AI to the Rescue: Helping Bees and Beekeepers
Hugo Hadjur’s work published in the journal *Computers and Electronics in Agriculture*
Hugo Hadjur, an assistant professor at aivancity, is also a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at aivancity/ENS de Lyon, focusing on “The design of sustainable, autonomous, low-power connected systems.”
The article, published in the journal *Computers and Electronics in Agriculture* (January 2022), provides an overview of the current state of the art in precision beekeeping, which is related to the topic of his doctoral thesis.
Written in collaboration with his thesis co-advisors, Dr. Doreid Ammar, Academic Director and professor at aivancity, and Dr. Laurent Lefevre, an Inria researcher in Lyon, this article—a summary of which is provided below—is available as open access.
Since the late 20th century, bees have been facing increasing stressors, leading to the death of domesticated colonies or, at the very least, reduced productivity. Precision beekeeping (PB) is an emerging field in agriculture that aims to protect bees, support beekeepers, and optimize hive production through digital infrastructure. The digitization of beekeeping primarily relies on systems derived from the Internet of Things (IoT), with the development of sensors capable of collecting and transmitting data related to bees. Next, data analysis comes into play, providing models that link the data to the biological states of the hives, sometimes using artificial intelligence (AI). In this article, the authors describe recent advances in precision beekeeping as systems and services. The various types of sensors, networks, and power sources in precision beekeeping are covered. Data collection and utilization are described, and the performance of precision beekeeping services is evaluated. The sustainability of the proposed solutions is also assessed, taking into account their scalability, efficiency, and economic cost.
