can then be stored and accessed by local farmers and agricultural extension workers, allowing them to respond more quickly to crop threats than is currently possible based on data from laborious, human-based monitoring systems.